Premik was born Russell Wayne Tubbs in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. His career began when his father, Harry Tubbs who was a trumpet/flugelhorn player as well as big band arranger, placed Premik’s first instrument in his hands at age 6. Harry is best remembered as the arranger on the 1957 album “The Winner’s Circle” which was comprised of all the Downbeat poll winners of that year, including a young John Coltrane. As a young boy, Harry began Premik on piano and clarinet, taught him music theory as well as exposing him to a wide range of musical styles by way of various jazz and classical concerts of the day. He would often put the 6 year-old on a podium, place an orchestral score in front of him and have him try to follow along with famous symphonic recordings. 

A pivotal point came when during Premik’s sophomore year in High School, he was introduced all at once to the later more exploratory music of John Coltrane, the psychedelic rock of that period (Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, etc) as well as Ravi Shankar and the Indian music phenomenon which was rapidly becoming an integral part of American music culture. These various elements along with a growing interest in Eastern mysticism would play a significant role in Premik’s artistic development. While still a senior in High School, Premik was appointed as music director for the local summer Shakespeare Festival for which he composed original music for 2 summer seasons. Also while still in High School, Premik was given the opportunity to study with the legendary Joe Allard, head of woodwinds at Juilliard and The New England Conservatory.

After High School, Premik began studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Following that, he returned to private study with his mentor Joe Allard. In the summer of 1971 Premik met Ornette Coleman, considered by many to be the founding father of the contemporary avant-garde jazz movement. Premik felt privileged to have the opportunity to study with Ornette, witnessing his creative genius while developing his unique harmolodic theory throughout the summer as he was completing his major orchestral work, “The Skies of America”. Premik attended the world premier of this work in New York City’s at the time Avery Fisher Hall. During this period, Premik was also simultaneously quite enamored by the music of Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart) whom Premik was determined to meet. He traveled by bus across the country and finally met up with his hero in Trinidad, California where he spent the week with Don and the members of his band, joining them at several of their rehearsals. Newly inspired, Premik returned to New York and formed his own avant-garde band, “Brethren Crazed Man and the Wildlife Ensemble”. They performed at several showcases in New York as well as a live broadcast on WBAI. After that band broke up, Premik moved to Center Harbor, New Hampshire to escape New York life for a while and formed a Country/Blues trio with 2 other local musicians known as The Bean Road Bug Band. 

At age 20, while still living a rather secluded existence in New Hampshire, Premik’s life was soon to change when he was introduced to drummer Narada Michael Walden in 1973. Premik was invited to join the jazz/rock fusion band The New Maguire Sisters in which Narada was the drummer. At Narada’s invitation, Premik joined him on a trip to Queens, New York to attend a concert by sarod master Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. At that concert, the opening address was given by the legendary guitarist John McLaughlin which was immediately followed by a silent meditation with Eastern Spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy. An extraordinary musical performance unfolded following the meditation which was transformative for Premik. Shortly after that, Premik began studying meditation with Sri Chinmoy, which influenced, inspired and catapulted Premik to reach higher realms as a musical virtuoso. A series of musical connections began to unfold which would take Premik on a musical trajectory beyond what he ever could have imagined. Also during that period, Premik joined the band Jatra, which means “celestial journey” and was lead by guitarist Omar Mesa, formerly of the band Mandrill. 

In 1974, Premik’s now close friend and musical colleague Narada Michael Walden, who was recording at Electric Ladyland Studios in New York on the latest album for John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra again reached out to him. A saxophonist was needed, and although McLaughlin was originally planning on hiring Michael Brecker, Narada convinced him that Premik’s brilliance in improvisation would be more of an asset for the band and hence the opportunity was offered to and accepted by Premik. It was to become another life-changing event in Premik’s career because McLaughlin was so impressed with Premik’s talent in the studio that he invited him to become a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, something that Premik would not have even dreamed of previously. Within 2 weeks, Premik was immersed in all-day rehearsals with John McLaughlin, Jean-Luc Ponty, Narada and others, leading up to a 6-week European tour. That was followed by another successful US tour in the Spring of 1975, sharing the bill with the Jeff Beck Group. It turned out that would be the last tour of the 10-piece orchestra, after which the group was reduced to a quartet until it’s demise in late 1975. 

Fortunately for Premik, during that same time period a friendship with another guitar legend, Carlos Santana, had been blossoming. Premik then received a call from trumpeter Satyavan Joe Shepley inviting Premik to perform with Carlos and the band at the Nassau Colosseum for an event entitled “A Planetary Celebration” which also featured James Taylor, Pete Seeger and John McLaughlin.

In 1977, Premik took up residence in Westport Connecticut and helped to re-form a new version of Jatra which included the brilliant jazz pianist Gay Mehegan, wife of jazz pianist and author John Mehegan. After Premik returned to Queens the next year, Jatra re-formed with an entirely new lineup consisting of guitarists Frank Burrows and Russ De Salvo, bassist Edgar Mills and drummer Andy Cardenas. In the summer of 1978, the band performed a number of outdoor shows in the New York City parks as well as various clubs in the city. Although the band never recorded in the studio, audio clips of their live show at the Central Park Bandshell (derived from cassette!) can be heard on the following Youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4xDmyXEfvQ

Premik’s friendship and musical relationship with Carlos Santana continued to blossom and a few years later they began to collaborate together again. In the fall of 1978, Carlos invited Premik to form an opening act for the upcoming European Santana tour. For this tour, Carlos decided to take a unique approach and form his own opening act consisting of himself, Premik on soprano sax, flute and keyboard along with 3 other members of the Santana band. The group was named “Devadip Oneness” (Devadip being Carlos’ spiritual name, meaning “Lamp of God”). Premik assisted Carlos in arranging the repertoire for the band which included Jazz/Fusion arrangements of devotional songs as well as several of Carlos’ compositions written in a similar vein. It was an experiment which was to prove highly successful during the grueling 6 week tour which covered nearly all of Continental Europe. At one point during the tour, a very pleased Carlos remarked to Premik: “brother, this band is giving the Santana band a run for it’s money!” This was to be the only tour with both the Devadip and Santana bands performing back-to-back, but there was more to come….

In 1980, Premik was once again called in to assist Carlos Santana with another unique musical project. This time it would be the creation of an album based on the music from the 1978 tour with several important additions. Along with Premik who was hired both as wind player and co/arranger for a number of the songs, Carlos brought in keyboard legend Herbie Hancock to assist in the creation of the album. Premik, Carlos & Herbie met for several days, to form the foundation for a unique spiritually-based Fusion album which was to be called “The Swing of Delight”. Next, Carlos brought in several Miles Davis alumni including Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams and Ron Carter along with other members of the Santana band. The album was produced by Grammy-winning producer David Foster at the legendary Automat Studios in San Francisco. This was a scenario where a relatively up-and-coming Premik found himself in the company of a number of his musical heroes and it proved to be one of his most memorable musical experiences.

Premik recalls one instance where it was uncertain whether or not Wayne Shorter would be available to be part of the recording, whereupon producer David Foster remarked “not to worry, this new guy Tubbs has it covered!”. Fortunately Wayne did get to the studio and the two of them can be heard throughout the album. Another interesting fact is that it was one of the very first digital recordings ever produced! After The Swing of Delight was released, Premik embarked on recording 2 solo projects, “Transformation-Dawn” (1980) and “Run to Tomorrow’s Sun” (1982). Although at the time they were only released on cassette, plans are being made to digitize these 2 albums and make them available on CD and streaming platforms.

In the spring of 1982, Premik met jazz fusion legend Lonnie Liston-Smith and began a musical friendship which would continue for several more years. Premik was featured on 2 of Smith’s albums, “Silhouettes” and “Rejuvenation” and toured extensively with Lonnie throughout the US, England and at the famed Montreux Jazz festival in the summer of 1983.

In the fall of 1984, Premik was again contacted by Narada Michael Walden who was working at Clinton Studios in New York, producing a song for an as-yet-unknown artist named Whitney Houston. The soon-to-be number one hit “How Will I Know” was almost finished but in need of a strong sax solo. Clarence Clemons’ signature sound was what Narada was looking for but because Clarence was on the road with Bruce Springsteen, Premik was called in to take his place. The epic solo Premik created for Whitney’s song ’How Will I Know’ was written up in The New York Times as one of the 40 greatest sax solos of all time and once released, “How Will I Know” became the biggest selling single from the album. In 1986, Premik again met with Narada at Tarpan Studios to record another tenor solo on the song “Love is a Contact Sport” featured on Whitney’s 2nd album “Whitney”.

