When it comes to brass band documentaries, we expect their subjects to hail from New Orleans. But the brass band tradition lives and breathes in Chicago too, and the story of the south side’s Hypnotic Brass Ensemble has become the focus of a new film by director Rueben Atlas. The New Orleans Film Society (NOFS) presents the New Orleans premiere screening of Brothers Hypnotic on Wednesday, February 19 at 7 p.m. at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) as part of their monthly MUSIC + ART film series.

The Film Society hosted the world premiere of the New Orleans youth marching band documentary, The Whole Gritty City, during the annual New Orleans Film Festival last October and for those that have seen the heart-wrenching yet triumphant Gritty City, it should be evident at next Wednesday’s screening why NOFS program director Clint Bowie says of Brothers Hypnotic that “the story could just as easily have come from New Orleans, and I’m sure local audiences will appreciate this story of music, family and independence.”

Like New Orleans’ own Soul Rebels and Hot 8 Brass Bands, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble has risen to popularity over the past four or five years among young hip-hop and modern funk fans as well as traditional jazz and roots music aficionados. Hypnotic’s dedication to the street music tradition has allowed people of all backgrounds to hear them for free (or for small tips), and has led to their discovery by famed hip-hop artists like Mos Def, pop phenoms like Prince, Maxwell and others, who have in turn commissioned musical collaborations. All of this has generated interest among some of the music world’s most discerning tastemakers and provided the band with unsolicited kudos from key pop culture influencers. But there is much more to Hypnotic’s story, a deeper foundation.

Film Synopsis:

For the eight young men in the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, “brotherhood” is literal: they’re all sons of anti-establishment jazz legend, Phil Cohran of the innovative Sun-Ra Arkestra, among others. Cohran and their mothers raised them together on Chicago’s south side on a strict diet of jazz, funk and Black Consciousness. Family band practice began at 6 a.m.

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble pictured at their Chicago home. (Photo: Ian Kibbe)

Now grown, as they raise eight brass horns to the sky, they make music that is at once indescribably joyful, unremittingly exciting, and undeniably together. But as the brothers try to make their own way in the wide world—while playing in the streets of New York City, collaborating with Mos Def, or wowing a jazz festival—they find the values their father bred into them constantly tested. They must decide whether his principles really are their own.

Brothers Hypnotic is a coming of age story, for eight brothers, and for an ideal.

Brothers Hypnotic promises to trace the journey from contemporary street and popular music back through its previous incarnations to its heritage in jazz, African rhythms and cultural purposes established among its creators — all because first-time director Rueben Atlas was driven to know the story of the mesmerizing brass band he once heard on the streets of New York City.

Of his inspiration to embark on the making of this film about Chicago’s Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, in a recollection all-too-similar to the tales heard by countless New Orleans tourists and transplants, Atlas says:

“One sweaty summer night in Times Square about five years ago, I met the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. On the corner of 7th Avenue, the frenetic, neon energy of 42nd street gave way to a singular, unified sight and sound: Eight young men breathing their souls into worn brass horns. The music bounced off skyscrapers and stopped taxicabs. Businessmen stared, bewildered. Tourists danced rapturously on the sidewalk.

I stood there, and listened. The serendipitous scene lifted my spirit up and away from the city bustle. Their genre-­‐bending sound demanded as much attention as their chops. Without words, their compositions told stories about their lives.

In a time where American Idol and the overnight celebrity existed as the popular examples of people who made it, here was this band, performing on the street, and representing an entirely different ethos about art and expression. Their talent demonstrated potential that would later attract multiple major record companies, as well as collaborations with Prince, Maxwell, Maceo Parker, Damon Albarn, Tony Allen, and Mos Def… but there they were, just playing on the corner, for everyday people.

That night, after they’d sold out of a crate of their CDs and packed up to go home, I talked with them and began to learn the incredible truth about their band.”

The film that resulted from this chance encounter debuted last year at the annual SXSW 2013 music and film conference in Austin, TX and makes its New Orleans debut at the CAC next Wednesday.

 

Brothers Hypnotic screens Wednesday, February 19 at 7 p.m. at the Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp Street). Doors open at 6 p.m. with light refreshments available for purchase on the CAC’s SPUN Cafe before the film. Tickets are $7 general admission, or Free for CAC and NOFS members. More Info: www.neworleansfilmsociety.org

 

OFFBEAT TICKET GIVE-AWAY CONTEST

OffBeat Magazine is giving away [2] pairs of tickets to the film screening on February 19!

Complete the online form below and submit to enter the contest.

Winners will be notified via email by Tuesday, February 18.

Good Luck!