Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Release New Album

Today makes the start of Wynton Marsalis' 2016 Blue Engine International Tour with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra -- its longest in almost 15-years. For their fans not on the tour schedule, however, Blue Engine Records release of The Abyssinian Mass by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis featuring Damien Sneed, Chorale Le Chateau and Special Guest Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III this spring. Marsalis's first original recorded composition in 6-years the double album with bonus documentary DVD, out March 18, celebrates a unique collaboration between jazz, gospel, instrumentation and vocals that should hit the spot.

Over the next five-weeks, Wynton Marsalis will be taking the Jazz at Lincoln Center on its longest tour in years.

Starting tonight at The Olympia in Paris the 40-day run will take the famous New York based ensemble to at least 15-different-cities in 10-countries.

During a recent interview with the Associate Press, Marsalis insisted that a one could catch every one of their upcoming dates on the Blue Engine International Tour and not see the same show twice (via The Standard):

"The education programs and breadth of music on this tour speaks to the flexibility of this ensemble.

"We look forward to bringing a different experience to people at every performance.''

Marsalis' devotees unable to attend the tour need fret not as the legendary music director will also soon be releasing a new double album, The Abyssinian Mass, through the Jazz at Lincoln Center's label Blue Engine Records.

Marsalis has explained that the piece -- originally commissioned to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church -- is intended to illustrate the role that church and music play in bringing a community together:

"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.

"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."

The Abyssinian Mass by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis featuring Damien Sneed, Chorale Le Chateau and Special Guest Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III is available for pre-order today.

Fans who purchase The Abyssinian Mass via Jazz at Lincoln Center's webstore will receive a limited edition tote bag and the 2013 Abyssinian Tour Diary.