In 1985, Premik released 2 more albums, “Endless Energy, Sleepless Speed”, a tribute to Sri Chinmoy’s songs on sports which became popular at numerous athletic events and “Jharna-Kala Song-Garland” which was recorded at Tarpan Studios, home to Grammy-winning producer Narada Michael Walden. While at Tarpan, Premik was invited to play baritone sax on the Clarence Clemons/Jackson Browne hit “You’re a Friend of Mine” as well as being part of the horn section on the Jermaine Stewart album “Frantic Romantic”.

In 1989, Premik was flown to the West Coast again to work on an album for Japanese pop star Yoko Ogimone and Regina Belle’s hit “Baby Come To Me” which went to #1 on the Billboard charts later that year.

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 late nineties, then in 2008, Equinox reunited to perform at the Songs of the Soul concert series in New York, Seattle and Vancouver. In 2010 Premik joined in the making of Shambhu's first solo album “Sacred Love” produced by Windham Hill Records founder Will Ackerman. Since that time, and continuing right up to the present, Premik has played on all of Shambhu’s subsequent albums and has become Will Ackerman’s on call wind player for countless award winning recordings at his Imaginary Road Studio located just outside of Brattleboro Vermont.

In 1989, along with singer/songwriter Janice Marie Singleton, Premik co-founded the self-esteem drug prevention show Nu-Vision which circulated throughout the New York City school system as well as a 2 week tour in Bermuda. The show received wide praise from both teachers and students and continued for several years.

Premik teamed up with violinist Scarlet Rivera in 1991 who was best known for her work with Bob Dylan. They began performing together in venues in NYC and surrounding area theaters such as The Tarrytown Music Hall and The Turning Point in Piermont.

In 1994, Premik became a member of composer Carman Moore’s SkyMusic Ensemble. That summer, Carman’s epic work, “Mass for the 21st Century” which included various choirs forming over 100 voices along with Gospel singer Cissy Houston (mother of Whitney Houston) was premiered at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Amphitheater to wide acclaim and was written up in the New York Times. Since that time, Premik has continued to work with Carman on various projects, including recording in 2021 the music score for the film “Braver Angels” produced by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary, whom Premik has become close friends with as well.

In late 1995, Premik was invited to be a part of Dr. L. Subramanium’s orchestral work “Global Symphony” which was premiered at the ‘One World, One Music’ concert at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Impressed with Premik’s knowledge of Indian Classical forms, Dr. Subramanium invited him to participate in the next performance of the Global Symphony which took place in Bangalore, India in February of 1996. It was a week-long festival entitled “East/West Music & Dance Encounter” which also featured members of the Bangalore School of music, the only music school in India at the time which taught Western Classical styles. After that successful tour, Dr. Subramanium along with his wife, the famous film singer Kavita Krishnamurti invited Premik to be a part of their Global Fusion US tours in 1997-98.

Along with his instrumental and composing skills, Premik also took an interest in the art of recording and in 1996, opened his own recording studio in Queens, NY and began recording and producing various artists. His many production credits can be seen in the discography section of this website: https://www.premikmusic.com/discography

In February 1999, Premik went on a European tour in France with pianist Clara Ponty, daughter of the great violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, which included performances at Paris’ famous jazz club New Morning, receiving critical acclaim. Premik and Clara previously were featured guests on the syndicated radio show ‘Echoes’ with John Diliberto.

In 2002, Premik was asked to accompany Indian music legend Ravi Shankar who was one of Premik’s early musical heroes, in a special performance at the Sri Chinmoy Centre in Queens. “Performing with Ravi Shankar was a dream come true and one of the most profound experiences in my musical life” says Premik. The ensemble also included Ravi’s daughter, the extraordinarily talented Anoushka Shankar, tabla masters Bikram Ghose and Tanmoy Bose and Kenji on tamboura. Shorty after that first performance, Ravi called Premik and Premik accompanied the maestro at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia a few weeks later, and again at the Kimmel Center in the fall of 2008.

At the legendary Caffe Vivaldi in Greenwich Village in March of 2003, the musical union between the renown spiritual singer Kristin Hoffmann and Premik was formed, a bond now spanning two decades. Kristin and Premik have performed together hundreds of times and have toured the globe playing to sold-out audiences in Ethiopia, Italy, Peru, Australia and the list goes on. Premik has played on several of Kristin’s albums and performed with her during events by the International organization Unity Earth. In 2005, Kristin and Premik went on a major US tour opening for Jakob Dylan’s band (Bob Dylan’s son) The Wallflowers. Premik’s musical collaboration with Kristin has continued to flourish right up to the present, performing in the NYC and tri-state area several times a year.

