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