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The Abyssinian Mass a landmark collaboration of jazz, gospel, instrumentation and vocals marks Marsalis's first original recorded composition in six years. In 2008, nine-time GRAMMYВ® award winner Marsalis was commissioned to write a piece commemorating the 200th anniversary of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church. The result was a sacred celebration: a sweeping composition for big band and 70-piece gospel choir conducted by Damien Sneed. The work's popularity sustained a 16-city, 19-concert tour that brought the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, award-winning recording artist Damien Sneed and his choir Chorale Le Chateau across the American south and into deep dialogue with the black tradition. "Many of the greatest jazz musicians today come out of the church. The church is one of the last places that retain the actual feeling of the blues in sound and also the call-and-response rituals that are central to our music," said Wynton Marsalis. "The principal fact of The Abyssinian Mass the feeling that we want you to come away with is uplift through the way that we all come together."