Catalogue

Summary:

“The genteel string quartet of 18th-century Haydn and Mozart is barely recognizable in the PUBLIQuartet. And that’s just fine. The band commissions music, curates it innovatively and performs it fearlessly. That’s what we need in our string quartets today.” – Tom Huizenga, NPR.org All Things Considered 

“they have a powerfully propulsive sound, their ways of ornamenting and bending into pitches is really effective, while the up-close recording enhances the impact” – Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3

PUBLIQuartet’s Rhythm Nation, infused with energy and improvisation, features four new commissions, two works from the Kronos Quartet’s Fifty for the Future project, a couple of classics and – with its trio of title tracks – a tribute to pop icon Janet Jackson’s seminal album from 1989.

New York-based PUBLIQuartet’s Rhythm Nation is infused with energy, improvisation and, indeed, rhythm, the backbone of all music. A melting pot of contemporary, jazz, bossa nova, salsa, Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican and electronic sounds, Rhythm Nation captures the diversity of American musics and the lineages that created them.

Four flamboyant new works are PUBLIQuartet commissions. American composer Jlin’s multi-layered, percussive Baobab conveys the motion and timelessness of the indigenous African tree. American horn player and composer Jeff Scott’s Blues for Buddy pays homage to a beloved uncle by marrying melodies and marches to evoke a New Orleans second-line parade. Venezuelan multi-instrumentalist and composer Eddie Venegas infuses Cachumbambeando En Clave with the essence of Afro-Cuban rhythms. Mazz Swift’s Digging Gold; Deeper Blue explores rhythm and groove through the lens of Swift’s experience as a Neuroemergent composer.

PUBLIQuartet revisits two pieces from the Kronos String Quartet’s Fifty for the Future project: the evocative Sunjata’s Time by Guinean composer and virtuoso balafón player Fodé Lassana Diabaté, dedicated to the Mali Empire’s founding warrior prince; and the improvisatory Sixfivetwo by Pulitzer Prize-winning American jazz icon Henry Threadgill.

Haitian-American Daniel Bernard Roumain’s vignette “c# minor” from his Hip-Hop Studies and Etudes is a response to J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, and Duke Ellington’s classic “Come Sunday” from the legendary bandleader’s Black, Brown and Beige suite is re-imagined for four strings.

Interspersed throughout is a trio of electronic remixes lending their names to the album’s title, paying homage to pop music icon Janet Jackson’s seminal album from 1989.

Tracklist:

FODÉ LASSANA DIABATÉ (b. 1971)
Sunjata’s Time
arranged for String Quartet by Jacob Garchik
1. I. Sumaworo (4:20)
2. III. Nana Triban (4:25)
3. IV. Bala Faseké 3:22)

JLIN (Jerrilynn Patton) (b. 1987)
4. Baobab (6:00)

JANET JACKSON (b. 1966); JAMES HARRIS III (b. 1959); TERRY LEWIS (b. 1956)
Rhythm Nation Remix
5. I. We the People (1:35)

HENRY THREADGILL (b. 1944)
6. Sixfivetwo (13:01)

JANET JACKSON; JAMES HARRIS III; TERRY LEWIS
Rhythm Nation Remix
7. II. Janet’s Test (0:29)

JEFF SCOTT (b. 1967)
8. Blues for Buddy (5:07)

DUKE ELLINGTON (1899–1974)
9. Come Sunday (3:04)

EDDIE VENEGAS
10. Cachumbambeando En Clave (2:53)

MAZZ SWIFT  (b. 1974)
11. Digging Gold; Deeper Blue (4:49)

JANET JACKSON; JAMES HARRIS III; TERRY LEWIS
Rhythm Nation Remix
12. III. Outro (1:58)

DANIEL BERNARD ROUMAIN (DBR) (b. 1971)
Hip-Hop Studies and Etudes, Book I
13. X. C sharp minor (2:27)

PUBLIQuartet

Curtis Stewart, violin | Jannina Norpoth, violin | Nick Revel, viola | Hamilton Berry, cello

Recorded: 27 June & 2 July 2025, Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, New York (1–3, 5–13); 15 September 2025, Stewart Studios, New York (4)
Recording Producers: Jannina Norpoth; Hamilton Berry, Nick Revel, Curtis Stewart (1–4, 6, 8–11, 13); Ryan Streber (1–3, 6, 8–11, 13); Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton) (4); John-Paul Norpoth (5, 7, 12)
Recording Engineers: Ryan Streber (1–3, 5–13); Jerrilynn Patton, Nick Revel (4); John-Paul Norpoth (5, 7, 12)
All tracks mastered by Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio
Photography: Titilayo Ayangade
Publishers: Inner Sunset (1–3); Decca Universal (4); HiFi Asset Acquisition Co. LP (5, 7, 12); Kronos Arts (6); Music by Jeffrey Scott Inc. (8); G. Schirmer, Inc. (ASCAP) (9); eddievenegasproductions (10); Mazz Swift (11); DBR Music (13)

Design & Editorial: WLP London Ltd

℗ & © 2026 PUBLIQuartet under exclusive licence to Avie Records