A few words about The Blue Flames:

The Blue Flames Steel Band is not your ordinary musical group. We’re four "panists" – who transport listeners to the Caribbean Islands via melodies filled with sun, sand and swaying palm trees. But we don’t stop there. We sprinkle in sounds from Brazil, Africa – even classical numbers and "The American Songbook". All of our arrangements are our own. And we enjoy stretching the limits of what’s possible on steel drums. The result? Sounds that are unlike those from any other musical group in the world.

Where do we "Blue Flamers" come from? The green mountains of Vermont and the coast of Connecticut... not what one would call hot-beds of steel "panning".

• Bob Wells – plays tenor pan and arranges the group’s music

• Jim Linville – is master of the "double second" pans

• Barbara Wells – lays in sweet rhythms on three cello pans

• Vicky Linville – "grounds" sounds with four tenor-bass pans

We regularly perform at The New England Steel Pan Festival, held every other May – as well as a variety of venues in Vermont. Recently, we performed in gigs from Sun Valley, Idaho to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, close to where steel drum music began over 50 years ago. In 1996, we played at The Summer Olympic Games. And in 2005, we performed in Indiana – where Mikhail Gorbachev was in the audience.

One of the wonderful things about The Blue Flames is everything we take in from performances – and from the sale of our CD’s and tapes – goes directly to charity. Every nickel! Thanks to all those who help support The Blue Flames, we’ve been able to raise over a quarter million dollars for our charities. Good music. For good causes. To create good fun. Not a bad formula for making anyone smile.