Award Winning A Cappella Powerhouse Take 6 Open Concert Series at Rockwell Hall
Take 6 bring their groove-laden a cappella vocals to Rockwell Hall on Saturday, October 4 at 8:00 p.m. This is the opening concert of the Performing Arts Center's 2008-2009 Great Performers Series, presented by M&T Bank.
Tickets for Take 6 are $35-$30 each, with a discount for seniors and rush tickets for students. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at the Rockwell Hall Box Office, 1300 Elmwood Ave., by calling 716-878-3005 or online at www.buffalostate.edu/pac. Box Office hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Take 6 was co-founded Claude V. McKnight III (brother of R&B crooner Brian McKnight). Claude lived and grew up in Buffalo, NY until his sophomore year of high school. He got his earliest musical influences in Buffalo, mostly from his grandfather (Fred Willis Sr.) who was the choir director at his church. His earliest musical memories are from going to rehearsal with his mom every Friday night. He was able to learn parts and harmonize and see how his grandfather was able to lead a group of people.
Mark and Joey Kibble also spent part of their childhood in Buffalo. The Kibble brothers and the McKnight brothers were all childhood friends and according to Mark Kibble, "it can be said that most of my early musical influence happened in Buffalo, where my father pastored a very musical church."
Take 6 are not only the heirs to the rich tradition of the doo-wop and gospel groups of the 1950s, but also the leaders in the second wave of jazz and pop vocal groups that emerged in the 1990s. With these noteworthy legacies at their foundation, these multiple Grammy winners continue to look and move in a forward direction as the first decade of the 21st century unfolds.
Take 6 marks a new jazz vocal milestone with the September 30, 2008 release of their 13th album, The Standard. Winners of 10 Grammy Awards, 10 Dove Awards, one Soul Train Award and two NAACP Image Award nominations, the influential sextet - Mark Kibble, Claude V. McKnight III, Dr. Cedric Dent, David Thomas, Alvin Chea and Joey Kibble - makes their debut on Heads Up International with a recording of mostly jazz (and some R&B) standards, including "Straighten Up and Fly Right," "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," "Someone To Watch Over Me," "What's Going On" and "Windmills of Your Mind."
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."
Listening to Take 6 causes one to appreciate their brilliant vocal mastery passed to them, as a mantel, from early American musical icons such as the Hi-Lo's, Ella Fitzgerald and Stevie Wonder. Today, Take 6 has managed to keep that mantel, yet still share some of its influence with countless other black male pop groups of the 1990s.
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 a cappella.
Never content to rest on their substantial laurels, Take 6 continues to grow and evolve. McKnight says, "The fact that we're going outside of what we would normally do, and including some jazz standards in this collection, leads us to believe that we can go outside of the traditional Take 6 listener and bring some other people into the party that we've been having for twenty years."
The Great Performers Series is sponsored by M&T Bank and WBFO.
Tickets for Take 6 are $35-$30 each, with a discount for seniors and rush tickets for students. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at the Rockwell Hall Box Office, 1300 Elmwood Ave., by calling 716-878-3005 or online at www.buffalostate.edu/pac. Box Office hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Take 6 was co-founded Claude V. McKnight III (brother of R&B crooner Brian McKnight). Claude lived and grew up in Buffalo, NY until his sophomore year of high school. He got his earliest musical influences in Buffalo, mostly from his grandfather (Fred Willis Sr.) who was the choir director at his church. His earliest musical memories are from going to rehearsal with his mom every Friday night. He was able to learn parts and harmonize and see how his grandfather was able to lead a group of people.
Mark and Joey Kibble also spent part of their childhood in Buffalo. The Kibble brothers and the McKnight brothers were all childhood friends and according to Mark Kibble, "it can be said that most of my early musical influence happened in Buffalo, where my father pastored a very musical church."
Take 6 are not only the heirs to the rich tradition of the doo-wop and gospel groups of the 1950s, but also the leaders in the second wave of jazz and pop vocal groups that emerged in the 1990s. With these noteworthy legacies at their foundation, these multiple Grammy winners continue to look and move in a forward direction as the first decade of the 21st century unfolds.
Take 6 marks a new jazz vocal milestone with the September 30, 2008 release of their 13th album, The Standard. Winners of 10 Grammy Awards, 10 Dove Awards, one Soul Train Award and two NAACP Image Award nominations, the influential sextet - Mark Kibble, Claude V. McKnight III, Dr. Cedric Dent, David Thomas, Alvin Chea and Joey Kibble - makes their debut on Heads Up International with a recording of mostly jazz (and some R&B) standards, including "Straighten Up and Fly Right," "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," "Someone To Watch Over Me," "What's Going On" and "Windmills of Your Mind."
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."
Listening to Take 6 causes one to appreciate their brilliant vocal mastery passed to them, as a mantel, from early American musical icons such as the Hi-Lo's, Ella Fitzgerald and Stevie Wonder. Today, Take 6 has managed to keep that mantel, yet still share some of its influence with countless other black male pop groups of the 1990s.
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 a cappella.
Never content to rest on their substantial laurels, Take 6 continues to grow and evolve. McKnight says, "The fact that we're going outside of what we would normally do, and including some jazz standards in this collection, leads us to believe that we can go outside of the traditional Take 6 listener and bring some other people into the party that we've been having for twenty years."
The Great Performers Series is sponsored by M&T Bank and WBFO.
Media Contact:
Jeff Marsha, Director of Operations, Performing Arts Center | 7168783032 | marshajl@buffalostate.edu