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Critically Acclaimed The Abyssinian Mass by Wynton Marsalis returns to The House of Swing

(photo by: Frank Stewart)

On November 21-23, at 8:00 p.m., Jazz at Lincoln Center, in collaboration with Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival, reprises The Abyssinian Mass by award-winning composer and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater.

Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will be joined by Damien L. Sneed and the 70-piece Chorale Le Chateau with Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, for this encore performance of The Abyssinian Mass. The epic suite explores the African American experience through a swinging big band and gospel choir celebration. Bringing full-throated gospel together with a massive range of jazz styles, The Abyssinian Mass is a sweeping blend of big band bravado,impassioned solos, hand claps, tambourine slaps, and some of the mightiest voices you’ll hear outside of church.

Commissioned in 2008 to honor the bicentennial of Harlem’s famed Abyssinian Baptist Church, The Abyssinian Mass has since become a best-selling record and toured packed concert halls and churches around the country. The unique masterpiece now returns exclusively to its hometown for three nights in the House of Swing. Created and performed for audiences of all faiths and backgrounds, The Abyssinian Mass is a spirited and swinging affirmation of just how good it can feel to be human.

A free pre-concert discussion takes place at 7:00 p.m. each night at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The Abyssinian Mass takes place in Rose Theater in Frederick P.Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located on Broadway at 60th Street in New York City. For additional information and to purchase tickets,visit jazz.org

The Abyssinian Mass is available to Livestream at jazz.org/live on November 21 at 8:00 p.m.

Celebrating its 10th Anniversary, Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival is a multidisciplinary fall festival focusing on music’s capacity to illuminate the many dimensions of our interior lives. Initiated in 2010, the Festival explores music’s spiritual power as revealed in different cultural traditions.

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