Take 6 performing at NYC’s Blue Note
*Take 6 kicked off their 25th anniversary celebration May 7th with a week-long engagement at New York City’s famed Blue Note, and the ten-time Grammy-Award winners amazed the audience with their unprecedented a cappella vocal dexterity.
Opening with Nat King Cole’s “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” Take 6 served an immediate reminder that they are one of the most uniquely talented vocal groups in the world. Led on this classic by newest member Khristian Dentley, their breathtaking harmonies and the reverberating bass vocals of Alvin Chea set the tone for a magical performance.
Take 6′s versatility incorporates a wide musical spectrum embracing R&B, jazz, bebop, doo-wop, and even hip-hop, but their Christian faith is always their root. Following “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” the group segued into their testimony to Jesus, “I’ve Got Life” from their 1994 Join The Band CD, contemporizing the song with a hip-hop flava featuring human beat box machines Dentley and Joey Kibble. Their faith is a constant thread throughout their music as represented by the title tune of their latest CD One featuring brothers Joey and Mark Kibble with Dentley on piano.
The Christian theme was further exemplified by “Family of Love” and the classic choral piece “Alleluia” by Randall Thompson. Their encore selection, the Negro spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep” from their self-titled first CD in 1988, brought their Christian devotion full circle from their recording debut a quarter of a century ago.
Take 6 also excelled stepping outside of their own repertoire to cover timeless compositions ranging from the Oscar-winning “Windmills of Your Mind” from “The Thomas Crown Affair” in 1968, to Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” (a Mother’s Day dedication), and Cole’s standard “Smile” also made famous by Michael Jackson.
The group also delighted the audience with a series of surprise pop hits as the members paid tribute to their individual influences. Claude McKnight enchanted the crowd with his rendition of Earth, Wind and Fire’s “Can’t Hide Love,” and then ignited the hand-clapping, finger-snapping party with the Doobie Brothers’ “What A Fool Believes.” Joey Kibble continued the festive mood, leading Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish,” which set the stage for Dentley to create a frenzy as he channeled Jackson. Beginning with “Rock With You,” including his own moonwalk, and “The Way You Make Me Feel,” he set the stage for a friendly “MJ” competition as Joey Kibble paid tribute to the “King of Pop” with “Remember The Time.”
Take 6 heightened the excitement with an incredible mash-up of disco and rap, expertly creating a Bees Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” hip-hop/beat box remix with The Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.”
These consummate performers also presented a pulsating vocal battle as Chea scatted with The Kibble Brothers before being joined by McKnight, Thomas and Dentley (miming scratching two turntables). The very appreciative Blue Note audience thoroughly enjoyed an original, diversified, and very tasty 360 degree musical gumbo that could have only been offered by the one and only Take 6.
EUR Bonus Content:
While in New York, Take 6 visited NBC 4 and performed a Mother’s Day tribute that was the bomb diggety! Watch:
View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.