Booking Tuk for Private Events

Recently I was speaking with an acquaintance who is familiar with my music making. In the course of the conversation I mentioned that my jazz trio (with the formidable Jeff Knoettner on piano and the equally formidable Rob Swanson on bass) was playing a corporate event in Exton later on in April.

My counterpart was surprised. “Wait, private events …. you do those?”

Yes, we do private events.

In fact, all my groups (the organ trio, the Big Brass Ones, and the small and large size Bryan Tuk Complex bands) are available for private events: parties, corporate events, shopping center openings, you name it. We can cover a wide array of different situations and bring something great to the table that will have your guests happy and engaged, and make you look like a genius in the process.

If you are interested in booking me and one of the groups

Rooftop Riot: an unintended live record

Well....

There are creative projects that you do not expect, you do not plan for,  that almost spring to life all by themselves.  A short three song release entitled Rooftop Riot: The Bryan Tuk Complex Live is one of those pieces that essentially willed itself into being.

After a lengthy layoff of over a year, the band came absolutely roaring back.  Like everyone else, the band was put on the shelf during the entirety of 2020. As soon as conditions permitted (vaccinations, CDC guidance and all the rest), I started looking desperately for any place where we could get back to work. Fortunately, the Kennett Flash was running an outdoor concert series and we got booked for that.

The weather was perfect - 70 degrees and sunny. We could not have drawn it up any better.

We got together for a reading session at SpectraSound two weeks prior to the show, and worked through some tough material with a lot of high demand for ensemble playing - especially difficult given the fourteen month layoff we just went through.

When the day of the performance arrived, we were ready. The performance was far from perfect, but there were some real gems in there: Only So Much Oil in the Ground, the Tower of Power deep cut, Late in the Evening, the Paul Simon classic, and finally an instrumental treatment of Brother to Brother, a rock/fusion tour de force by Gino Vanelli that provided everyone in the band an opportunity to stretch out. The soloing towards the end of that particular track is something to behold.

So, for an accidental live record, recorded outdoors, I’m proud as hell to bring you Rooftop Riot. There are some blistering performances on this 15 minute romp. Those who attended this show will tell you, but you can hear what I mean for yourself.  

The amazing team that brought this performance life are:

Vocals: Kellina Holt
Trumpets: Eddie Otto, Zach Prowse, Vinny Shickora
Saxophones: Jonathan Katz (alto), Tony Gairo (tenor), Bryan Cowan (baritone)
Trombones: Patrick Conlon, Sam Yoder
Tuba & Sousaphone: Connor Devlin
Guitar: B.D. Lenz
Bass: Brian Bortz
Organ and Keyboards: David Mattock
Drums: Bryan Tuk

These tracks were recorded live on the Rooftop in Kennett Square, PA on June 12, 2021.

All tracks mixed by Jim McGee
Cover art by Sarah Tuk

How The TMF Organ Trio Began....

The TMF Organ Trio is a project that came together rapidly, and was a pleasant surprise. At the beginning of the year, I was focused on the next BT Complex record. That was the next major musical project on my mind. However, in January 2021 I played a livestream with David Mattock on organ at my studio, grooveKSQ, and he suggested that Tyrone Fredericks, Jr. join us on saxophone. I was eager to work with Tyrone, he is a terrific player (as is Dave) and during that livestream you could tell there was a good connection among the three of us.

We selected a group of compositions written by Ty, and worked out arrangements for those songs. Fast forward to March, only six weeks after the livestream and we had put down our first record as a group at SpectraSound Studios in Quakertown, PA with Jim McGee engineering.

The material turned out really well, I can not wait to get this band working and share the record with you. THe digital version will be available in mp3-level compression on streaming services, and hi resolution FLAC files will be available for sale and download on my Bandcamp site.

The vinyl version - oh yes - I expect will be available in mid-June. All of the vinyl production houses are running 8-12 weeks out right now.

The terrific Natale Caccamo returned to shoot the band (Nat did the Life in High Gravity cover), with London based illustrator Sarah Tuk creating the cover artwork for the album.

Lessons from Band Camp - 2020

When I'm not working with my private students at groove, I teach marching percussion for the Kennett HS marching band.

This season, the kids are coming into an environment where everything is uncertain. It is likely the band won't appear at football games (either home or away), and the competitive season we would normally have will not happen. All that said, these young people came into camp last week, worked hard, complied with ALL the safety protocols, and had an absolutely GREAT attitude. Drumming for drumming and improvement's sake.

Lessons Learned This Week:

1. If you follow the safety protocols, you can still create and accomplish. Life does not have to stop completely.

2. The work and the process is its own reward.

3. People (especially performers I think) need to be around one another. There is no substitute for live interaction.

Will have more to share after week 2 of camp…..