Take 6 to Headline Concert with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, 3/20
By: Matt Smith Feb. 18, 2015
CINCINNATI - The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra announces Grammy Award-winning a cappella gospel group Take 6 will headline the popular Classical Roots concert at Cincinnati's Music Hall. Conductor Charles Floyd will lead the full Orchestra, along with the Classical Roots Community Mass Choir in the one-night-only performance on Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Having recently celebrated their 25th anniversary, Take 6 is the most awarded vocal group in history, with 10 Grammy Awards, a Soul Train Award, and two NAACP Image Award nominations. Their debut album in 1988 won two Grammy Awards and made the Top Ten Billboard Contemporary Jazz and Contemporary Christian charts. Though they often perform across genres, the group has stayed true to its gospel roots. Known for their clear harmonies and innovative arrangements, Take 6 has earned the respect and praise of artists and musicians and producers such as Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald, and Quincy Jones. Also featured on the concert is the Classical Roots Community Mass Choir. The choir is comprised of over 100 singers from African-American churches across the Greater Cincinnati region. Led by area music ministers, the all-volunteer choir began rehearsals in January, dedicating weeks of preparation for the performance.
Classical Roots is the CSO's annual celebration of African-American music traditions, including elements from the classical repertoire, as well as traditional and contemporary African-American spiritual and gospel components.
Tickets for this concert start at $25 for adults and $10 for students. VIP tickets include admission to a post-concert reception in Music Hall's Corbett Tower and are $55. They can be purchased by visiting or calling the CSO Box Office at (513) 381-3300 or visiting www.cincinnatisymphony.org.
The CSO is grateful to Presenting Sponsor World Pac Paper; Chorus Sponsors Kroger Company, Mercy Health and Stone Financial Retirement Planning; Benefactor Sponsor Hightower Petroleum; Patron Sponsor Louise Gissendaner; and Community Sponsor Voice of Your Customer. Classical Roots is a presentation of Sound Discoveries: Music for the Community and is made possible in part thanks to The Corbett Educational Endowment established by Mrs. Patricia Corbett and The Corbett Foundation.
Take 6 (Claude McKnight, Mark Kibble, Joel Kibble, Dave Thomas, Alvin Chea and Khristian Dentley), heralded by Quincy Jones as the "baddest vocal cats on the planet!", is the quintessential a cappella group and model for vocal genius. Six virtuosic voices united in crystal clear harmony, against a backdrop of syncopated rhythms, innovative arrangements, and funky grooves that bubble into an intoxicating brew of gospel, jazz, R&B, and pop. With praise from such luminaries as Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald and Whitney Houston, the multi-platinum selling sextet has toured across the globe, collaborated across genres, and is recognized as the pre- eminent a cappella group in the world, and the most awarded vocal group in history, with 10 Grammy Awards,
10 Dove Awards, a Soul Train Award, and more.
The original torchbearers of the a cappella craze that has grown into televised shows like The Sing- Off, Take 6 has performed among a gathering of stars including Celine Dion, Lionel Richie, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Nicks, Ne-Yo, and more. At Walmart's 50th Anniversary celebration, Take 6 captivated the audience with their rendition of the Louis Armstrong hit, "What A Wonderful World." Showing the global reach of this phenomenal group, Take 6 closed the show with Ladysmith Black Mambazo to a standing ovation. At the behest of legendary Producer Phil Ramone, Take 6 thrilled a sold-out audience at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards performing with and honoring legendary singer-songwriter Ben E. King on his classic, "Stand By Me."
Take 6 has come a long way from their days at Huntsville, Alabama's Oakwood College where McKnight formed the group as The Gentleman's Estate Quartet in 1980. When tenor Mark Kibble heard the group rehearsing in the dorm bathroom, he joined in the harmonies and performed on stage that night. When Mervyn Warren joined shortly afterward, they took the name Alliance. Yet, when they signed to Reprise Records/Warner Bros. in 1987, they found that there was another group with the same name, so they became Take 6. Says McKnight: "Take 6 was all about a democratic process of sitting in a room together and throwing a couple of hundred names at each other and Take 6 was the one that got the most yay votes. It pretty much was a play on the Take 5 jazz standard and the fact that there are six of us in the group, so it became Take 6." Their self- titled debut CD won over jazz and pop critics, scored two 1988 Grammy Awards, landed in the Top Ten Billboard Contemporary Jazz and Contemporary Christian Charts, and they've never slowed down.
The group and their music based on faith, friendship, respect, and love of music have garnered them awards beyond musical category - a Soul Train Award and two NAACP Image Award nominations. From their exceptional live performances to their recordings, these qualities remain at the heart of the Take 6 phenomenon.
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