Jowee Omicil

Born in Montreal into a Haitian family, Jowee Omicil since the mid-1990s has developed a career spanning jazz, free improvisation, Caribbean music, groove, and more open forms where singing, spoken word and hip-hop–like pulsations cross paths. A wind-focused multi-instrumentalist, Omicil studied notably at Berklee before moving between North America, Paris and other international scenes, in contexts ranging from the acoustic quartet to more hybrid projects. His music remains strongly linked to Haitian heritage while relying on a mobile, often collective writing, where melodies stay supple and rhythms are very present. After Let’s Do This (2006) and Roots & Grooves (2009), Omicil continued this trajectory with Naked (2014), Let’s BasH (2017) and Love Matters! (2018), then with tighter projects like LeKture (2020), Y Pati with Randy Kerber (2020) and M.O.M with Louis and François Moutin (2021). He has also been heard alongside musicians such as Roy Hargrove, Tony Allen, Ibrahim Maalouf, Richard Bona or André 3000, and seen in the series The Eddy. In 2023, Jowee Omicil releases Spiritual Healing: Bwa Kayiman Freedom Suite, inspired by Haitian history, confirming a path where spirituality, memory and improvisation occupy a central place.