Starting in 2003, Premik was invited to be part of Indian Classical Bhajon Singer Raj Kumar Gandharva’s ensemble which performs at numerous Hindu temples and Indian social events throughout the tri-state area. This musical collaboration continues today.

In 2004, after a visit from his friend Vijay Shankar Mishra from Nepal, Premik embarked on what would become his favorite solo album, “Mission-Transcendence”. After recording Vijay’s soulful raga-style vocals and masterful sarod playing, Premik began weaving intricate musical arrangements around these performances and in the end produced a unique blend of Eastern and Western styles. Another guest on this recording was the renowned jazz bassist Marcus McLauren. Mission-Transcendence is available on Apple Music, CD Baby and various streaming platforms.

In 2006 while on holiday with his meditation group in Malaysia, Premik met the legendary Russian artist Purushottama Boris Grebenshikov, They formed an immediate friendship and in 2008, Premik toured extensively as part of Grebenshikov’s world music ensemble, starting with a sold-out performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall, continuing on to Dublin, Kiev, Milan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and ending the year in Vienna.

Also in 2008 Premik had the first of several opportunities to perform with the reigning king of Kirtan, Krishna Das. The following Youtube link features Premik’s flute work while performing with both Krishna Das and Boris Grebenshikov along with the Sri Chinmoy Choir at NYU’s Skirball Center in 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz__WgC7Te4

From 2006 - 2010, Premik was part of The Mahavishnu Project led by drummer/composer Greg Bendian, performing the music of John Mclaughlin & The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Their album, ‘Return To The Emerald Beyond’ was recorded live at BB King’s in NYC.

In 2006, Premik also met the German virtuoso pianist Uli Geissendoerfer. Together they formed Bangalore Breakdown and created two albums, ‘Diary’ with Steve Sandberg and a full band and then as a duo, ‘Passport to Happyness’.

Another pivotal point in Premik’s career came in 2008 when he was invited to be part of the house band for Sting and Trudy Styler’s Concert for the Rain Forest at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Since then, Premik has been a part of every Rain Forest event, backing up such artists as Sting, Bruce Springsteen (whom Premik soloed with at the 2016 concert), Billy Joel, James Taylor, Elton John, Bruno Mars, Meryl Streep, Feist, John Cougar Mellencamp, Steven Stills, Paul Simon, Lady Gaga, Ronnie Spector, Jennifer Hudson, Rosanne Cash, Brian Wilson, and the list goes on.

In 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.

In 2009, as part of the Gandharva Loka world music orchestra, Premik was invited to Dhaka, Bangladesh to accompany the contemporary Rabindrasangeet vocalist Rezwana Chowdhury Banya, whom he also toured with in the US and Moscow.

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 and bass. Premik can usually be seen performing with him whenever Snehasish tours in the US. Here’s an example from a 2012 performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-STnpoBoOg

Also in 2010, Premik toured The Balkans with The Gandharva Loka Orchestra, and in 2013 toured Prague, Montpellier, France, Geneva and Zurich, Switzerland again with The Gandharva Loka Orchestra.

Premik returned to India in January 2011 to take part in several workshop/performances titled Cornucopia of Groove with tabla master Ustad Kadar Khan, trumpeter Joe Kaminski and young sitar master Deepsankar Bhattacharjee. In 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.

Also in 2011, Premik composed the original score for the award-winning documentary “Living River” directed by Vinit Parmar. This poignant film made in India, tells the story behind the efforts of numerous volunteer organizations and individuals to clean the Ganges River, considered sacred to millions throughout the country.

In 2012, Premik was invited to perform again at Carnegie Hall as guest soloist in the world premiere of composer Karl Jenkin’s latest work “The Peacemakers” in which Premik played Bansuri (Indian bamboo flute) Celtic flute and Irish Tin Whistle.

Also in 2012, Premik met British born pianist Heidi Breyer and began a decade long musical relationship performing on numerous albums of her original compositions. Heidi’s album ‘Beyond The Turning’, her first collaboration with Premik, won the ZMR award for Best Instrumental Album in 2012. The album was produced by Grammy Award Winning Producer, Will Ackerman.

In 2013, Premik performed on Masako Matsuo’s album entitled simply ‘Masako’ which won the ZMR award for Best New Artist. He also performed on her 2014 ZMR award winning album entitled ‘Call Of The Mountains’. In 2020, Premik collaborated again with Masako on her album ‘Hidden Flowers’ which won two ZMR awards that year. These albums were all produced by Grammy Award Winning Producer, Will Ackerman, the founder of Windham Hill Records.

