Billy Marrows + Grande Família

Captured live at Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho, this is an expanded version of Marrows’ original release, Penelope. Written initially to support and celebrate Marrows’ mum in her fight against pancreatic cancer, it’s no surprise this version is imbued with a poignancy, given Penelope herself passed before the studio album’s release in early 2024. But this is no mournful performance. Now with an added, brassy (but not brazen) overture, and the original guitar solos now orchestrated, the music is all the richer in composition and more embedded with essentially the same group of musicians. It’s Marrows’ skill as writer and arranger to move between lustrous big band orchestrations to intimate duo and trio episodes with ease. ‘Transition to the Garden’, for example, begins with a rainforest array of cymbals and subtle woodwinds before growing into ‘The Garden’ with Marrows’ arpeggiated guitar against glowing fretless bass and spacious piano until the brass arrives subtle and sighing. Those urgent brass swells are resonant of Gil Evans, but Marrows can pull it back to silence at will. His command of dynamics is impressive. The chamber intimacy of ‘February’ with its cello is gate-crashed by the appropriately monickered ‘Be Right Bold’ with its ‘in your face’ trombone. A celebration of life, with a portion of sales going to the World Child Cancer charity. Four stars. – Andy Robson, JAZZWISE https://www.jazzwise.com/review/billy-marrows-and-grande-familia-the-penelope-album-live

We’d been to a showing of our own musical installation, it looked and sounded fine and dandy. Had a curry. Got home late-ish, our heads still awake to the day, make a pot of tea, unwrap a cd from its cellophane. A big band ensemble recorded at The Vortex and there’s a version of Shenandoah as the penultimate track, Alex Bonney is at the mixing desk. All good reasons for trying it out; the band names on the sleeve mean nothing to me. Initially, to my ears, the opening ‘overture’ sounds too ‘arranged’, too proms clever-clever. I’m suggesting we switch to Gil Evans and Miles. Jennie says, wait a bit, give it time to breathe. She’s right. Sometimes with new music the ears need to adjust to what’s going on. As it turns out there’s a lot happening here. A band of many colours – viola, flute, mixed horns and woodwinds, one of those rhythm sections that could play anything and probably does. They’ve found something entertaining in this circumference. They cook. An excellent alto sax statementing original thoughts; I pick up the sleeve, Chris Williams. I wish he had more room. The tenor’s had Wayne Shorter in his ears. Suddenly I’m engaged. There’s no escaping the fact the guitar player is probably at the centre of this, he’s not coming from Derek Bailey for sure; nor do I detect any Garcia or Cooder. Pour a second mug of tea, check the sleeve note again – Billy Marrows? Metheny? I’ve obviously been missing something; all these wonderfully strong melodic harmonised solos springing out of the orchestrations. These days I think the guitar has become one of the hardest instruments to make anything of. We all know the names; players who have defined the instrument. What’s a guitarist suppose to do? Can’t go backwards, and forwards has already been drawn at dawn. Maybe one of the answers is to do what’s going on here, totally ignore the trap those six strings present. Surround yourself with multiple colours, simply sing off the strings. Watch out for Billy Marrows. And Shenandoah, well it’s a beautiful ebbing river performance. Jennie says, “It’s a keeper.” Right again. Time we got some sleep. I’ll write this up in the morning. – Steve Day, March 2025 www.wyldepublications.com

Award-winning London-based guitarist Billy Marrows releases The Penelope Album Live via Discus Music on 28 March. He will set out on a spring tour to mark the occasion, celebrate his work and debut new compositions.

Marrows, who has become a much-acclaimed player and composer on the UK scene for his deeply emotive take on jazz guitar released the album Penelope in 2024. Written for his late mother during her battle with cancer, the record is deeply personal – something that flows through each note of the music. He describes it as “a connection to my mum” and has used the project to raise money for World Child Cancer. Recorded at London’s Pizza Express Jazz Club, The Penelope Album Live is a powerful sonic statement. It captures the debut performance of Marrows’ 12-piece band Grande Família. The gig sold out two months in advance and received a rapturous reception, with the players being awarded with a standing ovation. Understandably, he is excited to release this important gig in his musical journey as an album – “I love the energy of live albums and the honesty of everything being essentially a first take”.

