Al Williams Quintet Plus One -

Al Williams Quintet Plus One were an American avant-garde jazz sextet led by drummer Al Williams. Select numbers recorded on the 10th, 11th, and 12th of June 1976 comprise the album Sandance, issued that year by small-press Renaissance Records.

Members: Nolan Smith (trumpet), Al Williams (drums), Charles Owens (tenor saxophone), Victor Cardenas (percussion), Leroy Vinegar (standup bass), Dwight Dickerson (piano)

Background

The Al Williams Quintet Plus One formed in Long Beach, where drummer Al Williams assembled trumpeter Nolan Smith, reedist Charles Owens (tenor saxophone, flute), pianist Dwight Dickerson, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and percussionist Victor Cardenas.

Williams was born in Pasadena and took up drums at Centennial High School in Compton. At Compton Junior College, he studied music with a history minor. In 1961, his band won a jazz competition organized by Howard Rumsey at the Lighthouse club.

Across the 1960s, Williams played with Teddy Edwards and Hampton Hawes. By the end of the decade, he played five nights a week at Captain Jack’s in Sunset Beach, where he met Long Beach resident Sandy Chipman, who brought Williams to the Sandance on Second Street in Belmont Shore. At the club, Williams secured a gig and took charge of jazz-room bookings. Williams also played with Kenny Burrell, Blue Mitchell, and Leroy Vinnegar.

Smith was born in Pasadena and raised in Austin, Texas. He returned to Los Angeles in 1974, where H.B. Barnum heard him on an Aretha Franklin engagement and called him for studio sessions. From 1974 to 1977, Smith served as musical director for Marvin Gaye. Dickerson, born in Los Angeles, earned a music degree at Cal State Los Angeles and played with Bobby Hutcherson, Sahib Shihab, and Bossa Rio.

Owens studied with Joe Viola at Berklee College of Music, followed by a 1967–69 stint with Buddy Rich and a subsequent gig beside Mongo Santamaria. In May 1971, he settled in Los Angeles. Vinnegar moved from Chicago to LA in 1954 for a gig with Art Tatum and played ensuing stints with Hampton Hawes, Shelly Manne, and André Previn. Cardenas, a Long Beach native, earned a degree in business finance and pursued music as a percussionist.

The sextet played the Sandance under Williams, who also booked the jazz room. Producer and former KBCA announcer Dennis Smith prepared the group for the first release on his new Renaissance Records label. In June 1976, Smith produced three live Belmont Shore dates. Those performances supplied the master for Renaissance Records’ first album, Sandance.

Discography: