< The voracious, and thoughtful, musical appetite of the PUBLIQuartet

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Not all string quartets are created equal. Some groups play it safe, performing standard repertoire straight off the page. Others, like the New York-based PUBLIQuartet, walk on the wilder side.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUBLIQUARTET'S "HIP-HOP STUDIES AND ETUDES, BOOK I: NO. 10, C-SHARP MINOR")

SUMMERS: "Rhythm Nation" is the title of the PUBLIQuartet's new album. And as our reviewer, NPR's Tom Huizenga, notes, the band's musical appetite, which includes improvisation, is all over the place.

TOM HUIZENGA, BYLINE: Literally all over, like in the West African country of Mali.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUBLIQUARTET'S "SUNJATA'S TIME (ARR. FOR QUARTET BY JACOB GARCHIK): III. NANA TRIBAN")

HUIZENGA: That's music by Fode Lassana Diabate. He originally wrote it for his own instrument, the balafon, a type of marimba with buzzing gourd resonators. This string quartet arrangement makes for an effervescent Afro Western cocktail.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUBLIQUARTET'S "SUNJATA'S TIME (ARR. FOR QUARTET BY JACOB GARCHIK): IV BALA FASEKE")

HUIZENGA: The PUBLIQuartet has always been agile and adventurous. In 2016, they improvised live on TV as a soundtrack for the presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. These days, they're asking composers to write for them, like Eddie Venegas, the Venezuelan violinist, whose "Cachumbambeando En Clave" is a groove-laden showcase.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUBLIQUARTET'S "CACHUMBAMBEANDO EN CLAVE")

HUIZENGA: This album displays the PUBLIQuartet's full range, juxtaposing global beats, for instance, with the rigor of Pulitzer-winning jazz composer Henry Threadgill. Now we're in abstract territory. This piece, "Sixfivetwo," offers a thicket of pointillist notes popping up like Whac-A-Moles.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUBLIQUARTET'S "SIXFIVETWO")

HUIZENGA: And plenty of room for improv solos.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUBLIQUARTET'S "SIXFIVETWO")

HUIZENGA: "Rhythm Nation" borrows its title from Janet Jackson's 1989 album, which, for PUBLIQuartet violinist Jannina Norpoth was an ear-opening manifesto of inclusion. The players riff on some Jackson beats, just short interstitials, which, for me, fall flat. Far better is the extraordinary "Baobab" by electronic wizard Jlin. She sampled the quartet's music to form a percussive landscape the players improvise over live.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUBLIQUARTET'S "BAOBAB")

HUIZENGA: "Rhythm Nation" unfolds like a smart mixtape, making the argument that the story of American music is built on many different beats, from Daniel Bernard Roumain's hip-hop etudes to Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday" and this lovely commission from Jeff Scott, "Blues For Buddy," which saunters along somewhere between a tango and a flamboyant New Orleans procession.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUBLIQUARTET'S "BLUES FOR BUDDY")

HUIZENGA: The genteel string quartet of 18th century Haydn and Mozart is barely recognizable in the PUBLIQuartet. The band commissions music, curates it innovatively and performs it fearlessly. That's what we need in our string quartets today.

SUMMERS: The album is "Rhythm Nation" by the PUBLIQuartet, and our reviewer is NPR's Tom Huizenga.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUBLIQUARTET'S "COME SUNDAY")

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