Penelope featured intimate and highly nuanced compositions. Grande Família made a huge impression featuring on a handful of cuts, but many of the pieces were for solo guitar. For the gig at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Marrows adapted the pieces for his full band. The beautiful ‘Beech Tree’ is expanded to eight minutes. It opens with Marrows’guitar solo and exposed, retaining the core of the original, before the full band joins adding new colour and depth. The interplay between the guitar and other instruments is extraordinary. For Marrows the addition of drums to his compositions “significantly changed the energy of the music”. The original versions don’t feature drumming, so this was a huge development in the presentation of his work. The full Grande Família lineup brings power to the pieces, but it is often a subtle power.

Retaining the essence of the tracks and their original intention was key for him, when working on the arrangements for the larger band. “One thing I like about the 12-piece Grande Família is how it retains a sense of intimacy, perhaps because there’s only one of each instrument”. In the video taken of ‘Beech Tree’ at the gig and across The Penelope Album Live, the intimacy and personal nature of the music, so important to Marrows is right there. As all good live albums are, it’s a portal into a gig for anyone who wasn’t there on the night – a time capsule preserving a moment. For anyone familiar with Penelope, the live album is more than just a companion. It’s a reimagining that will present the ideas within the album anew, allowing listeners to see them in a fresh light and become enamoured with them once again.

For those new to Marrows as an artist, the album is a great starting point – showing where he is right now and giving a tantalising glimpse of what can be expected on his spring tour. Billy Marrows is an artist who doesn’t sit still. As well as “going deeper into solo playing”, with some recent shows – he’s been busy composing pieces to debut on tour. His enthusiasm is infectious as he discusses the new music – “I’ve been exploring further some of the compositional concepts from the Penelope album”. These include “music based on poetry” and diving further into his Brazilian influences. Exploring The Penelope Album Live will only whet the appetite for seeing Marrows’ wide ranging compositions at one of his gigs and hearing the new music that he has in store. His tour dates happen between March and May. Several will feature the full 12-piece band, while others will be in smaller quartet and sextet formats.

The tour kicked off in early March, with a packed-out show at The Bull and Gate in Kentish Town. Peter Freeman, one of London’s most loyal attenders of jazz gigs described the Grande Família sextet as “outstanding” – adding that “Billy has become one of my favourite guitarists over the years”. The music of Billy Marrows has the ability to appeal to fans of everything from big bands and chamber jazz to classical composition. This tour is not to be missed. – Andrew Taylor-Dawson, UK Jazz News https://ukjazznews.com/billy-marrows-the-penelope-album-live/

The story behind this live album is quite a poignant one, with guitarist Billy Marrows originally writing the studio album Penelope as a legacy to his mother, who was dying of cancer. Thankfully, she heard some of the pieces before passing, but as a further memorial and as a way of raising money for charity, he chose to bring together a twelve-piece band to do full justice to the songs and perhaps to enable something beautiful to be wrung from such a sad circumstance. And beautiful it is, with the slow big band sweep drawing a joyful horn-led introduction to Billy’s piquant guitar. The players are Billy’s friends and family, and there is something in the character of the playing that glows with warmth and affection. You feel the desire to do right by Billy’s compositions and the memory of his mother coming through in the melancholic tempos shared with classic English brass band ensembles. Billy’s guitar when heard solo also holds a melancholy and poignancy that affects the listener and also affects the other players, so there is often some hushed sensitivity to the support. You imagine the band rapt as he starts a piece and then gradually players drop in gently and full of understanding, adding colour and texture to the guitar outlines as the pieces slowly unfurl. A pliant clarinet sets spots and specks against “Lambs”, while sax and French horn lope together in a cold weather temperature-drop duet on “Nights Are Drawing In”. The way different players take the lead on a piece gives very different perspectives to a similar vista, but gradually they spin it around back to a familiar motif. Some of the songs feels about nurture and discovery, the sound swelling like surf but breaking early and receding, while the tropicalia tempo of “A Grande Família” is all about feeling good. It is danceable but also tells a story; the sensation of snapshots being pulled out and shared around is palpable here, with instruments stepping forward to give their impressions before stepping back and allowing someone else to do the same. There is a wonderful sense of generosity and the full band when they work it up can really swing, but are able to drop back to to introspection when required. There is a lovely solo piano section in “Penelope Part 2” which sees the band slowly and sedately arriving to complement and inject light, although a heart-breaking clarinet solo really does race and stagger against the supportive backdrop. It is a delight to hear the viola step forward on “February” and the twangy guitar and trumpet duet on “Be Right Bold” changes the shape once again with a rubbery rhythm reflecting new angles. Each of the instruments here and the combinations that they make cause a patchwork effect, a warming blanket that envelopes the listener and at other points they act like the chapters of a book, pushing the story on and offering further information. Towards the end, Billy’s gentle take on “Shenandoah” draws a delighted reaction form the audience and then the rest of the band gently squeeze their way in offsetting the tear-jerking deftness that evolves into a nervy chop. The uplifting voyage of free discovery which is the final track “A Grande Família – Reprise” is like the breaking of a dam, everybody throwing in to a joyful cacophony with even scat vocals building to a tropical dance-inflected finale. The album works as a brass band family outing, as a love letter to the warmth of a group of friends supporting solo guitar, but most importantly as a loving tribute to an artist and mother. All proceeds of the album go to World Child Cancer, so there is no real excuse not to buy it. Pick the album up and allow it its charms to overwhelm; and if you like it enough then perhaps getting hold of the studio album might be the next step. – Mr Olivetti, FREQ https://freq.org.uk/reviews/billy-marrows-and-grande-familia-the-penelope-album-live/

