JAZZTIMES: A REVIEW OF KATALYST JID013
Compared to the other outré jazz elders on Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s Jazz Is Dead label, Katalyst is a still a relatively fresh proposition: Inglewood, California-born in 2014. Each of the nine “Kats” is known for writing their own material, then stitching it together with the other members’ contributions to create an oblong soulful quilt, building on and feeding off the overall communal energy. It is this collective mentality that knits Katalyst to Jazz Is Dead’s brand. For the Kats’ approach is based on the local incubator tradition that came before them, namely the 1960s of Horace Tapscott’s Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and Union of God’s Musicians Ascension Association. And if anything thrills Younge and Muhammad’s JID, it’s connecting the past—Los Angeles’ multiracial jazz past, in particular—to the present.
