In Conversation with Cedric Dent of Take 6 – Jazz.com | Jazz Music – Jazz Artists – Jazz News

In conversation with cedric dent of take 6

By Tomas Pea

Who would have thought that by focusing on the narrow, seemingly out-of-vogue a cappella singing style, a group like Take 6 would someday emerge and break down the barriers between jazz, gospel, and soul? In so doing, the group has become one of the most popular and in-demand vocal groups in the world. Thus far, the group has garnered 10 Grammy awards, one Soul Train award, and two NAACP Image Award nominations. Moreover, theyve collaborated with Whitney Houston, Don Henley, Ray Charles, Queen Latifah, Joe Sample, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Roy Hargrove, Jon Hendricks, Quincy Jones, Marcus Miller, Brian McKnight and others. Thanks to the efforts of Mike Wilpizeski, Vice President of Jazz Publicity at Telarc/Heads Up International, I was able to catch up with baritone Cedric Dent, who travels and performs with Take 6 when hes not teaching at Middle Tennessee State University.

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Congratulations on the release of The Standard, Take 6s jazziest recording to date.

We made a concerted effort to do some covers of jazz and a few R & B things that we loved down through the years. Also, it was something that the record label was interested in doing.

I understand the group is currently on tour in Europe. You remained behind because of a teaching commitment.

Yeah, I am a full time professor now at Middle Tennessee State University, which is right outside of Nashville.

So you join the group when you are not teaching?

During the fall and spring semesters I have a guy who subs for me. During the summer months, Im with the group full-time.

You are one busy guy!

Trying to juggle both of these things is quite a balancing act!

Lets introduce the members of the group and describe the role each of them plays.

Claude McKnight is on top most of the time, we call him one of the first tenors. Mark Kibble is directly under him; hes another first tenor.

Mark is also the primary arranger, correct?

Yes, Mark is our primary arranger, somebody I am still learning from after twenty years. Then theres David Thomas. I call him sort of a first/second tenor; hes the third man down from the top. Then theres Joel Kibble, whos a second tenor. I am a baritone under him, and then theres our bass, Alvin Chea.

The group started out as a quartet twenty-eight years ago (1980) at Oakland College in Huntsville, Alabama. The original name was Alliance, which then became the Gentlemens Quartet.

Actually, its the other way around. The original name was the Gentlemens Quartet and the name was changed to Alliance.

As I understand it, the group used to rehearse in the mens room at Oakland College because of the acoustics.

In fact, they would find various places around campus where the acoustics were very reverberant, and practice. There was a particular public bathroom in the basement underneath one of the auditoriums where student performances happened all the time they were warming up in the bathroom, waiting for their turn to go on to stage to perform. This is part of the famous story where Mark Kibble came in and joined them before they were about to perform.

He overheard the group rehearsing?

Its not like that was place where they always rehearsed. It was right before a performance, and it was conveniently located beneath the auditorium where they were about to perform one evening.

Mark eventually became a member of the group and the primary arranger. He was responsible for bringing Mervyn Warren into the fold.

Right, you know the story better than me!

Thank you, and thank God for YouTube, its a great resource. Your music is firmly rooted in the Gospel tradition, but it also contains elements of Jazz and R & B. Over the years the group has come under some criticism from the religious community for not adhering to strict, conservative standards. How do you reconcile the religious side of things with the groups commercial appeal?

After doing this for awhile, we finally came to the conclusion that we really have to do what we are passionate about and what we feel spiritually led to do, and then just let the chips fall where they may. For years, when we would be in gospel music settings we would be looked at as outsiders. Then we would be in jazz and other secular settings, and we would be looked at as outsiders there! So we decided to do the best we can, to be excellent at what we do. And that simplified things for us, because then we were not trying to chase a genre, or a style, or a mode that someone else wanted us to be. An older musician once told me, When you try to do what other people want you to do, thats a moving target.

If you had done what other people wanted you to do, you probably wouldnt be as popular as you are today. You are spreading the gospel all over the world. The groups tour schedule is astounding!

Yeah, we are all over the map, arent we?

How does Take 6s music go over internationally? Do people get your message?

Our audiences all over the world are enthusiastic, although I would say that there are some cultural differences in the way they express that enthusiasm. American audiences are really good at talking back to you during a performance. Japanese audiences are a lot more courteous during the performance, but they get real exuberant at the end. Jazz audiences tend to fall in between those two categories. If you are new to international travel, it might throw you a little bit, because the responses are culturally different. But once you understand that, you can appreciate their enthusiasm in the way that they express it.

