In 2023, Brian Citro reunited with drummer Quin Kirchner to form a quartet with saxophonist Mai Sugimoto, and bassist Matt Ulery. Nick Mazzarella later replaced Mai as the group evolved. Brian and Quin made music earlier as part of Salamander with multi-instrumentalist Charles Gorczynski and bassist Mark Van Ziegler. The quartet performs Brian’s compositions and music from Ornette Coleman, Kenny Garret, Thelonius Monk, and others.
Following a 2024 residency at Dorian’s Through the Record Shop in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood, Brian received an award from the City of Chicago’s Individual Artists Program (IAP) to record and produce an album. The result is a collection of 14 original compositions titled Keep Moving (Home), released on May 1, 2026, on Calligram Records. Performed by the quartet and recorded to tape by engineer Dave Vettraino at Chicago’s Palisade Studio, the music flows from Brian’s experiences as a musician and human rights lawyer living in India and traveling in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The album explores the “concept of ‘home’ … with notable intelligence, never reduced to cliché, and instead … as something fluid, complex, and emotionally resonant” (Paris Move).
Keep Moving (Home) is available on vinyl, CD, and digital download on Bandcamp, featuring photography by Samuel Lynn Davis III and poetry inspired by the music, written by Brian's uncle, award-winning poet Christopher Citro.
*Track from Keep Moving (Home) on Calligram Records.
*The Brian Citro Quartet performs Brian’s composition Keep Moving (Home) at the Hungry Brain (Chicago, Feb 2026), with Nick Mazzarella, Quin Kirchner, and Christian Dillingham.
*The Brian Citro Quartet performs Kenny Garrett’s composition Soldiers of the Fields at the Hungry Brain (Chicago, Feb 2026), with Nick Mazzarella, Quin Kirchner, and Christian Dillingham.