Born: August 3, 1952 Primary Instrument: Saxophone
Premik Russell Tubbs, a composer, arranger, producer and an accomplished multi-instrumentalist performs on various flutes, soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, wind synthesizers, and lap steel guitar.
Premik has worked with everyone from Carlos Santana, Whitney Houston, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Ravi Shankar, Narada Michael Walden, Clarence Clemons, Ornette Coleman, Jackson Browne, Jean-Luc Ponty, Lonnie Liston-Smith, Scarlet Riveria, James Taylor, Sting and Lady Gaga just to name a few. He is equally adept in pop, R&B, jazz, world and experimental genres.
Brief Highlights ~ Recent Years
Premik’s May of 2008 schedule led him to perform in Sting's Rainforest Foundation Fund benefit concert Some Kinda Legacy at Carnegie Hall followed by extensive touring with Russian legend Boris Grebenshikov beginning in London at the Royal Albert Hall, continuing on to Dublin, Kiev, Milan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, ending the year in Vienna. In 2008 he accompanied both Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka Shankar on tamboura at the Kimmell Center in Philadelphia and on various occassions in 2009 he accompanied on flute and saxophone the contemporary Rabindrasangeet vocalist Rezwana Chowdhury Banya. May of 2009 brought Premik to California for the Narada Michael Walden Foundation, Let the Sunshine In benefit concert. May of 2010 Premik played at Carnegie Hall in the The Rainforest Fund's 21st Birthday Celebration Benefit Concert. June of 2010 Premik performed at Sting & Trudie Styler’s NYC apartment (private dinner- fund raiser) following the Jazz at Lincoln Center performance of Twin Spirits, a celebration of composer Robert Schumann’s 200th birthday.
Premik took part in several workshop/performances, January 2011 in Bangalore, India titled Cornucopia of Groove with tabla master Ustad Kadar Khan and trumpeter, Joe Kaminski and young sitar master Deepsankar Bhattacharjee.
November 2011, Premik toured with renowned Indian vocalist and 2011 Grammy nominee, Chandrika Tandon, in Fairfield, Iowa and Boulder, Colorado along with bansuri master Steve Gorn.
Premik completed the original music composition and arrangement for Vinit Parmar’s award winning documentary Living River.. in 2011. The Ganges, the iconic river of India supports 400 million people everyday. Volunteers clean the river only to find the river is still polluted. This poignant film tells their story, following the journey of hope to the death and cancers that follow.
2011-2012 Premik, along with the talented young composer Andrew Cass, assisted in co-writing and arranging the music for Princess K.I.M. The Musical. It was the first place winner of the 2012 National New Play Festival at the Caryl Crane Children's Theater in Huron, Ohio and was awarded a full production in Ohio in April 2013 (date to come). Then in the Fall of 2013 the Premier Performance will be held at the Amato Center for the Performing Arts in Milford, NH on Oct 3-6, 2013.
In March of this year, 2012, Premik was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall as a guest soloist in the world premiere of composer Karl Jenkins' latest work 'The Peacemakers in which he played bansuri (Indian bamboo flute), tin whistle and celtic flute.
In April, Premik was once again invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in the 2012 Revlon Concert For The Rainforest Fund featuring Sting, Elton John, James Taylor, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Hudson, Bruno Mars, Katharine Mcphee, Bryn Terfel, Rosanne Cash and Vince Gill.
In 2010, Premik met mandolin maestro Snehasish Mozumder and was immediately enthralled with his unique & electrifying approach to East/West fusion music. His compositions are challenging to play (odd time signatures, fast riffs galore) but fun! The interesting instrumentation of his band Snehasish Mozumder & SOM (which means “sound of mandolin”) consists of: double neck mandolin, 2 saxes, tablas & dhol (Indian drums), drums, bass, keyboard. Premik played with SOM In the Battle of the Boroughs: Manhattan, June 2012, with this band being honored as the band representing global music to compete among five other bands of different music genres in the Ultimate Battle.
Recent Recordings
In November of 2010 Premik recorded with 2010 Grammy nominee vocalist and composer Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon.
Recording projects in 2010-2012 with grammy award-winning producer and founder of Windham Hill Records Will Ackerman include albums by Fiona Jay Hawkins, Shambhu, Dean Boland, Rebecca Harrold, Ronnda Cadle and Masako.
Premik and Uli Geissendoerfer will soon be releasing their own collaborative duo CD titled Passport to Happyness.
