“As the opening chords pierced the collective listening ear of the room, a soulfulappreciative moan filled the air. The patrons easily recognised Dean Williams’ interpretation of the Boyz II Men classic, End of the Road. In one darkened corner a touched soul raised a single hand in the air, seemingly testifying to the beauty of the melody teased out by the lone guitarist.”

Last Thursday under the artfully placed shadows of scented candles, a unique chandelier and the watchful gaze as well as discerning listening ears of a full house at drink! wine bar, guitarist Dean Williams took yet another step along the road to becoming Trinidad’s first renowned  Contemporary World Beat Jazz Soloist. In a showcase simply entitled ‘Dean Williams @ drink!’, the patrons were promised an intimate performance from the well known musician that they could never forget. And from the way the audience sang along and cheered after every complicated rift, it seems the promise was delivered in musical abundance. Although he did perform some covers, his original compositions like Evenflow, Island Breeze and the very groovy world beat tracks, Congo Jam and Tanzania, tickled and tantalized those in attendance to sway and boogie in their seats as those magical fingers displayed just how much ingenuity lies beneath Dean’s quiet demeanour.

For those who have known the guitarist over the years this new step has been long in coming, very overdue some might say. According to Dean though, “Everything happens at the right time and not before,” and if those patrons at drink! are any indication, the only thing more perfect than the timing was Dean’s playing during his jubilantly received double set.

As an additional surprise for us all, Dean invited to the stage Wendell Manwarren and Roger Roberts of 3Canal to perform an original Dean Williams’ piece entitled Over The Mountain. The soulful rendition by the trio had spirits soaring and tongues requesting an immediate encore.

Denoted a success by everyone’s standard, the owners of drink! have unequivocally stated that there will be more of Dean, the solo artiste, at their establishment. While patrons promised to be present anywhere he would be playing.

Since starting out, he has been featured beside the crème de la crème in Caribbean  entertainment, though, he may be best remembered as the only lead guitarist in the world to perform on Moko Jumbie stilts live onstage, while he was a member of soca band Xtatik.

Now with 20 years experience under his belt in literally all genres of music, Dean Williams has matured into a musical Caribbean Renaissance man with a diverse loyal following aged 8 to 65, from Singapore to South America. At present he is in studio finishing up his first few solo artiste singles, including a very special Christmas track with Ma$tamind Productions for early November release (Look out for it on Ma$tamind’s very first Christmas Carol album). This song, as well as the upcoming singles, is off of his yet untitled debut solo album, which is expected to hit stores in time for 2010’s Caribbean Jazz Season.

In the meantime his intentions are to continue performing as a solo act in and around the Caribbean, while remaining the lead guitarist of Destra’s band.

Charming, intelligent, versatile, and musically gifted are all words easily attributed to this beloved guitarist. In fact, truth be told, the only difficult thing associated with Dean, might be trying to resist the allure of his eloquent fingers while they tease and tempt with any six strings that happen to fall within their grasp.