The follow-up to PUBLIQuartet's GRAMMY®-nominated What Is American project, What Is American: Rhythm Nation celebrates American rhythmic traditions as expressions of bodily autonomy and tacit history keeping. From the propulsive beat-breaks of Daniel Bernard Roumain’s Hip-Hop Etudes, to Vijay Iyer's homage to the music of James Brown, to the complex grooves of Pulitzer Prize winner Henry Threadgill's Sixfivetwo, this wide-ranging exploration also features a new work by Jeff Scott, commissioned with the support of a 2024 Chamber Music America Artistic Projects grant. Each of the pieces on the program evokes a distinct rhythmic world, reflecting the plurality of American movement(s) and protecting the unspoken spirit of their lineage’s narratives. 

PUBLIQuartet’s 2024 CMA Artistic Projects grant is supported by the Howard Gilman Foundation.

PROGRAM

WHAT IS AMERICAN: RHYTHM NATION

Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981)

Voodoo Dolls (2008)

PUBLIQuartet MIND | THE | GAP: Pavement Pounding Rose (2019)

Improvisations on Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose"

Daniel Bernard Roumain (b. 1971)

Excerpts from Hip Hop Studies and Etudes, Book I (2006)

Henry Threadgill (b. 1944)

Sixfivetwo (2018)

Jeff Scott (b. 1967)

Blues for Buddy (2024)

-intermission

Vijay Iyer (b. 1971)

Dig the Say for string quartet (2012) I. carry the ball IIa. this thing together IIb. up from the ground III. to live tomorrow

Fodé Lassana Diabaté (b.1971) Sunjata’s Time (2015), arr. Jacob Garchik I. Sumaworo II. Nana Triban III. Bala Faseke

PUBLIQuartet MIND | THE | GAP: Wild Women Don't Get the Blues (2021) Improvisations on Tina Turner’s “Black Coffee,” Betty Davis’ “They Say I’m Different,” Alice Coltrane’s “Er Ra,” and Ida Cox’s “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues”

Tickets go on sale September 1, 2024