The Pharaohs started out as a student band under the direction of James Mack at Crane Junior College on the West Side in 1962. Years later the band hooked up with Kehan Phil Cohran's Artistic Heritage Ensemble on the South Side, one of the precursors to the long-standing Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). When Cohran left to teach at Malcolm X College, the two bands merged under the Pharaohs moniker. more ›