Formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the turn of the 1970s, Catalyst was a jazz funk quartet who are now acknowledge as jazz fusion pioneers. The group was composed of Eddie Green (keyboards/vocals), Alphonso Johnson (bass), Odean Pope (saxophone/flute/oboe), and Sherman Ferguson (percussion). The group was signed to Muse Records after producer Skip Drinkwater heard them play in a club in West Philadelphia. They released their debut album in 1972 and spent time touring Philadelphia and New York. Alphonso Johnson left the band to join Weather Report and was replaced by Tyrone Brown. Their second album, Perception, was released in 1973. Adding drummer Bill Hart to the line-up, they released the album Unity in 1974. A year later, Catalyst released the album A Tear and a Smile, but after poor sales, the band called it quits in 1976. A few of the former band members went on to play with artists like Pat Martino, Max Roach, Pharoah Sanders, Bud Shank, and others. In the 1990s, there was a resurgence of interest in the band, leading to the release of The Funkiest Band You Never Heard, a two CD set containing all four of their albums.