What about getting your message across to people who do not speak the language?

We were with Warner Brothers for many years, and they did a great thing with helping us develop an audience in Japan, in particular. Every CD that we did here was released there, with an extra insert that had all the lyrics of our songs translated to Japanese. So when we performed there, they knew what the songs meant, and that was helpful for us. In Europe, people are multilingual and they understand the words. That was a really good thing for us, because it helped us develop a rapport with a Japanese audience. For a long time, Japan was our largest market outside of the U.S. And in some ways it still is.

To the best of your knowledge, does Japan have an a cappella tradition?

They have a few, but I dont know that its widespread. But again, because of the marketing efforts early on, we began touring there every year. There has not been a year in the last fifteen years that we have not performed in Japan. We even have some commercial endorsements there [that aren't seen in the U.S.].

I dont know if you are aware of it or not, but you have quite a fan base in Cuba.

I didnt know that.

Theres a female vocal group in Cuba called Sexto Sentido (Sixth Sense) who draw their inspiration from your music. Furthermore, Cuba has a strong vocal tradition that goes way back.

Wow, that is flattering!

The group is not copying your style per se, but stylistically, you can hear the influence of Take 6.

I did know that we have a strong audience in South America, because we've toured there quite a bit. Countries like Argentina and Brazil have always been very supportive, but I didnt know about Cuba.

Lets talk about The Standard. This is your eleventh album, correct?

I think this is our 13th album I am not sure.

The repertoire runs the gamut from Ella Fitzgeralds A Tisket a Tasket, to Miles Daviss Seven Steps to Heaven. Perhaps the oddest and most fun tune is Being Green. I particularly like the quip at the end, which speaks about the possibility of a President of color!

We didnt know what was going to happen when we did that recording, we just found it interesting that to be honest with you, I never thought I would see a person of color become President in my lifetime. I certainly thought it was on the horizon but I didnt think it would happen this soon.

Neither did I! Getting back to the music, how did you choose the repertoire? Is it a democratic process?

We just started compiling a list of songs; we had a master list, and we would just all sort of throw songs onto the list. We had friends who made suggestions of songs, and then every once in awhile we would all go, Ooh, this is a really great one, we really should do this one. And then, Mark Kibble, the primary arranger, started digging into them. He is also the producer for the record, so he made the final pick from the list that we all put together. We thought he did a great job.

What about the guests, like Aaron Neville, Al Jarreau, Roy Hargrove, Jon Hendricks, and others?

These were all people that we had worked with before in various capacities. [We] decided, since we have done things with and for them, maybe its time to call in some favors (laughs). I teach a seminar on the music industry, and one of the things I say to my students all the time in this class is very apropos to how we got these guest artists on our record. I tell them, 'You have heard it said that its not what you know but who you know. Well, thats not really true. Its actually what you know and who you know!'

My point is that networking is a really big part of any field that you go into. You really have to develop strong relationships that will help you. And the relationships should be reciprocal, so you can help them as well. Thats really how most of these collaborations came about. These were all people that weve known through the years with whom we've performed and recorded before.

Speaking of special guests, I cant get over how much George Benson sounds like Nat King Cole on the tune, Straighten Up and Fly Right. Was he purposely imitating Nat King Cole? Its uncanny!

Yeah! Well, we found that he at one point had been doing a tribute to Nat King Cole, so that turned out to be very fortuitous for us, to have him come in and sing a Nat King Cole tune. He does a great job of channeling Nat.

Thanks to the marvels of technology, you even managed to include Ella Fitzgerald. Who came up with that idea?

I cant remember who exactly came up with it, but it was a unanimous decision to do it. Ella is one of the greatest singers ever. The things that she did live in terms of accuracy and intonationpeople [today] use all kinds of recording techniques and gadgetry to try to sound that much in-tune, and still dont do it as well. She is just one of the best in any genre at what she did. So it was one of those things where we just had to do something with Ella. Timing wise, we didnt get a chance to do it while she was alive, so this was our way paying tribute to her, and still sort of getting a chance to perform with her vicariously.

Is there a male vocalist who meets those standards?

One of my favorites is Bobby McFerrin. I dont know if you have ever seen him live, but what he does is just mind boggling.

Yes, I have seen him and I agree, though its been awhile since he has released a recording.

And he has such depth of in terms of what he can do, stylistically. You can hear his understanding of the classical music genre as well as jazz. He does both with equal aplomb. Again, he is just an inspiration.

