Customer Reviews

Funkiest Band You Never Heard

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I cannot believe that I haven't heard of these guys before now. Catalyst is this awesome Philly-based band that can play funk, straight-ahead jazz, rock, avant-garde jazz and even some classical. This is one of the best album purchases I've made in awhile and if you listen to Herbie's "Headhunters" era, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, or even Sun Ra; definitely check these guys out. "Shorter Street" is a personal favorite.

The early '70s jazz fusion bands not only radically changed the parameters of the "jazz sound" by the use of electric instruments and electronics; many of them absorbed the range of musical styles that were then new to American popular culture, mainly Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, East Indian, and sub-Saharan African forms. This approach reflected the growing sense of pan-Africanist political identity and the expanded consciousness that had come about through the expanded sexual mores, religious and philosophical discoveries, and the use of a wide range of drugs.

Catalyst, from Philly, were definitely in the thick of this eclectic fusion movement, and this set of all four of their Muse albums, superbly remastered by Gene Paul, reveals the band to be one of the era's most-accomplished. The players of Catalyst were slightly older than those in some of the other fusion bands, which may account for their continued use of distinct post-bop motifs in some cases and in their use of largely-acoustic ensembles, barring Eddie Green's electric piano. But all the contemporary styles of that time can be heard here: Eastern modes and timbres on "East" and "Jabali"; Afro-Latin elements on "Suite for Albeniz" (which is also a classical fusion, carrying forward the sound of "Sketches of Spain",) "Bahia", and "Ile Ife"; and a soul-jazz/funk style that ranges from light radio-fare ("Got to be There") to an ominous suite in two parts ("The Demon, Parts 1 and 2".)

Simply put, the band's name says it all.

One of my sons asked me several times whether I had ever heard of Catalyst, a `70s band whose CD he had picked up at a used record store. I said that I had never heard of them and did not give the matter any further thought. Then one day he asked me whether I would like to listen to an "awesome" recording and handed me this two-CD set. Striving hard to be a good father, I dutifully stuck Disk One into my dashboard CD player on the way to work one morning--and wound up playing both disks over and over again all day. Great stuff! This set includes all four albums that Catalyst released in the early "70s, and I can't believe I never heard them back then. The nucleus of the group was four musicians from the Philadelphia area: Eddie Green (keyboards), Odean Pope (tenor sax), Al Johnson (bass), and Sherman Ferguson (drums). Their music was jazzy, soulful, expressive, and yes, they really may be the funkiest band you never heard.

I first heard Catalyst on a rare compilation called "Coolin'", part of the Freedom Jazz Dance series that took a look at 70s funky jazz from the Muse label. Now, thanks to this fantastic collection "The Funkiest Band You Never Heard" I can finally hear every note they recorded. AWESOME!!!