Take 6 Raises 'The Standard' At The Blue Note

Winners of 10 Grammy and Dove Awards, one Soul Train Award and two NAACP Image Award nominations, the influential sextet Take 6 -- Mark Kibble, Claude V. McKnight III, Dr. Cedric Dent, David Thomas, Alvin Chea and Joey Kibble -- marks a new jazz vocal milestone.

The acappella powerhouse joins with guests, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Roy Hargrove and more in the September 2008 release of The Standard. Jazz with the Grammy nominee’s acappella style at BLUE NOTE – Tuesday, March 30th through Sunday, April 4th. Stage time is 8pm and 10:30pm each night. Tickets are $30-$45. Blue Note is located at 131 W. 3rd Street in New York. For tickets call 212-475-8592.

Released on September 30, 2008, The Standard showcases a new jazz-influenced approach for the group. “While we sing lyrics that always exemplify our spiritual and moral convictions, what we really are at the core is a jazz vocal group,” says David Thomas, a member of the Take 6 lineup since 1985. “So we decided to do an album of jazz standards, a record that will stand up as the jazz vocal album for all time.” The Standard was nominated for the 2009 Grammy’s: “Best Jazz Instrumental Solo,” “Best Gospel Performance,” and “Best Instrumental Arrangement.”

Take 6 co-founder, Claude McKnight also stands behind the ambitious claim. “We go into every project saying it will be the best,” he says. “When we take on a project or step into a new phase of our career, we’re not afraid to say, ‘Hey, let’s move some mountains.’”

The Standard features guest appearances by veteran jazz men George Benson, Al Jarreau, Jon Hendricks, Roy Hargrove, Till Brönner and others, as well as R&B luminaries Aaron Neville and Brian McKnight (Claude’s brother).

Take 6 gives definitive vocal treatments to such jazz classics as “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “Straighten Up and Fly Right” with vocalist/guitarist George Benson, “Someone to Watch Over Me” with trumpeter Roy Hargrove, and “Seven Steps to Heaven” with Jon Hendricks, Al Jarreau and German flugelhornist Till Brönner (featuring new lyrics by Jon Hendricks). The Standard’s crowning glory is a version of “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” Ella Fitzgerald’s signature – created in the studio using her original vocal from the classic 1938 Decca Records 78.

Other highlights include “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans” with Aaron Neville, Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” with Brian McKnight, Quincy Jones’ “Grace” and “Windmills of Your Mind” (from the 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair).

Take 6 launched their career by singing traditional spirituals and newly composed gospel material. They released their self-titled debut album on Warner Brothers’ Reprise label in 1988, and spent the next two decades crafting a series of records that defied easy categorization but instead embraced a broad cross-section of styles – soul, gospel, R&B, pop, jazz and more. Although they have enlisted the help of session musicians along the way, the greatest strength of their recordings has been – and continues to be – their richly layered and masterful vocal harmonies. Their talent, hard work and Christian faith has earned them their place as one of the most enduring and best-loved groups in all acappella.