Extended List-Recording Credits:
With Carlos Santana “The Swing of Delight” (Also co-writer and co-arranger along with Herbie Hancock), With Whitney Houston “How Will I Know” (1 single from the album, “Whitney Houston”) Also, “Love is A Contact Sport” from the album 'Whitney,” With Regina Belle “Baby, Come to Me,” from the album “Stay with Me,” With Clarence Clemons & Jackson Browne. “You're a Friend of Mine” from the album “Hero,” With John McLaughlin, “Visions of the Emerald Beyond”, With Narada Micheal Walden “The Garden of Love-Light” and “I Cry, I Smile,” With Lonnie Liston Smith “Rejuvenation” and “Silhouettes,” With Jermaine Stewart “We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off (To Have a Good Time)” and “Don't Ever Leave Me”, both from the album “Frantic Romantic,” With Yoko Ogimone “The Verge of Love”, With Shambhu Neil Vineberg “Equinox”, With Edgar Patterson Mills “Buddha on Mars”, With Kristin Hoffman “Real”, “The Waking” (produced by Michael Whalen), With Uli Geissendoerfer & Bangalore Breakdown “Diary”, With Boris Grebenshikov “White Horse”, With Greg Bendian & Mahavishnu Project “Return to the Emerald Beyond”, Ursel Schlicht. Off-Broadway soundtrack “Playing with Heiner Müller”.
Premik is listed in THE HISTORY OF TOP 40 SAXOPHONE SOLOS 1955-2005 -by John Laughter & Steve D. Marshall.
Extended List - Artists whom Premik has worked with:
Carlos Santana, Whitney Houston, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Ravi Shankar, Larry Coryell, Jeff Beck, Sting, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Narada Michael Walden, Gil Goldstein, Jean-Luc Ponty, Clara Ponty, Ornette Coleman, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, George Duke, Lonnie Liston-Smith, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Regina Belle, Jermaine Stewart, Carl Lewis, Brenda Russell, Clarence Clemons & other members of the E Street Band, Jackson Browne, Pete Seeger, Harry Chapin, Don McLean, Cecil McBee, Harvey Mason, T.M. Stevens, Anoushka Shankar, L. Subramanium, L. Shankar, Trilok Gurtu, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Colin Walcott (& members of the group OREGON), Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, Mike Love of the Beach Boys, Sting. Lady Gaga. James Taylor, Carman Moore & Skymusic Ensemble, Daisy Jopling, CharlesBurnham, J. Eric Johnson, Andy Narell, Vasant Rai, Scarlet Rivera, Shambhu Neil Vineberg, Edgar Patterson Mills, Anna Dagmar, Kristin Hoffmann, Uli Geissendoerfer & Bangalore Breakdown, Steve Gorn, Boris Grebenshikov & Aquarium, Greg Bendian & Mahavishnu Project, Ursel Schlicht.
For Extended Bio Please visit my website
Which brings us to the question of what to call this music. Is it world music? Is it jazz? Is it some kind of new uncategorizable fusion that hasn’t yet been labeled? Whatever you call the music on Diary, it is undeniably heartfelt expression coming from a very genuine place. “I’ve played it to friends of mine who have heard me in more tame settings or even with the Mahavishnu Project, which is music that they recognize,” says Premik. “And they listen and say, ‘This is like a flavor of ice cream I’ve never tasted before.’”
And who doesn’t like ice cream?
- Bill Milkowski Bill Milkowski is a regular contributor to Jazz Times. He is also the author of “JACO: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius” (Backbeat Books)Bangalore Breakdown/CD Diary: Mukti (Rating: 92/100) posted in Music March 15, 09 Jazz,com Each player is a life- giving tributary to one great river of music. “Mukti” is a joyous romp of world influences. Bangalore Breakdown is just the band to break things down and put them back together again. Reviewer: Walter Kolosky
Bangalore Breakdown/CD Diary: Song (Rating: 92/100) posted in Music March 15, 09 Jazz.com The world-jazz movement is gaining steam every day, which can be nothing but a good thing for music and for the world... Bangalore Breakdown is an ensemble made from the continents, playing music that is an argument for establishing worldwide normalization of relations.Do you get my continental drift? Reviewer: Walter Kolosky
Primary Instrument:
Saxophone
Location:
Briarwood, NY
Willing to teach:
Beginners
Credentials/Background:
I was most fortunate to have studied under 2 great teachers: Joe Allard, former head of woodwinds at Juilliard and New England Conservatory, and with Ornette Coleman. This gave me a diverse background in teaching methods which I use to this day. I feel that Improvisation is one of the greatest forms of self-expression which can be brought out no matter what your current level of skill is on your instrument, although acquiring the basic skills of reading and technique are of course first and foremost. You are welcome to e mail me at:
premiktubbs@earthlink.net for more details on available hours, rates, etc.
Clinic/Workshop Information:
I specialize in World Music workshops where I focus on bringing together Eastern and Western approaches to improvisation along with composition and arranging for various ensembles. I have given workshops at Adelphi University, University of Miami and NYU.
