It takes a profound gift and a selfless heart to produce music of healing power that both grooves and soothes with righteous spirit and technical mastery. Winds instrument master Jowee Omicil is in possession of the keys on his soulful sophomore CD, Roots & Grooves
– in stores November 2nd. Playing nearly ALL manner of wind and reed instruments – primarily saxophones, clarinet and flutes – Jowee has crafted a transfixing 15-song CD melding sounds from `round the globe, utilizing musicians and technicians from four continents. The music branches from a base of jazz to include the essence of many cultures with indigenous roots in the music of Haiti, the place of Canadian-born Jowee's extended family roots. More than a mere player, Jowee (pronounced like "Joey") is a unique and prolific composer, producer, arranger, vocalist band leader and music instructor who has devoted much of his time to passing down his broad knowledge of musicology to students of all ages. The son of a father who was both a minister and a professor of Theology, Jowee is now passionately focused on sharing his music with the world through recordings and performance. On May 18, 2010, Jowee had the honor of being invited to President Barack Obama's White House to play his music for its inaugural observation of Haitian Flag Day before 150 VIP guests. With his latest release, Roots & Grooves, Jowee offers a work that is steeped in purpose yet listener-friendly and accessible to all. In essence, that is the only way he knows to approach the making of his music. "Roots & Grooves is very different from my first CD, Let's Do This (2006)," Jowee states of his album (mixed in Japan by acclaimed engineer Goh Hotoda who helmed Marcus Miller's acclaimed CD Tales). "The quantifying equalizer is spirituality. Roots & Grooves is the complete Jowee – all the music the way I hear it. Aesthetically, I was directed to develop a special sound..." Jowee is an intuitive tone weaver of fusion, blending his singing voice with his "voice" on wind instruments, and in possession of a very unique approach to arranging. One example is the burning instrumental "CubhaTiando," a piece Jowee and drummer Francisco Mela composed dedicated to Cuba and Haiti. Within you hear strands of both cultures in the rhythms and the solo strains of Jowee and electric guitarist Nir Felder. Also there is a solo of Jowee's titled "Ayibobo," a percussive piece on which he plays all of the instruments and is joined on turntable by Val Jeanty that is dedicated to the mother land. "J n Jn" is a remake of an electric song from his first album that Jowee decided to re-examine with a more naked "roots" approach (the title is abbreviations of his name and of co-writer, Jean-Marc Faustin.)