Francisco Mora Catlett is a drummer, composer, and educator who began his musical career in Mexico City where he worked as a session musician for Capitol Records from 1968-1970. He studied music at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and with a Grant from the Mexican government from 1970 to 1973, he studied drums with Alan Dawson and composition at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He left Mexico City with Sun Ra in 1973 and worked with him until 1980. In 1987, while in Detroit, he released his first album as a leader, the Pan-Afro project “Mora!”

Among the several grants he received, one was from the NEA to study with Max Roach in New York City. Mora Catlett worked with Roach's percussion ensemble M'Boom, appearing on two Blue Moon LPs, “To the Max” (1990) and “Live at S.O.B.'s” (1992), in addition to composing for Mr. Roach’s Uptown String…