Joseph Omicil, Jr, known professionally as Jowee BasH! Omicil, is a Haitian-Canadian jazz musician. He has worked in the past with artists such as Randy Kerber, Ibrahim Maalouf, Tony Allen, Jacob Desvarieux,

Roy Hargrove Roy Anthony Hargrove (October 16, 1969 – November 2, 2018) was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved worldwide acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles ...

, Michel Martelly, Glen Ballard and

Francisco Mela Francisco Jose Mela is a Cuban drummer and percussionist who has performed with a wide array of prominent international Latin and jazz artists including Kenny Barron, Gary Bartz, JoAnne Brackeen, Jane Bunnett, Regina Carter, Anat Cohen, Pa ...

. Born in Montreal, Omicil spends his time between Miami and Paris.

Early life

Jowee Omicil was born to Rose-Annette Innocent and Joseph C. Omicil, a pastor. Omicil's mother passed when he was only 5 years old.

Career

Omicil was 15 when his father enrolled him in music school, much to his own surprise. The intent was to have him learn an instrument to accompany the church choir. However Omicil was directed away from his first choice of the piano which already had too many students and he eventually chose the alto saxophone. Three years into his studies Omicil was offered a scholarship to the prestigious

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in Boston, where he majored in Music Education. Later on he also attended the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz among the 20 finalists and was featured on BET Jazz. Over the course of his career Omicil has played with a number of prominent musicians such as

Branford Marsalis Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed inst ...

Richard Bona Richard Bona (born 28 October 1967) is a Cameroon-born American multi-instrumentalist and singer. Early life Bona Penda Nya Yuma Elolo was born in Minta, Cameroon, into a family of musicians, which enabled him to start learning music from a y ...

, Kenny Garrett,

Marcus Miller William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work as a bassist. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandros ...

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

, Wyclef Jean, Harold Faustin and

Cimafunk Erik Alejandro Iglesias Rodríguez (born 1989), known professionally as Cimafunk, is a Cubans, Cuban musician known for mixing funk and hip hop music, hip hop with Music of Cuba, Cuban and Afro-Caribbean music, Afro-Caribbean music. His most recen ...

to name a few. In July 2018 Omicil served as master of ceremony at a tribute concert celebrating Quincy Jones' 85th birthday at Montreux, Switzerland. Omicil appears in the

Damien Chazelle Damien Sayre Chazelle (; born January 19, 1985) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is known for his films ''Whiplash'' (2014), ''La La Land'' (2016), and '' First Man'' (2018). For ''Whiplash'', he was nominated for the ...

-created Netflix show The Eddy. 2020 and 2021 has been very productive for Jowee BasH! He used his time during the pandemic to release a solo album, "LeKture"! In parallel he did a creation " Y Pati ", a duet with the American Hollywood pianist Randy Kerber, whom he met on the set of the series The Eddy! Y Pati was released in December 2020! Also, the "Big In Jazz Collective" was born with the release in July 2021 of the Album "Global". Finally at the end of 2020 Jowee returns to the studio with the brothers Louis and François Moutin and they recorded "M.O.M" which was released in September 2021 on Laborie Jazz Records. Without forgetting other numerous collaborations, with artists from all horizons such as Anne Sila, Ibrahim Maalouf, Napoleon Madox & Sorg, Kandy Guira, Sopico, Kazy Lambist, Pongo...

Discography

Soundtrack

* 2013: ''Ayiti Toma, The Land of The Living'', documentary by Joseph Hillel * 2020: ''THE EDDY'' Netflix Show Joanna Kulig (vocals), Jorja Smith (Vocals), Sopico (Vocals), Jowee Omicil (saxophones), Randy Kerber (piano), Damian Nueva (bass), Ludovic Louis (Trumpets), Lada Obradovic (drums)

Collaborations

Movie

* 2021: ''Big In Jazz Collective'', documentary by Marina Jallier * 2020: '' The Eddy'', Netflix show, directed by

Houda Benyamina Houda Benyamina (born 1980) is a French director and screenwriter. She won the Cannes Film Festival Camera d'Or and César Award for Best First Feature Film for her 2016 film ''Divines''. Benyamina was born in Viry-Châtillon, Paris in a Morocca ...

, Laïla Marrakchi and Alan Poul * 2019: ''This Is The Bash'', feature documentary by Mario Tahi Lathan

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omicil, Jowee 1977 births 21st-century Canadian composers Black Canadian musicians Canadian jazz composers Canadian saxophonists Canadian people of Haitian descent Living people Musicians from Montreal 21st-century jazz composers