One of the original figures in the “downtown” scene in New York City, Bobby Previte is widely hailed for both for his artful and electrifying drumming and his highly individual, visceral compositions. Previte has received many grants and awards, winning Downbeat Magazine’s “Composer Deserving of Wider Recognition”, becoming Rolling Stone’s “Hot Jazz Artist”, and being honoured as one of Jazziz Magazine’s “150 Who Moved Jazz”. He has released many records as a leader and has appeared on numerous others as a drummer, and has taken his music around the world, from the United States to Europe, Australia, Japan, and South America, including most of the major music festivals of the world.

He studied music at the University of Buffalo, where instructors included Morton Feldman and John Cage, majoring in percussion under the legendary Jan Williams. He performed with Williams’ percussion ensemble in the “Evening for New Music” series at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery under the direction of Lucas Foss, and was a guest artist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson-Thomas. He received his B.A. in 1973, cum laude.

Moving to New York City in 1979, he received his first of three NEA grants for composition, as well as a New York Foundation for the Arts grant that same year. He then began his long association with John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Wayne Horvitz, Tim Berne, and many other leading lights of the New York music scene.

His first recording, “Bump the Renaissance”, was released in 1986. In 1987 he released “Pushing the Envelope” on Gramavision Records. He composed the soundtrack for Mark Rappaport’s “Chain Letters”, premiering at the New York Film Festival.

1988 saw the release of “Claude’s Late Morning”. The music from the record was presented live at “New Music America” in 1989, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

In 1989 he was commissioned to write pieces for the String Trio of New York and the Philadelphia based chamber ensemble Relache. In October of 1990 Empy Suits was released on Gramavision, featuring his new band of the same name.

In July 1991 Enja Records released an acoustic record for seven instruments, Weather Clear, Track Fast. Also in that year Mr. Previte travelled to Moscow, completing a commission from the Moscow Circus to write the music for their new season, which premiered at the Gershwin Theater, New York City, on November 5, 1991, and “Music of the Moscow Circus” was released, again on Gramavision. He toured Japan in the summer of 1992 and Europe again in the fall. He arranged the Charles Mingus tune, “Open Letter to Duke” for Hal Willner’s “Weird Nightmare-Meditations on Mingus” record release on CBS/Sony, and created a new electronic score for the International Puppet Festival which debuted in the fall of 1992 at the Public Theater in New York City.

In 1993 Mr. Previte toured Europe and the Far East which included concerts in Hong Kong and at the Festival of Perth, Australia, and finished recording another Empty Suits record, “Slay the Suitors”, released in May of 1994 by Avant/DIW Japan.

“Hue and Cry” for septet, and “Dull Bang, Gushing Sounds, Human Shriek”, a solo electronics record, were released respectively in September of 1994 by Enja Records and in February of 1996 by Koch Jazz. His circus band opened the North American Music Festival in October, and he appeared as an actor in the Robert Altman film, “Short Cuts”. He produced two records by the virtuoso accordionist Guy Klucevsek. 1994 also saw a winter tour of Europe by Empty Suits and a Contemporary Arts Council tour of Great Britain by the circus band.

In March of 1995 he led his seven piece group, Weather Clear, Track Fast, on a three week tour of Europe, making a new recording, “Too Close to the Pole”, which was released in September of 1996, again on Enja. In May he performed in London with the New York Composer’s Orchestra. In October he toured France with the French guitarist Marc Ducret.

In 1997 John Adams asked Mr. Previte to assemble an ensemble to premiere his then newest opera “I Was Looking at the Celling”, for Lincoln Center’s Serious Fun series, and Previte performed himself as percussionist.

In January of 1998 Mr. Previte took a new quartet, Latin for Travelers on tour to Europe and Australia, recording two live records in Sydney, “My Man in Sidney”, and “Dangerous Rip”, which were released on the Enja label in September 1997 and 98. He also inaugurated a new record label, Depth of Field Records, which released its first CD, “Euclid’s Nightmare”, a duet between Previte and John Zorn, in September of 1997. There have been three more releases.

Spring 1999 saw a European tour by Previte’s new Bump the Renaissance Band, with Ray Anderson, Marty Ehrlich, Wayne Horvitz, and Steve Swallow; completion of a film score to the movie Maze, directed by and starring Rob Morrow; and a west coast tour with the group Ponga, a cooperative electronic band with West Coast musicians Wayne Horvitz, Skerik and Dave Palmer.

Bump the Renaissance band toured Europe both in Summer and Fall 2000. There is a new studio recording of Latin for Travelers in progress, and continuing ensembles he leads include “The Voodoo Orchestra”, an 11 piece group playing the music of the “Bitches Brew” period of Miles Davis, which opened Symphony Spaces’ “Wall to Wall” festival March 24, 2001.

Completing a commission from the City of Birmingham, UK for their millennium celebration, Mr. Previte premiered his newest work, “The 23 Constellations of Joan Miró” on April 7 and 8, 2000 in Manchester and Birmingham, England. Written at the MacDowell Colony and scored for eight musicians with conductor, this work will be released on Tzadik Records’ “Composer Series” on October 23, 2001. A new recording of the Bump band, “Just Add Water”, will be released in 2002 on Palmetto Records.

Mr. Previte has done numerous workshops, lectures, and master classes around the world, including Jazzschule Lucern, Switzerland, the Haus der Cultur Der Welt in Berlin, The Jazz Institute of Australia, The Jazz School Istanbul, Cornish University in Seattle, The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and The New School in New York City.

The New Yorker Magazine has written: “His ensembles speak in visionary tongues”.

updated March 1, 2002 

Biography courtesy of Saudades Tourneen