"When we moved here, I immediately began composing", Rasmussen, 34, said. "I went to work right away because I was so inspired.

While it might seem premature to compose an ode to a state in which you've lived for such a short time, Rasmussen said moving to Newport kind of completes a circle from the early part of his life to now.

He grew up in suburban Boston and his family spent a good deal of time sailing. When he was 15, his father switched jobs, leaving as news director at Boston's Channel 7 to teach at the University of Kansas. It's hard to find sailing in Lawrence, Kan., and the teen-age Rasmussen felt some culture shock. But then he saw the advantages of living in a college town.

"It allowed me to learn about all kinds of cultures from all over the world", he said.

Rasmussen, who's been playing piano since he was 6, started devouring jazz music. He grew up on rock music on the radio, as well as funk and soul. But for a spell, all he wanted was jazz.

"I developed sort of an elitist attitude with jazz; that's all I wanted," he said. "I didn't listen to the Beatles anymore. Actually, I always listened to the Beatles. But then I eventually realized that everything's good. It's a cliché, but there are only two kinds of music."

Good and bad.

Fact is, Rasmussen tosses a few varieties of music in his suite. It merges hints of jazz with a melodic, romantic pop sound and even a classical flavor bordering slightly on George Winston.

Local theater director Maureen Barnes is impressed by Rasmussen's work and is using pieces of the suite in her play "Sea Fever, " which runs Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Newport Art Museum.

Rasmussen moved here when his wife, Iani Moreno, who had been teaching at the University of Denver, took a job teaching Spanish, Portuguese and Literature at Salve Regina University. Rasmussen has already played a party at the Newport Casino and has met a number of local musicians, including Saucy Sylvia and Matt Quinn.

"You hear about people in the East, but no one has been mean or unhelpful or unkind", Rasmussen said. "People have been very warm and welcoming."

Like a lot of young musicians, Rasmussen has heroes. Thelonious Monk might be his biggest, and an under-appreciated pianist named Joe Bonner, who befriended Rasmussen in Denver, is a constant source of support.

In his small apartment in Harbor Village, Rasmussen's carved out a mini-recording studio with a three- bank electric keyboard system dominating the room, and a poster of Monk on the wall above it.

With a 16-track recording system, he can eventually use a computer to turn his music into CD form. The keyboards make him a one-man band, letting him kid around with the foreboding sounds of the "Jaws" soundtrack or ease into stately orchestral sounds.

Once the weekend play ends, Rasmussen said, he must start nailing down some work, hopefully in music. He said there are already some capable piano players in town but he hopes there is enough work to go around.

And if all goes well, his "Suite on Rhode Island" plus another song from the play, performed by singer Jimmy Winters, will be on CD for the holidays.

Such creative bursts don't always last. There have been times when Rasmussen has written nothing for a year. So while Rhode Island is his muse, Rasmussen is taking advantage.

"Why not write about the feelings I'm having?" he said. "This is where I feel a connection to my childhood. This iswhere we wanted to be."

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