Bobby Previte studied music at the University of Buffalo, where his instructors included Morton Feldman and John Cage. Previte majored in percussion under the legendary Jan Williams, performed with Williams' percussion ensemble in the "Evenings 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, Bobby Previte received his first of three NEA grants for composition, as well as a New York Foundation for the Arts grant that same year. Previte then began his long association with the leading lights of the New York music scene. Bobby Previte's first recording, Bump the Renaissance, was released in 1987; that same year Bobby Previte released Pushing the Envelope on Gramavision Records. Bobby Previte 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, a breakthrough record that was called "One of the finest of the decade" by Interview Magazine. The music from the record was presented live at "New Music America" in 1989, and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music that same year he was commissioned to write pieces for the String Trio of New York and the Philadelphia based chamber ensemble Relache.
In October of 1990 Empty Suits was released on Gramavision, featuring Bobby Previte’s 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 traveled to Moscow, completing a commission from the Moscow Circus to write the music for their new season, which debuted at the Gershwin Theater, New York City, on November 5, 1991, and Music of the Moscow Circus was released, again on Gramavision. Bobby Previte went on to arrange the Charles Mingus tune, "Open Letter to Duke" for Hal Willner's Weird Nightmare-Meditations on Mingus record released 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 Previte toured Europe and the Far East including 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 Sound, Human Shriek, a solo electronics record, were released respectively in September of 1994 by Enja Records and in February of 1996 by Koch Jazz. Bobby Previte then 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 0pera "I Was Looking at the Ceiling", 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 ("The Wildest Bar Band on the Planet" -Sydney Morning Herald), on tour to Europe and Australia, recording two live records in Sydney, My Man in Sydney and Dangerous Rip, which were released on the Enja label in September 1997 and '98.
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 Wayne Horvitz, Skerik and Dave Palmer.
There is a new studio recording by 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 Space's "Wall to Wall Miles" 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. This piece was written at the MacDowell Colony and scored for eight musicians with conductor.
A recording of the Bump the Renaissance band, Just Add Water, was released in January 2002 on Palmetto Records. In February, The 23 Constellations of Joan Miró was released on Tzadik records' "Composer" series. Ken Smith of Gramophone said, "In the bigger picture, it updates the very spirit of Western Composition." He toured Europe with Elliott Sharp in the fall of 2003 to support The Prisoner's Dilemma, their duo CD on the Church of Grob Label. April 2003 saw the release of the second record by the Bump the Renaissance band, Counterclockwise, also on Palmetto, and a tour of Europe followed by an electric version of that band, called, simply enough, "Bump Electric." In October 2003 he toured Europe with Charlie Hunter and Greg Osby in preparation for the first record of a new trilogy planned by Previte and Hunter, with three different guests, to be released by Thirsty Ear Records, titled Latitude, Longitude and Altitude. Hunter and Previte, who have been playing together for two years now, have just released their first record on Ropeadope, a duo called, Come in Red Dog, This is Tango Leader, where Mr. Previte indulges in his newest passion, the Electronic Drums.