Phil Cohran

Kelan Phil Cohran (May 8, 1927 June 28, 2017) was an American jazz musician. He was best known for playing trumpet in the Sun Ra Arkestra in Chicago from 1959 to 1961, and for his involvement in the foundation of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

Biography Cohran was born in Oxford, Mississippi, on May 8, 1927. There, his father became a cook in a restaurant in Troy, while the rest of the family stayed in St. Louis.

He was introduced to the Sun Ra Arkestra by John Gilmore in 1959. He appeared on the albums Fate In A Pleasant Mood and Angels and Demons at Play among others. He played mostly trumpet and sometimes stringed instruments such as the zither.

When the Arkestra moved from Chicago in 1961, Cohran declined to accompany them. In 1965 he took part in the founding of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. He formed the Artistic Heritage Ensemble with Pete Cosey, future members of Earth, Wind and Fire's horn section and Motown percussionist "Master" Henry Gibson, among others. By this time, he was playing the harp, cornet, French horn, baritone saxophone and percussion. The group recorded the album On the Beach around 1967.

In 1967, Cohran founded the Afro-Arts Theater, a center for African American musicians, in Chicago's South Side.

Early in his career, he invented an instrument he called the Frankiphone or the Space Harp, which is actually an electrified mbira or kalimba; he played it on some of Sun Ra's early albums. This instrument inspired Maurice White to use an electrified Kalimba in performance with Earth, Wind and Fire. White Nile (1993)

As sideman With Sun Ra Interstellar Low Ways (1959) Holiday for Soul Dance (1960) Fate in a Pleasant Mood (1960) Angels and Demons at Play (1965)

Filmography Skywatchers of Africa (2002), music composition