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November 6, 2007
Checking in with Alvin Chea
Kalamzaoo Gazette (MI):
Bass singer Alvin Chea of the vocal group Take 6 was calling during a break in a Nashville, Tenn.
“We're recording a track for a new movie coming out next year,'' Chea, 39, said of a song for the film “Sweetwater,'' starring Robert DeNiro and Richard Dreyfuss. The male sextet was also rehearsing for a Christmas show scheduled for the Armed Forces Network.
Those are just two of numerous musical avenues of Take 6 -- a jazz/R&B/gospel/a cappella group with more than a dozen of its own award-winning CDs. The singers have a resume stuffed with work on film and TV scores, commercials and other artists' recordings. On Friday, the group performs at Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo.
“We're all family men and work individually on a lot of other projects, but we make Take 6 our first job priority,'' Chea said.
Take 6's most recent CD is last year's “Feels Good.'' But their next project will be a jazz standards collection, for which they are currently selecting songs. The singers met during the 1980s at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Ala., forming a group that specialized in a cappella gospel. Their 1988 debut release featured what remain two of their signature songs: “Mary, Don't You Weep'' and “If We Ever.'' A cappella groups provide their instrumental sounds with their voices. And as the bass voice of Take 6, Chea often finds himself mimicking a bass guitar.
“I wear a number of different hats, including rooting out the chords of the songs and supplying the rhythm section,'' said the California native who grew up studying piano. “I try to be the sergeant-at-arms and keep the guys from rushing the tempo, and keep them on pitch.''
Some of their arrangements (most of them done by group member Mark Kibble) are stunningly complex, stretching the limits of what six individual voices can accomplish. They learn their parts not from scores, but directly from the keyboard by rote, as in the gospel music tradition. Singer Claude McKnight just might have the highest voice of the six, but the range of each of the artists is impressive.
Living in Los Angeles, Chea is a regular “vocal supplier'' for the film industry. His vocals have been in dozens of movies, including “Spider-Man 3,'' “License to Wed'' and “The Simpsons Movie.'' The ensemble also includes Michigan native Cedric Dent, who spent two of his high school years studying at Interlochen Arts Academy and went on to receive a choral music degree at the University of Michigan.
The vocalists have gained footholds in jazz, R&B and pop, and have recorded cover songs in at least as many genres. The group has won 10 Grammy Awards (in gospel, R&B and jazz) and received 18 Grammy nominations -- more than any other group embracing those categories.
Chea is currently working his way through an online law school program. “I'm on a four-year track, which gives you a little more leeway to have an actual life,'' he said.
Take 6 performed in Kalamazoo as early as 1989, and knows well the tradition of Western Michigan University's Gold Company jazz vocal group. “We know (WMU jazz studies professor) Steve Zegree and he runs a wonderful program there,'' said Chea. “It's so great to hear those harmonies so big and so tight. You're always ready to sit and learn something new.''
Posted by acapnews at November 6, 2007 8:54 PM
Comments
Vinnie, I just wantedt to let you know that I've changed my email address. I don't know if you are even going to get this. You probably don't even check this website. If you do, write back. Take care.
Raychelle in Huntsville
Posted by: Raychelle at January 20, 2008 12:44 PM
