Sri Chinmoy, John Coltrane, Ravi Shankar, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna, Ornette Coleman, Joe Allard, Kadri Golpanath, Hariprasad Chaurasia, John McLaughlin, and many more throughout the spiritual/musical universe.
Sounds Like
Bangalore Breakdown Reviews- Song of the Day at jazz.com Mukti
Review of Song
Website:Bangalore Breakdown.com
Read the story of our beginnings in Bangalore Breakdown Diary written by Bill Milkowski, a regular contributor to Jazz Times. Why is our CD titled Diary and who are the 10 + members of this ensemble that contribute to make this truly ‘world’ sound?
Go to:
http://www.kosmicmusic.com/do/product/BOO-10029?&giftStatus=true
for Pratyavartana, a collaboration album by Premik Russell Tubbs and Steve Booke
(currently available as digital download only through Kosmic Music)
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Royal Albert Hall & House of Lords performing with
founding father of Russian rock music Boris Grebenshikov 2008
Extensive touring beginning in London at the Royal Albert Hall, continuing on to Dublin, Kiev, Milan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, ending the year in Vienna.
Premik, a composer, arranger, producer and an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, performs on various flutes, soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, Akai EWI and Yamaha WX7 wind synthesizers, and lap steel guitar. The 2008 schedule had him playing Sting's Rainforest Foundation Fund benefit concert Some Kinda Legacy at Carnegie Hall, 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. May of 2009 brought Premik to California for the Narada Michael Walden Foundation, Let the Sunshine In benefit concert.
Premik, in conjunction with jazz pianist Uli Geissendoerfer, heads Bangalore Breakdown, an exciting, experimental jazz ensemble. They just released their first CD, titled Diary, in 2008. He also currently leads a world/jazz quartet featuring keyboardist J. Eric Johnson, percussionist Todd Isler, and bassist Nathan Peck. In 2004, Premik had released his own album, Mission Transcendence, a soulful melding of East /West, jazz and world styles. Previous solo releases include Transformation-Dawn, Run to Tomorrow's Sun, A New World of Peace and Endless Energy, Sleepless Speed. In October of 2009 Pratyavartana, a collaboration album by Premik Russell Tubbs and Steve Booke was released. Pratyavartana is Sanskrit for 'homeward journey.'
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, Sting, Billy Joel, and James Taylor, just to name a few. He is equally adept in pop, R&B, jazz, world and experimental genres.
Early Background: Premik, (pronounced pray-meek) was born Russell Wayne Tubbs in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. His dad, Harold "Harry" Tubbs was a trumpet/flugelhorn player as well as big band arranger. He is well remembered for these latter abilities in John Coltrane's 1957 classic album The Winner's Circle which was re-released on CD in 2007. He began Premik on piano and music theory at the age of six with simultaneous exposure to a wide array of musical styles by way of various jazz and classical concerts of the day.
Most Influential Teachers: Joe Allard, Ornette Coleman, Sri Chinmoy
1974: Premik joined with John McLaughlin in the making of the album Visions of the Emerald Beyond, Mahavishnu Orchestra. This involved tours of Europe and the U.S. The U.S. tour proved a remarkable pairing up of both Mahavishnu and the Jeff Beck Group where he worked alongside Jean-Luc Ponty, bassist Ralph Armstrong and Narada Michael Walden on drums.
1975, 1978, 1980: Premik was invited by Carlos Santana to play the Planetary Celebration held at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, NY which included such artists as Santana, James Taylor, Pete Seeger and John McLaughlin. Carlos had finished his first solo album for Columbia, entitled Oneness: Silver Dreams, Golden Reality, and Premik joined him on a six-week European tour as part of an opening act for the Santana Band called Devadip Oneness.
In a follow-up landmark album titled The Swing of Delight, Herbie Hancock was invited as co-arranger and co-musical director. Now working in collaboration was Premik, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Carlos Santana along with various Santana band members. Performing throughout the album Premik, as well, aided in arrangements of several of the tunes.
1983-1985: Premik played with Lonnie Liston-Smith, jazz keyboardist with the highly successful album Dreams of Tomorrow. Premik was chosen as Smith's saxophonist/flutist for the next two years of touring and recording, playing at venues throughout the U.S., Great Britain, and the Montreaux Jazz Festival. During this time, Premik recorded on two of Lonnie's albums: Silhouettes and Rejuvenation with the great bassist Cecil McBee.
!986-2009:In February 1986, Premik, along with guitarist Shambhu Neil Vineberg formed a duo which they called Equinox. After releasing their self-titled CD, they toured Europe in the summer of that year, as well as throughout the Pacific Northwest, including Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver. They continued performing regularly together into the early nineties. 2008-2009, Equinox reunited to perform at the Songs of the Soul concert series in New York, Seattle and Vancouver. In 1991, Premik teamed up with violinist Scarlet Rivera who is best known for her violin work with Bob Dylan. They performed together at numerous venues throughout the east coast, including The Turning Point and Tarrytown Music hall, where they opened for Spyro Gyra. That same year, Premik formed the band Dreams That Fly, a 9 piece east/west ensemble that performed throughout the NYC area, as well as the Pacific Northwest. The band continued to perform through the end of 1994.
1995: Premik performed with India's great violinist, Dr L. Subramanium at the opening of his new work Global Symphony. Premik has also been featured on soprano sax, flute and wind synthesizer in Subramanium's Global Fusion tours throughout India and the U.S.
1996-2004:1996 Premik performed in NYC with Julie Lyonn Lieberman, a great jazz violinist. In 2004 Premik was part of a Serbia/ Macedonia tour taking him to Belgrade and Bor (Serbia), Novi Sad, Nis, Skopje and Ohrid (Macedonia).
1994-Present: Premik joined composer Carman Moore's Skymusic Ensemble, performing Moore's epic work Mass for the 21st Century that summer as part of Lincoln Center's Out-Of-Doors concert series. Premik has participated in numerous performances with this ensemble at various venues in NYC including St. John the Divine, Central Park, and the UN to name but a few. He remains a member to date. Premik will soon be featured in Moore's latest work, Concerto for Ornette and Orchestra, which in its world premier will also feature
Ornette Coleman as guest soloist.
2005-2007: Premik toured in 2005 with Kristin Hoffmann opening for Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers. As a guest instrumentalist, Premik joined with The Distaff Deluxe Tour of 2007 performing throughout Sweden in Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö, Lund, Örebro, Norrköping, Uppsala and Linköping with singers Asa Rydman, and Wendy Starland. US born Wendy Starland combines rock, soul, and world music. She has a voice that reminds listeners of Macy Gray. Åsa Rydman's music is artistic mainstream and she has performed extensively in the U.S. and Europe.
2005-Present: Joined in performances of Mahvishnu Project at IMAC in Huntington NY, Sara Lawrence College, Makor and Le Poisson Rouge in NYC, NJ Prog House, and more.
2007-2008: Premik performed in 2007 with the British band Radio Massacre International as a guest artist along with violinist Cyndee Lee Rule at Orion Sound Studios in Baltimore, MD and again at NEARfest 2008 at Zoellner Arts Center, Bethlehem, PA. Live recording.
2009: Held October 23, 2009 the Tribute to Peacekeeping concert was an event held at the UN to pay homage to UN peacekeepers who serve some of the most victimized populations in the most dangerous places on earth. Musicians from around the world (John McLaughlin, Salman Ahmad with Samir Chatterjee, Aterciopelados, Harry Belafonte, Roberta Flack, Emmanuel Jal, Angelique Kidjo, Sister Fa and Zakir Hussain), joined together in this effort to spur dialogue in the international community. Preceding the event on October 22, 2009, joined with J. Eric Johnson, Premik was honored to perform during the Tribute to Peacekeeping pre-concert cocktail hour, plus a flute solo as prelude to the evening program.
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".
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, 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, Carman Moore & Skymusic Ensemble, Andy Narell, Clara Ponty, Vasant Rai, Scarlet Rivera, Shambhu Neil Vineberg, Edgar Patterson Mills, Kristin Hoffmann, Uli Geissendoerfer & Bangalore Breakdown, Steve Gorn, Boris Grebenshikov & Aquarium, Greg Bendian & Mahavishnu Project.
