A*ron, I made myself a nice little Fertile Ground comp at work today for my commute home, and thought of this thread....serendipity!
Fertile Ground(from Baltimore, and gigging regular in DC)cover a lot of musical ground, but they remain firmly rooted in the Doug and Jean Carn school of spiritual jazz/r&b. There are always some nice swirling Rhodes workouts on their stuff even through their 3rd release, Seasons Change. Their newest one "Black Is..." veers into more R&B but with more Oneness of Juju than Strata East influence. Overall the vibe may be a bit too "Headwraps and Incense" for many folks here, but they have several great contemporary spiritual jazz numbers to seek out, and live they completely cook. The wife and I see them every chance we get.
If you wondered what bands nowadays are the equivalent of some of the great 70s DC/Baltimore bands like Oneness of Juju or Madhubuti, look for Fertile Ground.
http://www.blackoutstudios.com