From 2014 - 2018, Premik was part of the band TriBeCaStan, a nine-piece World/Funk/Fusion band co-founded by multi-instrumentalist John Kruth (musician and author) and Jeff Greene.

Sarangi Virtuoso Master Ustad Kamal Sabri was introduced to Premik in 2015 and their combined brilliance began getting recognition in NYC as well as in the international stage. Since this time Premik performs with Kamal, who comes from a long lineage of Sarangi Masters, each time Kamal would be in the US. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC9rIeOQ7tE&t=312s

In 2016, Premik joined Katie Perlman’s band ‘The Joni Project’. The band is comprised of eight virtuosos who take Joni Mitchell’s music to a different level mostly focusing on the Shadows and Light period of Joni’s career. The Joni Project regularly performs at venues such as The City Winery, NYC, The Iridium, NYC, Daryl’s House, Pawling, NY, The Towne Crier Cafe, Beacon NY, as well as many outdoor festivals.

Although having met virtuoso pianist and composer Steve Sandberg in 2006, Premik’s performing relationship with Steve truly began in 2016 when he first performed in Steve’s quartet, has performed a number of duo shows with him and Steve regularly accompanies Premik in his jazz fusion projects.

Premik joined East/West Fusion group RUDRA in 2017 led by guitarist Bobby Rozario which featured guest appearances by several of India’s top musicians including Kanjira master Swaminatan Selvaganesh.

Also in 2017, Premik met and began performing with the famous Latin percussionist Emedin Rivera.

In 2018 Premik joined Brooklyn Raga Massive Celebrates The Music of John McLaughlin, a Mahavishnu Orchestra tribute band. They currently perform on a regular basis in venues and outdoor parks in and around the NYC area. Here is an example of a recent performance at Culture Lab in NYC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKUAqOtf4PY

An international tour in 2019 again took Premik to The Balkans, (Serbia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria) where he performed with The Sahadeva Orchestra for several weeks as part of the Songs of the Soul Concert Series.

Premik performed and recorded at Dreamland Recording Studios outside of Woodstock, NY in 2020 nine tracks on the ZMR award winning album ‘Aerial Views’, by composer/arranger jazz/classical guitarist Todd Mosby. Prior to that, he also performed on Todd’s albums ’Open Waters’ 2019, which also won a ZMR award, and on the album ’On Eagle Mountain’ 2018.

In 2020, Premik became a member of Crystal Cymbalogy. The band is led by Rick Quintanal (Don Ellis Orchestra, Kenny Rankin, John Klemmer) and his lovely wife Cynthia Kolankowski-Quintanal, along with John Marshall, percussionist (David Darling, George Benson, Paul Winter Consort), and Dave Anderson bassist (Art Garfunkel, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Smokey Robinson) Premik plays alap flute, alto flute, EWI, and soprano saxophone. Crystal Cymbalogy creates intentional sounds using crystal & Tibetan bowls, an array of drums and percussion instruments, Native American rhythms, acoustic ecology, guiding the audience with Cynthia’s ancestral voice journeys and poetry creating a deeply moving experience, bringing vibrant healing, energy consciousness and an awareness of the exquisite beauty residing within one’s authentic self.

Premik also became a part of Sita’s Light Kirtan in 2020, one of Connecticut’s most prominent and active Kirtan ensembles led by Miriam Zernis on vocals and harmonium.

In 2021, Premik married couture fashion designer, multifaceted artist and international French translator Margee Minier-Tubbs, and together they created and built a new recording/teaching studio for Premik in bucolic Connecticut surrounded by nature and a wooded sanctuary. They have embarked on a new venture together hosting both in home private concerts for each solstice and equinox, as well as outdoor events in their sculpted and Stonehenge-inspired gardens.

In addition to Premik’s full performing, recording and teaching schedule, in 2022, he and his lovely wife Margee have begun doing Sound Healing Events throughout Northern Fairfield County Connecticut as well as teaching meditation, relaxation techniques through sound healing, breathing and guided imagery to elementary and middle school aged children, often in a Montessori setting, and also for yoga studios, businesses and individual groups.

Premik Russell Tubbs, lifelong virtuoso, has toured the world bringing his mellifluous improvisations to people and generations throughout the decades. His goal is for his music to touch souls; bringing peace, meaning and awakening to those who experience it.