Take 6’s newest recording, “Feels Good,” drops on March 21, 2006. The album is a return to the signature sound of the group – sky-high tenor lines, booming bass and intricate six-part harmonies with only a hint of percussion instruments.
I got the chance to chat with founder Claude McKnight recently about the new album, changes with their recording process, a bit of their history and future plans for Take 6.
CASA: What made you create an a cappella group and think that it could be successful when there were no contemporary role models at the time?
McKnight: Interestingly enough, there were a lot of trios and quartets on our campus because every one sang as part of the ministry. We started out as a quartet and we decided that we wanted to be different. So we added a fifth and then a sixth member, which freed us up to be the big men on campus.
Here we were, four freshmen, then we added Mark Kibble and the arrangements just got better, more difficult and more interesting and things started happening.
CASA: A couple of years later, you are up for several GRAMMY® awards and have sold more than a million copies of your debut album:
McKnight: We were just an a cappella group [and a gospel one at that] from a little Bible college in Alabama. We knew that the American music scene needed something new and different. The number one thing is that we are a spiritual group; God said that it was time for us to make a stand.
CASA: What was the scene like, why do you think people gravitated towards you so quickly and wholeheartedly?
McKnight: From a musical standpoint, when we came on the scene there was a lot of electronic music happening. It was all synthesizers and electric guitars. We came out of nowhere! It was Tracy Chapman and us: she was acoustic and we were doing all vocal music. Even if you didn’t like what we were doing you had to check us out because we were completely a breath of fresh air.
CASA: Then 20 years go by and you’re still here:
McKnight: We only think about how long it’s been when someone brings sit up. We’re enjoying this still so much, it still feels new to us to a certain degree. We have less hair and more knee problems, but it feels like a brand new day for us, which is a kick!
And some pretty big names have been checking them out all this time. According to reports, Stevie Wonder bought multiple copies to give out to friends and family and even put "Spread Love" on his answering machine. Ed Bradley voiced his amazement during a piece on them for "60 Minutes." Music legend Quincy Jones said simply, "Take 6 are the baddest vocal cats on the planet. On this subject there is nothing else to discuss. That's the way it be's."
CASA: What was it like getting noticed by so many famous people, what’s it been like to work with them?
McKnight: We’ve been friends with Quincy Jones now for years and have worked with him on three or four different occasions. He is one of the biggest geniuses in music industry. The main thing he brought to the table was how humble and regular person he is. He got things out of us that we didn’t even know that you could do. That’s how intuitive he is musically.
CASA: Stevie Wonder?
McKnight: Man, vocally, he does things that you think, “No, you aren’t going to try that, Stevie!” And he nails them every time. Even the imitators can’t keep up.
CASA: Well, being a Durhamite, I have to ask you about your performance with Nnenna Freelon on the GRAMMY® Awards in 2001 singing “Straighten Up and Fly Right”:
McKnight: Nnenna is a very talented woman. That song was one of our first experiences recording with a female vocalist. We’ve done very few fully-arranged a cappella songs with women.
CASA: Watching you guys perform with her definitely made me proud and excited!
McKnight: During the telecast, I don’t know if you could see this at home or not, but as we were singing, you could see people thinking “Okay, what’s goin’ on here?” There was a full standing ovation afterwards; it was incredible!
CASA: Jumping to the present, I think the new album is a testament to the dedication you have to not resting on your laurels and experimenting with new ideas and techniques in creating vocal music.
McKnight: This album is new and different for us. There are a lot of original tunes. All of the group members wrote songs for the album. The sound is more contemporary and it’s definitely more contemporary in terms of themes and arrangements.
It’s a look at where Take 6 is in 2006 and doing our own material instead of the spirituals that we are known for.
CASA: I’ve listened to the album a lot and the one thing that’s stuck with me is how much it seems reminiscent of your past. Was there a definite plan to revisit your creative pasts to make this new album?
McKnight: The recording is not really a revisiting for us. Two years ago when we started working on the new songs, we felt like we had to come full circle on this 20-year ride of ours. We had experimented with different guests, instrumentation and albums and we needed to come back to this, this which is completely a cappella. It was really more of an evolutionary process to come back to our beginning.
