SpiriTuaL HeaLinG: Bwa KaYimaN FreeDoM SuiTe

Throughout his career, Haitian-Canadian composer/multi-instrumentalist Jowee Omicil has recorded albums of contemporary jazz, funk, soul, fusion, various global folk styles, modal, post-bop, and more. Spiritual Healing: Bwa Kayiman Freedom Suite marks the first time hes employed history as inspiration. Specifically, August 14, 1791, in Haitis Bois Caiman, when slaves from several plantations gathered for a voodoo ceremony that birthed the idea and inspiration for Haitis 12-year revolution. Spiritual Healing: Bwa Kayiman Freedom Suite is performed by Omicil on saxophones, woodwinds, and brass, Arnaud Dolmen and Yoann Danier on drums, Jendah Manga on bass, and Randy Kerber and Jonathan Jurion on various keyboards. Over 60 minutes and 21 tracks, the band aesthetically envisions and transposes the spirit of that evening. No matter how kinetic, dissonant, or disruptive this music can be, it is rendered with a calm, collective center. "BasHquiat Intro" commences with a chant, percussion, bass clarinet, and chimes. It is solemn and incantatory as jumbled electric piano chords join the fray just before an acoustic piano grafts gospel chords onto the progression. "Call to Warzone," with sparse electric bass, electric guitar, and trumpet, advances new utterances in group dialogue. "Scout Yo La" uses acoustic piano, piccolo, and drums to engage in call-and-response with itself and an electric Wurlitzer pianos blocky chords, chanting, and handclaps. "Corbeau & Le Renard" approaches vanguard jazz-funk through syncopated percussion, bluesy alto, and modal piano chords that serve to frame contrasting drum patterns. "Echape Blues" is indeed a blues, with loose, slippery applications of a Ka drum, trap kit, electric bass, and piano which fashion a shifting pulse under Omicil and vamp in a marching rhythm. "Cry 4 HeLp" emerges from a syncopated breakbeat snare pattern. Soprano sax and piano swirl around percussion and one another, contrasting short and long phrases in urgent conversation. Another blues, "Blue Cotton" strolls and shuffles through lyric post-bop before the Ka drum and kit join to create a tension the other instrumentalists respond to. "Redevance" is a complex exercise in polyrhythmic, post-bop swing; Omicils tight, pointed alto lines in the solo recall Greg Osbys. Further, its title ("royalties" in French), seemingly references reparations owed to descendants. Closer "LangaJ RaLavire" ushers a low-end bass while interlocking piano and drums engage in a rhythm inspired by New Orleans second-line street parades. They frame an urgent trumpet adorned by kick drums. The insistent pulse is a guidepost for Omicils alto playing modal blues. In its expressionistic evocation of a poignant and paramount moment in Black history, the playing on Spiritual Healing: Bwa Kayiman Freedom Suite is not only inspired, its passionate, beautifully performed, and should resonate with all fans of vanguard jazz. ~ Thom Jurek