Community Through Music: Sammy Miller and the Congregation

Community Through Music: Sammy Miller and the Congregation

6pm PDT

Sammy Miller created his ensemble to bring joyful jazz sounds to the world, and connect people through the power of music. Join a conversation with him and ensemble member Dr. Molly Miller about music’s unique capacity to heal. Moderated by AJU’s Dr. Rich Potter.

A native of Los Angeles, Grammy® nominated drummer Sammy Miller has become known for his unique maturity and relentless focus on making music that feels good as drummer, singer, and composer. Upon completing his Master’s at The Juilliard School, Sammy formed his ensemble, The Congregation. As a band, they are focused on sharing the power of community through their music—joyful jazz. They have performed all over the world with special guests including Stevie Wonder, Wynton Marsalis, and Rhiannon Giddens at venues including The Monterey Jazz Festival, The White House, and Lincoln Center. Their groundbreaking performance style garnered the attention of award-winning theatre incubator, Ars Nova, which selected Sammy Miller and The Congregation for the 2017 Maker’s Lab and commissioned Sammy’s original musical, The Last Medicine Show. Miller has taught all over the country including residencies at UC Santa Barbara, Texas Tech, UNC Chapel Hill, and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. Prior to the release of his debut album LEAVING EGYPT, Miller was invited to present a TED Talk at TEDX Palo Alto (2019). In addition to his extensive work in music and theatre, Sammy was the youngest stand-up comedian to win Laugh Across America and was featured on MADTV.

Since Dr. Molly Miller picked up a guitar at age seven, she’s been captivating audiences with her sophisticated and raw style. Miller is the chair of the Guitar Department at Los Angeles College of Music. She’s one of Los Angeles’s most sought-after musicians, recording and touring with artists such as Jason Mraz and the Black Eyed Peas at venues such as the Hollywood Bowl, Royal Albert Hall, Red Rocks Ampitheatre, Central Park, Telluride Music Festival, and Planeta Atlantida. She is featured on multiple songs on Jason Mraz’s 2018 album Know. When Miller’s not on tour or in the studio, she heads her own trio, showcased on NPR’s Fresh Air. Her debut album, The Shabby Road Recordings, released July 2017, includes the all-star rhythm section of Jay Bellerose (B.B. King, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt) and Jennifer Condos (Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks). While Miller was developing her “uniquely captivating and exciting” voice on guitar, she received her Doctorate in Musical Arts from University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. For more information such as tour dates and music, check out her website: www.MollyMillerMusic.com

Dr. Rich Potter grew up in South Florida, attended the University of Florida, and spent time in Paris, New York, and Central America before earning a doctorate at the University of Illinois. During the five years he lived in Panama, Rich worked as an independent video producer on variety of commercial, non-profit, and artistic projects, including a micro-budget feature film based on Nikolai Gogol’s classic short story, Diary of a Madman. His academic research focuses on community media, especially in Latin America, as a basis for envisioning democratic organizational models for media production and circulation. In the summer of 2014, prior to joining the AJU faculty, Rich returned to Panama to produce an independent feature film. His academic research focuses on community media, especially in Latin America, and public sphere theory as a basis for envisioning democratic organizational models for media production and circulation. Rich continues to pursue both academic and artistic goals. He received a co-producer credit on Diciembres (Decembers), an independent Panamian-Colombian co-production that premiered at the 2018 Panama International Film Festival.