Performing groups andsoon to be releasedrecordings: Bangalore Breakdown (perform as full 8 to 10 piece ensemble - or fewer for small stage venues); "Pratyavartana" a
meditation album w/ Steve Booke; "Eternal Bliss" is the working title for the album w/ pianist Anna Dagmar, sitarist Ikhlaq Hussain and tabla maestro Naren Budhakar; performing quartet featuring keyboardist J. Eric Johnson, percussionist Todd Isler, and bassist Nathan Peck.
Film Credits: Premik has composed original music for the following short films: Cultural Baggage - Comedy, directed by Frank Chindamo, Winner, Gold Hugo Award, Intercom Film Festival in Chicago and Golden Eagle Award, Council on International Non-Theatrical Events, 1995, Woodlands of the Pacific Northwest - NYU student film, directed by Jim Brown, The Inner Runner - Sports Documentary, directed by Steven Schecter, Triathlon - Sports documentary directed by Steven Schecter, Read My Lips - Comedy, directed by Joe Giardano, Halsey/Garside - Corporate training film, directed by Martha Keys for Something-In-Common, Logican Group - Overview, directed by Edgar Mills of Northrup/Grumann Corporation, Sign Of The Times - Comedy, directed by Joe Giardano for "Something-In-Common", Spirit of a Runner - Sports documentary, directed by Jessie-Beers Altman, Butterfly Screams- Art film, directed by Mumtaz Hussain.
Fashion Show- Live music for L'Oreal product release, Chelsea Art Museum, aprox. 250 in attendance
Off-Broadway:"Coming of Age in Korea" -flute, soprano and tenor saxophone.
Additional Areas of Focus: Compose music for: Film (Live Action & Animation), Designer Runway Fashion Shows, Art Exhibitions, Book Signings, TV &/or Radio, Corporate Videos, Dance Companies, Broadway & Off Broadway, Special Occasions.
Recording Studio: A small facility located in Queens, New York. Home to many successful projects produced by Premik.
Music Lessons, Workshops & Speaking Engagements.
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The Mahavishnu Project ~ June 4th & July 7th
Description: It was back in 1971 when guitarist John McLaughlin left the Tony Williams and Miles Davis trio to form the daring, extraordinary Mahavishnu Orchestra. He was dubbed the very first to have combined the energy of Jimmy Hendrix, the flavor of Coltrane’s jazz and spiritual Indian ragas. I had the most wonderful opportunity back then of joining this group with John McLaughlin in tours and the making of the album Visions of the Emerald Beyond. In 2001 The Mahavishnu Project was launched directly from the place where this original band left off led by creative, visionary drummer/composer Gregg Bendian. His dream and lots of really hard work has made the Mahavishnu Project a reality.
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Let The Sunshine In
A Narada Michael Walden Foundation Concert ~ May 25, 2009
This was so much fun!!!
View all photo albums (with larger photos ~hey, you can actually see something!) by clicking pics under the main photo at the top of the page!
Sounds good Premik! My cell phone service is down now, so if anything changes, reach me on my home number okay? Otherwise if I don't hear anything we will be there at 4:30, replete with bagels! Hugs, Debs xxx
We are very excited about playing at such an awesome jazz club. We have some great sets lined up for you, so don't miss it. Friday and Saturday November 20th and 21st, 5:00-8:30p at Andy's Jazz Club in Chicago
Aaron Koppel -Guitar, Matt Nelson; (Lupe Fiasco, Matthew Santos) -Keyboard, Graham Czach; (Chicago Afrobeat Project) -bass, Robert Tucker (Matthew Santos) -drums
Thanks Premik! Our concert was awesome! We hope you'll be able to come to our next one on Nov 7th, which will also be Jeff's 50th birthday party! And... to our Sssspace Jam the last Sat of the year that doesn't fall on New Year's Eve!
Dear Premik, Thanks for friending us! I heard some of the recording you've been doing and it sounds absolutely beautiful! hope to see you sometime soon, Trina
Hey Premik! I hope you will be able to join us next week for our Summer Sssssssssspace Jam! The jam starts at 8:00 but you are also welcome to join us for our vegan (mostly raw) potluck at 5:00 first if you'd like!
Would be awesome to see you.. And.. to jam! If you'd like to bring your tabla-box-thingamajig, that would RULE too! Let me know if you can join us!
Online Now!
Debs xxx
Debs and Richie
