Fertile Ground is an American

soul jazz Soul jazz or funky jazz is a subgenre of jazz that incorporates strong influences from hard bop, blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues. Soul jazz is often characterized by organ trios featuring the Hammond organ and small combos including ten ...

band led by James H. Collins Jr. The group was founded in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

History

James Collins founded Fertile Ground in 1998 as a three-piece band with vocalist Navasha Daya and drummer Marcus Asante. The band represented soulful songwriting over world rhythms. Collins created the record label Blackout Studios, and the band self-released ''Field Songs'' (1998) and ''Spiritual War'' (1999). In 2000, label owner Jake Behnan of Counterpoint Records became enthused about the band and licensed the band's first two albums for a compilation entitled ''Perception''. The Japanese label P-Vine Records agreed to release the band's music throughout Asia. By 2002, the band had sold 85,000 copies of their first two albums. In 2012, Daya released a solo album, ''Rebirthed Above Ground''. Percussionist Ekendra Das now lives in Florida, and released his own project entitled ''Ethnomusicology'', as well as an instructional DVD on percussion. He still performs and records with various artists, and teaches as well.

References

{{Authority control Jazz in Maryland American jazz fusion ensembles Musical groups from Baltimore Musical groups established in 1998 1998 establishments in Maryland