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Billy Marrows + Grande Família — The Penelope Album - Live
(Discus Music 189CD, 2025, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-05-29

The Penelope Album - Live Cover art

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.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Billy Marrows + Grande Família

More info
http://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-penelope-album-live-189cd-2025-2

 

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