Fertile Ground

Fertile Ground is an American soul jazz band founded in Baltimore in 1998. Led by James H. Collins Jr., the original three-piece lineup consisted of vocalist Navasha Daya and drummer Marcus Asante. They focused on soulful songwriting and world rhythms, releasing their debut studio album, Field Songs (1998), through Collins' label Blackout Studios. They followed this with the album Spiritual War (1999). In 2000, Counterpoint Records licensed their first two albums for a compilation titled Perception (2000). Their music achieved international distribution through the Japanese label P-Vine Records, which released their work across Asia. By 2002, the ensemble had sold 85,000 copies of their initial two albums. Following the group's early successes, Daya released a solo studio album titled Rebirthed Above Ground (2012). Percussionist Ekendra Das also issued a solo project titled Ethnomusicology while continuing to perform and record with various artists.