WHAT IS AMERICAN | I CARE IF YOU LISTEN - EDITOR'S PICKS 2022
PUBLIQuartet‘s GRAMMY-nominated 2022 release, What is American (Bright Shiny Things), offers incisive commentary on our nation’s history through a celebration and interrogation of American musical traditions. The album employs what has become a tried and true programming approach for the quartet: combining newly composed works with their trademark MIND|THE|GAP project, which forges connections between thoughtfully-curated and stylistically-diverse pieces through improvisation.
What is American includes compositions by Rhiannon Giddens, Vijay Iyer, and Roscoe Mitchell, but digs deeper into the MIND|THE|GAP offerings than previous albums with reimaginings of Fats Waller, Ornette Coleman, Tina Turner, Betty Davis, Alice Coltrane, Ida Cox, and Antonin Dvorak — because honestly, why present yet another recording of Dvorak’s “American” quartet when you can recast the finale with chorale singing against a backdrop of swishing, pitchless bowing?
PUBLIQuartet’s multi-layered approach shows up on tracks like “Pavement Pounding Rose,” a dedication to Black entrepreneur Madam C. J. Walker featuring narration from her great granddaughter, A’Lelia Bundles. There is so much to unpack in this three-minute offering, which juxtaposes improvisation, spoken word about Walker’s desire to serve her community, and bouncy, care-free licks from Fats Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose.” For those who enjoy falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes, What is American will have you Googling the Civil War-era fifth verse of our National Anthem alongside archived performances from Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, uncovering new ideas on each subsequent listen.