by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
What: Take 6
When: Thursday, February 21 at 7:30 pm
Where: UNF’s Lazzara Performance Hall
Singing without musical accompaniment requires perfect pitch and a dedicated group of artists. That’s what you’ll find in the vocal stylings of Take 6, a six man a capella harmony group which sings their own arrangements of R&B, blues, gospel and a little doo-wop. From the moment they recorded their first CD about twenty years ago, they’ve been winning Grammies. So far they’ve got ten of them!
EU had the chance to speak with Claude McKnight, founder of the group.
EU: How did Take 6 get together? What inspired you to start it?
Claude McKnight: Well a couple of things. When I was a freshman in college, I went to a school called Oakwood College, which had a pretty rich heritage of vocal groups…Although I was a trombone player, when I got there I wanted to have some kind of singing group. So I, along with three other guys, started a quartet. At the time it was basically barbershop stuff. But we wanted to be different. Mark Kibble joined kind of on the spur-of-the-moment one day when we were rehearsing in the bathroom, he started arranging for us. We had five guys and we added one more, so we were really the only sextet on campus. From there we knew we had something really different. The rest is history.
EU: How do you start determining arrangements, do you play with it or is it structured from the start?
CM: It’s very, very structured. It’s basically arranged around a keyboard. That’s Mark’s doing, he is the primary arranger. Cedric Dent also does a lot of the arranging. We all chime in, but the basic sound of Take 6 comes from Mark Kibble. None of the arrangements are left up to chance.
EU: I know there’s a lot of gospel songs that you guys sing. Is faith a big part of what you do?
CM: Yeah, faith is a huge part of what we do…Oakwood College is a Christian college, and that’s how we started. Our first record and all of the music we did in the beginning were all negro spirituals which we decided to arrange in our style. For the twenty years that we’ve been together we’ve tried to make sure that all of our CDs have a spiritual bent to them.
EU: Do you have a favorite song to perform these days? I know for most performers that can change from week to week.
CM: One song that comes to mind, our most recent CD called Feels Good, there’s a song on there called ‘More Than Ever’ that Joey Kibble wrote. It’s a song that talks about no matter what you’re going through, no matter how bad it gets, we need the Lord more than ever. It’s a very personal tune that he wrote for himself, but it’s something that I think covers all of our thoughts and emotions within the group. It’s one of my favorite songs.
EU: How did success happen for the group? You were pretty much straight out of college when you got signed right?
CM: Take 6 was basically a hobby when we were in school. In fact, when we got our record deal and released our first CD, we were nominated for three Grammies – when we went to that first Grammy Awards, three of the guys were still in school. This was kind of a hobby that we weren’t sure what we were going to do with, but upon doing a showcase in Nashville, Tennessee, all of the sudden we were in the record business.
It’s been over twenty years since the showcase that launched them onto stages around the world. They’ve taken their sound all over the globe, released thirteen albums and won numerous awards. You can hear their smooth sounds at UNF’s Lazzara Performance Hall, Thursday February 21st. Tickets are from $30-38, with UNF student tickets at $10. Call (904) 620-2878 for info or go online at unf.edu/fineartscenter
Article Published in the 2-14-08 Issue of EU Jacksonville
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