Bobbys a renaissance man. The last I heard he was conducting a classical orchestra. What is he doing now?

I havent heard recently what he is doing. We run into him all the time in Europe, doing performances. I know that he is still touring but from what I understand he does a lot conducting for symphony orchestras. He is still very active.

I dont think I have ever heard a vocal group that is as technically proficient as Take 6. Part of it obviously has to do with the giftthe voices that God has given youbut how do you rise to that level? You guys have taken the vocal tradition to an entirely new level, and raised the bar so high.

Well, I have to say it doesnt come without some sacrifice. By that I mean, most artists would probably have twice as many recordings as we do. In other words, it takes us quite awhile to really put together the work that we do, much to the chagrin of the record labels, who are always telling us to have a new record out every nine months.

You know whats on their minds!

Of course! The other thing, too, is we are self-produced. When we are touring nothing is happening in the studio. Its not like a pop artist who has a producer who is collecting songs and putting tracks together while the artist is out touring and when they come back they can just go right into the studio and start recording. Its a very methodical, systematic approach that we take to what we do. So thats part of it, right there.

In a past interview Mark Kibble said that it takes about a year for the group to put an album together.

I tell people all the time, Take 6 is Take 6 because we are strong in three areas. First is the arranging. We have arrangements on a level that most groups have a hard time grasping. Number two, we have very strong lead singers. The guys in our group do things outside of Take 6. They are constantly called because they are great lead singers. Number three, the collective range of the group has always been our strength. Our bass singer is one of the lowest bass singers that you will hear, and hes getting lower as he gets older. He does things that still boggle my mind, because his voice is still dropping. But we also have had really good first tenors too. So those three things combined I think really make Take 6 quite unique.

I remember when Boyz II Men came out, and they used to say that we influenced them a lot. We were flattered by that, and people would ask, how do they compare to you? And I would say these guys are a collection of incredible lead singers, but they dont do the group singing like we do and thats a major distinction. People who do not have the ears to hear that may not understand that. When you listen to what they do as a group, its just OK. But what they do as lead singers, I think, is what made them as strong as they wereand still are, because they are still performing. And we could make those kinds of comparisons with other groups. I am actually a big fan of Boyz II Men, but thats what makes Take 6 stand out. We have a unique combination of gifts.

I dont know how many Grammy nominations/awards and other awards the group has received to datemainly, because I lost count. But looking back on the time that youve spent with the group, what comes to mind?

The first thing that always comes to my mind is that I never thought we would still be doing it after all these years. It boggles my mind that we have been able to stay together as a group. This is an interesting story: I had a pastor who I used to work with before I joined Take 6. After we signed our record deal he called and said, You guys wont last very long. From his pastoral perspective, we werent being spiritual enough in our approach. Over the years I moved away, and every couple of years I would get a call from him; it would start off with, You guys still together? And I would say, Yeah man, God is still blessing us! (laughs) and he would say, Its not going to last. One of his things was, Only what you do for Christ will last. After we hit the ten-year mark he called and asked, Are you guys still together? When I told him that we were still together he said, You know, the Beatles were together for ten years and they broke up! I just had to laugh, even though it was intended as an insult. That was really funny to me.

Does the pastor still call? And if so, what is he saying now?

Eventually he stopped calling.

He is probably owns every recording the group has made and is one of your biggest fans!

Probably!

A closet Take 6 fan thats a great story. With any luck he will stumble onto this interview!

(Laughter) I really think, in all seriousness, that we were all providentially called to be in this group, and thats why we have been together as long as we have. Another aspect of it is, there are a lot of artists that we have seen come and go. Especially groups. Its perhaps easier to go for quite awhile when you are a solo artist. When you are a group, you have to deal with egos and differences of opinions. If we just did this for ourselves, it probably would have ended long ago, but we have always seen this as a ministry.

A higher calling

A higher calling that also keeps the egos in check. And thats probably the most amazing part of all of this, for me.

Your music is hip and beautiful, but its the spiritual component that really makes it special.

Thank you.

And what better way to end this conversation than on that note? Please give my regards to the members of the group. I hope to see you perform live the next time Take 6 performs in New York. Keep spreading the gospel and good luck with The Standard.

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Visit Take 6: www.take6.com

SUGGESTED LISTENING:
Take 6 (1990)
Take 6 - Greatest Hits (2007)
Take 6 We Wish You a Merry Christmas/Carol of the Bells (1999)

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December 11, 2008 · 5 comments