Fresh Prospects: Jackson Powell / Mary Orji

Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Jackson Powell’s first headlining performance since attending Berklee College of Music comes nearly a year after the release of his EP, The Unwanted Busyness of an Overactive Mind. With influences ranging from Robert Glasper and Hiatus Kaiyote to Radiohead and Prince, Jackson’s genre-blending sound has enabled him to perform at legendary venues such as San Francisco’s Black Cat and collaborate with notable artists such as MXXWLL, ROMderful, Naji, and Braxton Cook. Aside from his own work, Jackson has contributed to numerous recorded projects as a producer, engineer, songwriter, and session musician.

Mary Orji is a multi-instrumentalist and creative shape-shifter from Endicott, New York. Her main voice can be heard from the tenor saxophone and poetry. She is inspired musically and compositionally by Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Houston Persons, and Grover Washington, just to name a few. Mary’s style is a fusion of every genre, making her genre-less. The mission statement of her music is to express her love for the higher power by evoking the ancestors, fusing poems with music, rhythm, and freeness, and tapping into the collective consciousness of the universe to bring healing and light to anyone who listens.