Take 6, released in 1988 on Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

, is the debut album by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 contemporary Gospel music

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 group Take 6

Take 6

Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel music sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. The group sings in a contemporary style, integrating R&B and jazz influences into their devotional songs and has 10 Grammy wins, 10 Dove Awards, one Soul Train Award and two...

. The album won the group their first two Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

s for Best Jazz Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group and Best Soul Gospel Performance by a Duo, Group, Choir, or Chorus. It also earned the group their first three Dove Awards for Group of the Year, Contemporary Black Gospel Album of the Year, and Contemporary Black Gospel Song of the Year.

The album Take 6 is often mistakenly thought to be named do be doo wop bop, because that phrase appears on the album cover under the letters of the group's name. The album's legal title is Take 6, and the cover's designer, Kav DeLuxe, has stated the phrase "do be doo wop bop" was included simply as a "design element."

Background

In 1987 Take 6 held an exclusive performance for gospel record-company executives. Yet, many refrained from attending, unsure how to market such a musical group. Fortunately, an uninvited representative of Warner Bros, showed up who was impressed with a tape he’d received of the group. "When I first played their tape," Jim Ed Norman said, "I heard the most enchanting, wonderful sound in music coming from the human voice that I had heard in the longest time."



Warner Bros, signed Take 6 to a recording con-tract, and their self-titled debut album was released the following year on the company’s Reprise label. Although the group had originally hoped to sign with a gospel label, they later realized the evangelistic opportunity to reach wider audiences with their jazzed-up gospel music. "We purposely style our music the way we do to make the message more appealing to people who wouldn't ordinarily listen to Christian music," explained original group member Mervyn Warren."

Track listing

1. "Gold Mine" - 3:52
2. "Spread Love" - 3:29
3. "If We Ever" - 4:59
4. "A Quiet Place" - 2:43
5. "Mary
   Mary Don't You Weep
   "Mary Don't You Weep" is a Negro spiritual that originates from before the American Civil War – thus it is what scholars call a "slave song," "a label that describes their origins among the enslaved," and it contains "coded messages of hope and resistance." It is...
   
   " - 3:31
6. "David and Goliath" - 4:25
7. "Get Away, Jordan" - 4:23
8. "He Never Sleeps" - 3:10
9. "Milky-White Way" - 4:47
10. "Let the Words" - 00:55

Critical Response

The vocal sextet's debut release was critically acclaimed, capturing Grammy Awards in both the jazz and gospel categories. "In a diverse selection of songs, Take 6 merges an a cappella sound with gospel and big-band jazz arrangements... Their harmonies and melodies are consistent throughout this outstanding collection of songs," said Craig Lytle for AMG.