Catalogue

Summary:

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 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by PUBLIQuartet