In 2024 London-based guitarist and composer Billy Marrows formed a 12-piece chamber-jazz ensemble. Together as Billy Marrows and Grande Família, they released their debut album, Penelope (Self Produced), in memory of Marrows’ mother, Penny. This deeply personal project used tunes he had written during her battle with cancer. The band featured Marrows’ musical friends and relations playing in various formats: as a 12-piece ensemble, in smaller combinations and Marrows’ solo guitar pieces. The project was used to raise funds for World Child Cancer. The band’s debut performance at London’s Pizza Express Jazz Club was a sell-out. It was captured live and forms their second release, The Penelope Album Live, which will also earn funds for the charity. The album features the same personnel, the original album running order and once again the album cover features another of Penelope’s splendid paintings. There is one significant difference this time; with the exception of a shaker on one track, the original album had no percussion. This time drummer Tom Potter is added. He is a welcome addition, adding guile rather than power to the mix. Compared to the original album, some tracks are expanded, some solo pieces are adapted for the whole band, some transitions are added and the tracks “Penelope” and “Shenandoah” are now in two parts. Considering this, it is remarkable how the band have managed to maintain the sense of kinship and friendship that so pervaded the personality of the first recording. “A Grande Família” is once again a highlight with its bright samba rhythm, with Marrows’ guitar combining well with bass and flute before Olli Martin’s trombone solo closes the track. “The Beech Tree” previously featured Marrow solo on baritone guitar; this time the track is twice as long as the arrangement is expanded to the whole band. The tune is transformed too as it builds to a crescendo with superb interplay and subtle control. “L’Heroisme” is also lengthened, allowing more space for inventive solos and combinations from Tom Ridout on tenor sax and Mike Soper on trumpet. “Shenandoah” is split into two parts, the first featuring Marrows’ solo, the second transforms the song as the arrangement features the whole band and brings out the folk song origins, gaining momentum as guitar, flute and wind instruments move to an eloquent and moving end. With Potter’s drums now anchoring the rhythmic load, it allows Marrows more freedom for expression and support, making this far more than a companion piece to the original. The live setting gives these compositions a heightened tension; there is more drama and the songs are cast in a new light, but the smaller band combinations remain, conserving the intimate improvisational dialogues. With an appeal that covers chamber jazz and beyond, this live album magnifies the invention, charm and compositional strength of the original while being different enough and strong enough to stand on its own. Four stars. – Neil Duggan, ALL ABOUT JAZZ https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-penelope-album-live-billy-marrows-and-grande-familia-self-produced

