Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
Keeping the Flame at Van Gelder Studio
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
The Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 will hit the road together for a U.S. tour that begins Oct. 1 in Bangor, Maine.
(Photo: Courtesy of the artists)Vocal-jazz dynasties The Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 will join forces this October for “The Summit,” a collaborative national tour during which the two groups will perform nearly 50 shows across the United States.
Between them, The Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 boast a remarkable 20 Grammy Awards, and cover a range of popular styles from bebop to r&b, gospel to swing. This tour marks their first collaboration.
“It’s basically putting together these two groups that have listened to and been fans of each other for many years,” says Claude V. McKnight III, first tenor and founder of Take 6. “We’ll be doing some songs together, stripping some songs down, and doing different kinds of pairings, and just having a really good time onstage. This is something you can only do live.”
Since its inception in the early ’70s, The Manhattan Transfer, a vocal quartet, has released nearly 30 albums, and has been nominated for 20 Grammy awards, winning 10. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
Take 6, an a cappella group, released its most recent album, Believe, in March 2016. The group has collaborated with a diverse range of artists, including Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and Justin Timberlake.
The Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 kick off their tour Oct. 1 in Bangor, Maine, with subsequent stops in New England and across the country through March 2017.
On Jan. 21 the groups will headline the Charleston Jazz Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, where each group will perform a set individually before coming together for a combined finale.
For more information, visit manhattantransfer.net or take6.com.
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
Jack DeJohnette boasted a musical resume that was as long as it was fearsome.
Oct 28, 2025 10:47 AM
Jack DeJohnette, a bold and resourceful drummer and NEA Jazz Master who forged a unique vocabulary on the kit over his…
Trio aRT with its avalanche of instrumentation: from left, Pheeroan akLaff, Scott Robinson and Julian Thayer.
Sep 3, 2025 12:03 PM
Trio aRT, a working unit since 1988, shockingly released its very first studio recording this summer. Recorded in…
“Think of all the creative people I’m going to meet and a whole other way of thinking about music and a challenge of singing completely different material than I would have sung otherwise to my highest level in dedication to the moment,” Elling says about his Broadway run.
Sep 9, 2025 1:18 PM
Kurt Elling was back at home in Chicago, grabbing some family time in a late-June window between gigs. Sporting a smile…
Pat Metheny will perform with his Side-Eye III ensemble at Big Ears 2026 in Knoxville, Tennessee, next March.
Sep 9, 2025 12:19 PM
Big Ears has announced the lineup for its 2026 festival, which will take place March 26–29 and include 250…