Dan Cohen


Family/Misc. Pictures

In 1996 Dan Cohen, owner of Computer Center of North America and the Automation Store, all high tech businesses in the greater Philadelphia area, rekindled his old passion for music. He had played in numerous bands in the Pittsburgh area but had taken a hiatus while he nurtured his companies.
When he decided to form another band he realized he had a problem, time . The swing and R&B music he loved to play all needed a 10-piece band with horns to make it sound good and it would take years of practice with the right players to make it work. That's when the idea came to him to let technology make it all happen.
All of Dan's businesses involve computers and electronics. He took his knowledge of both these elements and put together the Philly Horn Band. Using state of the art sound processors and computer sequencing he created a virtual set of backup musicians that could make the band appear to have 12 musicians. When he layered his custom designed set of electronic drums on top of this, he had the backbone for the band. Now he needed a core group of singers and musicians to provide the "live" aspects to the sound. So where would a computer person look for these people? On the Internet, of course. A repertoire covering everything from Frank Sinatra to James Brown could easily be built through this concept.
After playing in the delco area for about two years as a five-piece band, we decided to give people the option of hiring the band with a real horn section. With the newly added horn players doubling as vocalists, the band now sounds better than ever.