Catalyst

People living anywhere other than southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or New York in the '70s missed the Catalyst experience. A four-man jazz combo from Philadelphia, the band played a blend of avant-garde, contemporary bop, soul, and funk at the dawn of the big fusion explosion. The original members were Eddie Green (keyboards, vocals), Sherman Ferguson (drums, percussion, marimba), Odean Pope (sax, flute, oboe), and Al Johnson (bass). Tyrone Brown replaced Johnson after Catalyst's self-titled debut album on Cobblestone Records in 1972. Producer Skip Drinkwater discovered ...