A young institution pays tribute to a venerable one with Wynton Marsalis's “Abyssinian 200: A Celebration." It was written for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, founded in 1988, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, a bulwark of African-American New York City. The orchestra introduced the work last week at its own Rose Theater.
It's a jazz Mass with prayers, gospel anthems and a sermon at its center by the church's pastor, the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III. “Tonight this house of Jazz at Lincoln Center is transformed into the house of God," he preached on Friday.
Mr. Marsalis has been in this realm before. Back in 1992, he composed “In This House, on This Morning," another gospel Mass setting, for his septet. But “Abyssinian 200" has larger forces: the full big band of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and more than 100 singers in the Abyssinian Baptist Church Bicentennial Choir. In a nod to the Sacred Concert by Duke Ellington, one of Mr. Marsalis's touchstones, there was also a tap dancer, Jared Grimes.
“Abyssinian 200" is a miscellany, juggling all of Mr. Marsalis's prerogatives as a composer. (He also wrote the text, reaching into gospel rhetoric.) Mr. Marsalis, who knows harmony and rhythm the way a grandmaster knows chess, savors all the historical allusions and virtuosic convolutions that his orchestra can execute. He also understands the participatory side of gospel: the call-and-response and the potential singalongs that give churchgoers melodies carrying messages to remember.
Many parts of “Abyssinian 200" resemble Mr. Marsalis's secular compositions. It uses modernist variants of New Orleans dirges and struts, the modal excursions of hard-bop and the Ellington big-band legacies of brassy, section-against-section byplay and sumptuously harmonized ballads.
It's a jazz Mass with prayers, gospel anthems and a sermon at its center by the church's pastor, the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III. “Tonight this house of Jazz at Lincoln Center is transformed into the house of God," he preached on Friday.
Mr. Marsalis has been in this realm before. Back in 1992, he composed “In This House, on This Morning," another gospel Mass setting, for his septet. But “Abyssinian 200" has larger forces: the full big band of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and more than 100 singers in the Abyssinian Baptist Church Bicentennial Choir. In a nod to the Sacred Concert by Duke Ellington, one of Mr. Marsalis's touchstones, there was also a tap dancer, Jared Grimes.
“Abyssinian 200" is a miscellany, juggling all of Mr. Marsalis's prerogatives as a composer. (He also wrote the text, reaching into gospel rhetoric.) Mr. Marsalis, who knows harmony and rhythm the way a grandmaster knows chess, savors all the historical allusions and virtuosic convolutions that his orchestra can execute. He also understands the participatory side of gospel: the call-and-response and the potential singalongs that give churchgoers melodies carrying messages to remember.
Many parts of “Abyssinian 200" resemble Mr. Marsalis's secular compositions. It uses modernist variants of New Orleans dirges and struts, the modal excursions of hard-bop and the Ellington big-band legacies of brassy, section-against-section byplay and sumptuously harmonized ballads.