“Feels Good” returns to the rich musical heritage of Take 6 by bringing the listener along for one of their most uplifting, funky and inspirational joy rides to date. According to Kibble the departure was necessary for creative growth, “It is important for us to continually challenge ourselves musically in order to keep our music and creative spirit fresh.”
CASA: Let’s talk a little about the recording process and what made this one so different from your other 10 albums:
McKnight: The experience was really different for us. We’d been in the business for many years and for the first time we were completely on our own [The group recently formed their own label, Take 6 Records]. So we may have taken more time than we really needed to lay down tracks because we wanted them to sound like we knew they could.
We didn’t have the “if only we’d spent more time” excuse not to make the songs sound exactly the way we wanted them to. We did a lot more experimentation on this album to perfect the sound and arrangements. It was the first time that all six of us liked every single song and arrangement on the CD.
CASA: Really? And why is that?
McKnight: Well, most people in the a cappella world know that you don’t know what the song is going to sound like until it’s recorded and you can hear it on playback. One of our major concerns in the past was that we didn’t have time to experiment. Before, we’ve wanted to do more demos on songs so that we could bring them to the table and add more here and take out stuff there. Because we’re producing the album ourselves, we are taking the time now.
CASA: Can you give our readers some examples of songs that benefited from this increased production time?
McKnight: “More Than Ever” is very different from its original incarnation. It evolved through experimentation processes. We tinkered with the final arrangement a lot. We tried to stay true in a vocal sense but it is very different for us. It has become one of our favorite songs on the album now.
We were able to create changes in the studio as well which helped the song “Wait for the Sunshine.” We weren’t getting the best feel for the sound that we wanted, so we changed it up about four different times. Finally, because we took the time, it did come out the way that we wanted it. In the past year the song would have simply gone on the album and we would not have liked it.
CASA: Other than this new creative freedom, what was the impetus for starting your own record company?
McKnight: The last five or six years, as our careers moved on, it just made more since for us to have our own company. We all know that major labels like to put limitations on artists and make everyone fall into neat categories. The time comes when you have to decide that it’s really about how much money you are going to invest to produce your music and artistry. We’ve really buckled down since 2004 and got our ducks in a row so that we were calling the shots.
CASA: And what has been the biggest change or realization now that you are your own bosses?
McKnight: The biggest change is realizing that all of the things that we do for our music, we are paying for it out of our own pockets. So it’s like starting over again. All of the groups out there should realize that whatever your financial situation, you have to keep your hands on the purse strings. It’s a challenge.
CASA: What other projects have you been working on?
McKnight: In addition to “Feels Good,” we did two exclusive songs for ITUNES® and Rhapsody®. We recorded “You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans” with Aaron Neville. Those proceeds were donated to Habitat for Humanity. For Rhapsody® we recorded Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” with my brother [Brian McKnight]. We may re-release it with some other artists to see what develops. We’ll include those on the next pressings of “Feels Good” but right now they are exclusives.
When working with other artists, it kind of depends on the song and the arrangement. “Wow, so-and-so’s voice would be great on that song,” instead of picking a person and working on a song that way. It would be cool to find someone who’s out of our genre or paradigm and pairing up with [him or her] to see what kind of magic could happen.
CASA: What are your touring plans over the next year or so?
McKnight: We just got back from our first ever tour to Indonesia. We also spent time in Tokyo, Australia and Korea. It’s just easier to tour in Europe and the Far East because they are more receptive to vocal music, especially jazz.
We are wanting to reconnect with our core American audience, though, so now our focal point is on touring more in the States this year.
CASA: Any parting words?
McKnight: With all of the changes that we’ve made over the past few years, now any and everything that we want to do we meet together as a group and decide if this is where we want to put our money. That’s why it still so new. Creating the company and producing this album has been cathartic and like a rebirth experience.
CASA: I bet it just “feels good.”
Click on the wrench in the upper left-hand corner to see what else you can do.