The ever-popular American Music Listening Series returns to the Wien Experimental Theatre for an interactive evening of music and conversation about the essential role of cultural diversity in the history of our nation’s music.
For this performance, titled “America’s Musical Melting Pot,” curators Fuzz and Carrie Sangiovanni have invited their longtime friend, saxophonist Rob Somerville MA’11, to join them. Together, the trio will explore a variety of artists, songs, and trends in American music – from jazz and the blues, to folk and rock – and share how cultures from around the world, living side by side in America, have influenced these genres.
Fuzz and Carrie Sangiovanni front the band Caravan of Thieves, and they’ve also shared the stage with artists such as Emmylou Harris, Keb’ Mo’, Tom Tom Club, and many others. While preparing for this installment of the American Music Listening Series, they realized that Somerville – an Americana and New Orleans music aficionado – would be a perfect complement to the evening.
Without hesitation, Somerville accepted the invitation to co-host and perform. “I am constantly talking to anyone who will listen about how New Orleans is the epicenter of American music,” he explained in a recent phone interview, “but this is the first time I’ve ever been asked to play sax and speak to an audience.”
Somerville's busy professional music career spans decades and includes coast to coast tours as a member of the homegrown Connecticut band Kung Fu, whose music has been described as "70's fusion funk meets a modern dance party," and Deep Banana Blackout (along with Fuzz Sangiovanni), a high energy funk band with a unique sound that blends soul, funk, and jazz.
For Somerville, the March 20 performance will be an especially fitting return to campus – while studying toward his master’s degree in American Studies at Ƭapp, his capstone project was a thesis on the history and music of New Orleans. “There are lots of myth-versus-reality scenarios in jazz history,” he revealed. “The scholarship on it in the past 15 or 20 years alone is mind-boggling.”
To explore the culturally diverse history of American music in a relaxed environment of song and conversation, join Rob Somerville with Fuzz and Carrie Sangiovanni when they co-host “America's Musical Melting Pot" on March 20. The American Music Listening Session begins at 6 p.m. and general admission tickets are $15. This event is free for Quick Members, however registration is required. For more information or to reserve your seat, visit or call the box office at 203-254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396.
