Smitty: Oh yes.
GK: So they were in the dining room, we were in the living room, and everybody started doing their thing, so when it came time for us to sing, we got up to sing and everybody just got quiet, and when we finished singing, everybody said “Yeah, that was great! That was good!” After the party that night, our parents came in and said “We heard you guys singing, and you really sound great.” And my mom said “Is that something you guys would like to do for fun?” And we said “Yeah!” So that’s how we got started.
Smitty: That’s an amazing story.
GK: Then we started to rehearse and we used to call ourselves the Little Knight Group, even though my cousins’ names were Guest. So it was my mom that started the group. So we did a Little Knight Group.
Smitty: The Knight Group. (Laugh.)
GK: So we started rehearsing, songs and stuff like that, and we didn’t have anywhere to perform them, so my mom came in one day. She said, “Well, I asked Pip,” who was her nephew and our cousin, “I asked Pip if he would find you guys some engagements to do.” And he said, “I don’t wanna be bothered with them children.” (Both laughing.) So he loved the idea. I mean, Pip knew everybody in town, that was his life, he worked all day and he would get dressed up at night and just go to the clubs. And my mom knew that, so she felt like he would know the people to introduce us to.
So he came in one day, and we weren’t called the Pips yet, we were just the Little Knight Group, and so he came in one day, he said “I got you an engagement.” He said “You’re gonna perform at a tea down at the YWCA.”
Smitty: The YWCA? (Laughing)
GK: And they’re gonna pay ya’ll ten dollars. (Both laughing.)
Smitty: That was the best ten dollars, wasn’t it?
GK: We went down there and thanked them so much and they paid us ten dollars. That was the beginning. And as time went by, to make a long story short….the girls left, they left me! Eleanor and Brenda left me, they said “We don’t wanna do this,” said “We wanna go to school and we’re gonna get married and blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.” I wasn’t thinking about none of that stuff. I was going to school but, you know, I was more of a tomboy. So they left me with the guys, and that’s when my other cousin Edward and this guy named Langston George joined the group to replace the two ladies, and eventually Langston left and it became the group that you see today. With just the three guys and me.
Smitty: What an incredible story, though. It came from such simple and humble beginnings, but it was a creative beginning.
GK: Yeah. And they started rehearsing. This is too funny. You asked me about the image awhile ago?
Smitty: Yes.
GK: Back in those days they had groups like the Midnighters and the Cadillacs. Now, the Cadillacs were very athletic in their performance. They would tumble and do the splits and then do all that kind of stuff. Well, we wanted to be an exciting group, right? But our house was kinda built like in an “I” where you go from the living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom. Straight back, right?
Smitty: Yup.
GK: So we got to rehearsing one day and our folks were at work. So there was nobody home but us and we said “We’re gonna try to do the things that the Cadillacs do,” so the guys would get a running start (both laughing) and they’d run from the living room all the way to the back bedroom and try to hit a split. We had sprained thumbs, sprained ankles, sprained everything (laughing), so that day, they said “You know what? That’s not the image for us. We’re not supposed to do that.” So we decided at that time that we were gonna become interpretive with our moves. The Pips were gonna interpret what I sing through their moves, you know? And that’s how we got our look, our style. That’s how we came up with it.
Smitty: What a great creative concept, though.
GK: Yeah.
Smitty: Okay. So let’s jump to the record.
GK: Okay.
Smitty: This great record is such an expression of your love for these great entertainers that are mentioned here, the songs that you covered.
GK: Absolutely. I just want to honor them and let the world know what a contribution they made and how many doors they opened with this pure music and with their gifts and talent for the rest of us.
Smitty: That’s beautiful.
GK: You know, because they went through a lot.
Smitty: Yes, they did.
GK: Just dealing with their craft during those days and they were awesome in their talent.
Smitty: Yes indeed.
GK: They really, really were and I have so much love and respect for them. As a matter of fact, this music helped me to help my mom feed our family during my high school years, and that’s how actually I got introduced to it. It’s not something I just came up with. I mean, it’s been a part of my life, and when I was in high school, Lloyd Terry….was the musical band director at my high school, Samuel Archer High School, and he asked my mom if I could be the vocalist for his band, and after they talked for a bunch of times she finally consented for me to do that, but he wouldn’t let me sing until I studied these people. He gave me a whole big ol’ stack of records and said “Okay, study these people,” and I had to do that before I could sing. So it was Ella and Sarah and Dinah Washington and Oscar Peterson, Cannonball Adderley, and Miles Davis…all those people. I didn’t know of them in that way then.
I was introduced to them by Lloyd and then I started doing their music, and he used to tell me after years went by, if he could he would come to our concerts. “You should be recording that music you used to do. You should be singing ‘Round About Midnight,’ you should be doing this and doing that,” and we tried to get it done at one time and it kinda fizzled out and then he got cancer and he passed away, what, two years ago now?
Smitty: Oh, I’m so sorry.
GK: Thank you. Also, my ex-manager, Ron Wiseman, he came to me about three years ago and said “I got an idea for this great project called ‘Great Ladies of Song.’ You would do great doing that,” and I said “Oh, that sounds exciting.” I said “Ron, you may not know this but I’m familiar with that music.” He said “Really?” “I’m gonna see what I can do” and that fizzled out and then we readdressed it about a year ago and Verve came to the table and that’s the rest of the story.
Smitty: Yes. And my hat’s off to Verve, Tommy LiPuma….
GK: Yes!
Smitty: Phil Ramone, Ron Weisner, Al Schmitt, Frank Filipetti, J’ai St. Laurent Smyth, all of them.
GK: Yes!
