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. Cohran said that he taught White and his brothers music in their youth, much as
The Wailers were tutored by
Joe Higgs.
On the Beach features the
Frankiphone on the title track, as well as a piece called "New Frankiphone Blues". Several of Cohran's sons make up eight of the nine members of the
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, which consists of four trumpets, two trombones, one euphonium, a sousaphone and drums. With
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble he recorded an album which had a simple idea: "my music and their band". Cohran taught voice and music to inner city youth and adults at
Northeastern Illinois University's Center for Inner City Studies. He died in
Chicago, on June 28, 2017, at the age of 90. ==Discography==