Chicago hip-hop brass band Hypnotic Brass Ensemble bring their incendiary live show to the Jazz Cafe for a double show this spring.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, are an eight-strong cohort of horn-playing brothers (plus one unrelated drummer), the youngest of some 23 children – the offspring of different mothers, but all sons of jazz trumpeter and composer Kelan Phil Cohran (a member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra).

Together, they have formed a formidable reputation as one of the best live bands around and releasing three acclaimed albums on UK label Honest Jon’s Records. With a sound that calls to mind traditional New Orleans big-band jazz and nods to the avant-garde angularity of their father and his contemporaries, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are equally informed by rap, funk and hip-hop.

They have worked alongside Mos Def, Prince, Ghostface Killah, Childish Gambino, Gorillaz (including 3 tracks on Plastic Beach), Damon Albarn, Erykah Badu, Robert Glasper, Chris Dave, Tony Allen and many more.