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CATALYST
The Funkiest Band You Never Heard (32 Groove)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
It was only a matter of time before Adam Dorn started to mine the catalog holdings at 32 Records for the kind of grooves he reworks in his guise as Mocean Worker. Hence, 32 Groove joins the 32 family with the release of a two disc, four album look at Catalyst, The Funkiest Band You Never Heard.
It's likely that you never heard the band, but if you've been paying attention, you've certainly heard of the players. Catalyst was made up of some of the hottest jazz and funk players on the Philly scene in the seventies, with Eddie Green on keyboards, Odean Pope on tenor and Sherman Ferguson on drums, with Alphonso Johnson and Anthony Jackson trading off the bass chores. Prior to Catalyst, you might have heard some of the members on stage or on record with Etta James, Miles Davis, Billy Paul, Jimmy McGriff, Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, Pat Martino, Kenny Burrell or Woody Herman. Since Catalyst, you may have heard them just about everywhere else. This was a group with credits to spare.
And it was a group with chops to spare, as well, amply displayed on the four albums they released on Muse Records in the early seventies. Rather than chop them up for a compilation and possibly deprive us of hearing some of these gems, Dorn has offered up all four albums complete on a pair of CDs, and is also making them available as a vinyl collection so that today's turntablists can properly access these vintage sounds. I predict you'll hear bits and pieces of this stuff everywhere real soon, but you really owe it to yourself to hear the source right now.
Track Lists:
Disc One: Catalyst - Ain't It The Truth * East * Catalyst Is Coming * Jabali * New Found Truths * Salaam * Unity - A Country Song * Little Miss Lady * Maze * Athene * Mail Order * Shorter Street
Disc Two: A Tear And A Smile - The Demon, Pt. 1 * The Demon, Pt. 2 * A Tear And A Smile * Fifty Second Street Boogie Down * Suite For Albeniz * A Prayer Dance * Bahia * Perception - Perception * Uzuri * Celestial Bodies * Ile Ife * Got To Be There
© 1999 - Shaun Dale