A London based guitarist, composer and arranger of note, Billy Marrows leads several different bands: Billy Marrows Band, Billy Marrows Big Band, and Grande Família, a twelve-piece jazz chamber orchestra that released the studio album Penelope in 2024 (recorded the previous year), and the album at hand The Penelope Album Live, of their very first live gig at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho, London on May 13th 2024. You may be asking, who is Penelope? She was Penny Marrows, a painter and the mother of Billy Marrows, and when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer in early 2023, Billy began writing and recording songs for her before her passing five months later at 72 years of age. Some of the pieces were recorded and played for her prior to her death, but the writing and arranging continued after her passing, and the studio version of the album from 2024 contains ten tracks, some solo, some duets and trios, and others arranged for the full band. The live album has expanded some of the solo and duo pieces to full band arrangements, added an overture and a “Grande Família” reprise, as well as splitting the title track into two parts and “Shenandoah” into two parts (the only piece not written by Marrows) for a total of sixteen cuts. Penny Marrows supplied the paintings that grace the covers of both the studio and live albums. The group is expansive — Marrows plays guitar and baritone guitar, while other members of Grande Família provide clarinet, bass clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax, soprano sax, trumpet, trombone, French horn, drums, electric bass, piano, flute, viola, and a guest plays shakers on two of the cuts. The result is at once astonishing and beautiful, full of life, brilliance and energy, with each part of the ensemble playing a pivotal role without a single note going to waste. Standout tracks include the gentle “Lambs” and “Nights Are Drawing In,” the wonderfully complex “L’Heroïsme,” both parts of the title track with a powerful piano figure by Angus Bayley, “The Beach Tree” and its solo intro that shows Marrows to be the brilliant player that he is. 66 minutes of grace, beauty, and fire make for a joyful listen. Ten percent of the album’s proceeds will go to support World Child Cancer, a charity helping children in developing countries who are struggling with cancer. – Peter Thelen, EXPOSÉ http://expose.org/index.php/articles/display/billy-marrows-grande-familia-the-penelope-album-live-3.html

Two years ago, London-based guitarist and composer Billy Marrows wrote and recorded a series of songs dedicated to the memory of his mother, the painter Penny Marrows , who had passed away a few months earlier . These songs have now been re-released in a live version and recorded by Discus Music under the name “The Penelope Album Live.” It’s a wide-ranging work, alternating pieces for a fairly large ensemble—the band led by Marrows, called Grande Familia , consists of 13 members—with others for solo guitar, or for duo/trio (always with guitar). What immediately strikes the listener is the atmosphere of intimacy that the songs—especially the solo ones—convey, not least by virtue of elegant melodic lines and the “softness” of the tonal textures. Also noteworthy is the balance Marrows manages to establish between the various instruments—which include flute, viola, clarinets, guitars, keyboards, saxophones, brass, and percussion—as well as his handling of the improvisational solos, which are crucial in lending momentum to the textures he himself has finely woven. Marrows is equally adept at working by subtraction, where the songs take a more introspective turn. However, we shouldn’t think that the music flows along a linear and entirely smooth path: there is no shortage of rhythmic energy, sharp phrasing, and sonic exuberance, which occasionally add substance to the collective flow of sound. Overall, we could label this work by Marrows as classy “fusion,” reminiscent of composers like Frisell or Metheny . It is certainly music whose listening provides “good vibes” and a general feeling of intimacy and pleasantness, albeit with some hints of veiled melancholy. – Filippo Focosi, KATHODIK https://www.kathodik.org/2025/07/30/billy-marrows-grande-familia-the-penelope-album-live/

Family inspires not only TV series writers but also composers like Billy Marrows. For him, this wasn’t a happy occasion, as he wrote a full album as a tribute to his mother, painter Penny Marrows, who died of cancer. Proceeds from both the original and this live recording will go to World Child Cancer. “The Penelope Live Album” is a grand orchestral work that draws parallels with Gil Evans and David Axelrod. Harmony and melody form the axis around which everything unfolds. Don’t expect big band extravaganzas, but rather an Apollonian whole with occasional small, jagged jazz flourishes, including the lively exchange between trombonist Olli Martin and guitarist Billy Marrows in “Be Right Bold.” Featuring a reworking of the traditional “Shenandoah.” Ideal for upscale venues where both classical and jazz are on the bill. – Georges Tonla Briquet, JAZZHALO https://www.jazzhalo.be/reviews/cdlpk7-reviews/various/discus-a-grande-fam%C3%ADlia/

The album feels like a cross between a big band and an orchestra, highly scored and arranged yet there are still elements of freedom here and there. There is a lightness and deftness of touch throughout, a celebration of a life as opposed to something deep and dreary, with the guitar often in the background and the viola combining with the flute and horns to take us in one direction, or piano in another, while the bass is rarely content to sit in the background and instead provides its own melody. Also, it is rare for all musicians to be involved at the same time, with the arrangements understanding the need for dynamics and contrast. It is a complex album, one which definitely rewards repeated playing, and this band in full flight must be a sight to behold as the aural majesty is wonderful. Modern jazz being taken in melodic new directions, this is a delight. – Kev Rowland HOUSE OF PROG https://houseofprog.com/billy-marrows-grande-familia-the-penelope-album-live-2025/