Emerging from Chicago's vibrant jazz scene in the early 1960s, multi-instrumentalist Kelan Phil Cohran, then simply Phil Cohran, embarked on a remarkable musical journey. His tenure with Sun Ra's Arkestra saw him contribute to foundational recordings such as 'We Travel the Space Ways'. Yet, Cohran's insatiable curiosity and diverse interests prevented him from settling into any single artistic endeavor. A founding member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in 1965, he soon branched out, releasing acclaimed albums with Philip Cohran & the Artistic Heritage Ensemble. Later decades found him delving into African diaspora history, astronomy, and various spiritual traditions, even crafting his own instruments and establishing an educational center and performance venue.
In 1993, Cohran, a passionate astronomer himself, was commissioned by Chicago's Adler Planetarium to compose the soundtrack for their 'African Skies' show. This evocative and atmospheric work, created with four accompanying musicians, saw a limited vinyl release in 2010, rapidly becoming a sought-after item among collectors. Now, thanks to Stones Throw's Listening Position label, this rare gem has been reissued on vinyl. The album, 'African Skies', offers a compelling fusion of familiar and innovative sounds, drawing clear parallels to the spiritual jazz resurgence of the past fifteen years. The consistent presence of harp, masterfully played by Cohran and Josefe Marie Verna, evokes the spirit of artists like Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby. Despite its concise duration of seven tracks over 37 minutes, the album traverses a rich tapestry of sounds from across the African continent and beyond, maintaining an immediate and captivating appeal through its intricate circular rhythms and flowing melodies.
The album's pervasive mood is one of focused meditation, characterized by its loose yet minimal structure and lush, subtly unconventional arrangements. The opening track, 'Theme', anchors itself with a single-chord bassline, around which plucked strings, reeds, and vocals entwine like colorful streamers. Notably, 'African Skies' features minimal conventional percussion, with Cohran's congas being the exception; instead, every instrument contributes rhythmically. A recurring element is Cohran's unique, handcrafted Frankiphon, an electrified thumb piano that sings with a blend of harp-like resonance and percussive drive. Solos occasionally take center stage, such as on 'Sahara', where a bowed bass provides a foundation for a lengthy, climbing and descending solo. 'White Nile', a ten-minute highlight, features a bowed bass and plucked harp intricately weaving together, propelling the piece with insistent melodic cycles, complemented by Aquilla Sadalla's wordless, soaring vocals and Cohran's expressive trumpet work. The album also journeys to early 20th-century Chicago with 'Cohran Blues', a raw blues progression that stands in contrast to the ethereal 'White Nile', yet all tracks find common ground in the album's singular artistic vision. As poet and critic Amiri Baraka envisioned in his 1966 essay 'The Changing Same', 'African Skies' embodies a 'Unity Music'—a harmonious blend of structural boldness and accessible beauty, fulfilling the promise of a socially conscious and spiritually rich Black musical future.