Sea Pans – Opening Night

For the past ten years we have opened our festival with a group of local musicians playing a style of jazz that is different from the Traditional style of the festival. This year we are pleased to present SEA PANS, with a jazz style that has the “flavor” of Trinidad!
Sea Pans founder, Vince Stout, meticulously hand crafts and tunes steel barrels to create authentic versions of steel drums (Pans). Vince, a Wilmington native, is a classically trained double bassist (graduated from ECU with a degree in music). He plays bass with the Wilmington Opera Co., several regional chamber music groups as well as jazz.
Vince became intrigued with the sound of the steel drum band, and after meeting Trinidad native Ellie Mannette, who was teaching at the University of West Va., he learned to create this musical instrument from a steel drum. No small feat! There will be four “pans” at our festival, making it a quartet!
The musicians playing in the Sea Pans group are all professional musicians who play a variety of instruments – we will tell you more about them as we get closer to our February event.