Biographies

ELLIOTT COHN

After hearing Jimi Hendrix at age 11 Elliott Cohn knew that singing and playing the guitar was for him. He developed a great love for the blues and by age 18 had already jammed with such greats as John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Big Daddy Kinsey and Lucky Peterson. This was due in part to Donald Kinsey (Big Daddy's son) and Ron Prince, both excellent guitarist, showing him the ropes in the south side Chicago blues arena.

Elliott also enjoyed a ton of on stage collaborations at Skippers Smokehouse in his home town of Tampa,FL. thanks to the watchful eye of owner/booking agent Tom White and a buzz in the local press raving about "this hot shot kid on guitar." In his early 20's Cohn fell in love w/ funk music. He has since performed all over the country in a variety of bands from small clubs in New York City to giant festival stages in New Orleans! In fact the only time Elliott wasn't rollin' full steam ahead was for a brief time in 2001 when he took some time out to hone his musical production skills and to work on his first solo album "The Stem" with the help of his friend Felix Pastourious.

The current group, "Elliott Cohn's Cosmic Sweat Society" was formed when Cohn moved to New Orleans in early 2003. Rooted in funk, rock, blues, and jazz, this band has caught the attention of fans and fellow musicians. Elliott has been invited to share the stage and/or record with Galatic, MoFro, The Lee Boys, Papa Mali, Pappa Grows Funk, Col. Bruce, Vince Wellnick, George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars, Hot 8 Brass Band, The Soul Rebels Brass Band and many others.

In 2005 Sammie "Big Sam" Williams (trombone for Dirty Dozen Brass Band/B.S.F.N.) turned to Elliott to help him create his "take me back" cd. Cohn Produced and engineered the album, played lead/rhythm guitar on all tracks, sang back up vocals,and brought his C.S.S. lineup including Kenny Green (bass), Ian Hodge (drums) and Adam Matasar (keys) into the studio for 8 of the 11 tracks!! Elliott and the boys then played live w/ Sam thru 2006 moonlighting as the funky nation. This caught the attention of Shamarr Allen (trumpet for Rebirth brass band/solo artist) who recorded a fusion version of the War classic - "The world is a ghetto" utilizing the exact same c.s.s. lineup w/Cohn producing, engineering, playing guitar and singing, once again.

This tune and many others were then performed live at a series of shows billed as Shamarr Allen w/Elliott Cohn and the Cosmic Sweat Society. These shows eventually resulted in the formation of the New Orleans all star band "The UnderDawgs" after attracting "Mean" Willie Green (drums for the Neville Bros./Bob Dylan/etc.) who had been friends w/ Elliott since he moved to the crescent city, Byron "Flee" Bernard (sax for Rebirth brass band) who had been friends w/Shamarr for years and Mike Burkart (keys for The Revealers). While the UnderDawgs have yet to record a studio album, but when Elliott, Kenny, Willie, Mike, Shamarr and Byron all hit the stage together, it's a great live show!

Elliott Cohn's Cosmic Sweat Society's cd "It's Time" released at the 2008 Jazz Fest, is available on line and in stores. The album features many of the musicians mentioned above, plus Jeff Watkins (lead sax for James Brown/Joss Stone) and many more!!!

Hope ya got big ears....