Taking Off: Billy Marrows

Billy Marrows is a man with a lot on his mind. He’s a guitarist, composer, arranger, leader of a progressive contemporary big band that includes many of the best and brightest of his musical peers, and now he’s about to launch another project that’s at once reaching outwards towards a wider meaning, and inwards, to a space very close to his own heart. ‘Penelope’ is the first single from the album of the same name, a suite of music written by Billy in response to a deeply affecting family sorrow.

The song was named after Billy’s mother: Penny Marrows was diagnosed with cancer in March 2023, and during her illness Billy and two of his cousins would visit and play music that Billy had written for her. Such was the urgency of Billy’s creative fugue in response to these uncompromising circumstances that the project quickly grew to involve more of Billy’s talented circle of friends and family: by the time of Penny’s passing she had been able to enjoy six pieces that Billy had written for her, performed by an unusual and eclectic ensemble of 10 musicians and videoed in the studio for her.

The project is called A Grande Familia – Portuguese for ‘The Big Family’ – and it’s a real family affair. Billy’s partner Teresa plays viola: Penny’s nephew Jonas Mbanu plays bass; Jonas’ daughter Dijan plays flute. The whole extended family rallied around to support the project financially and make it happen. The band was rounded out with some of Billy’s long-time musical associates from the London jazz scene. It’s an exhilaratingly original sound, at once intimate and expansive, with the ensemble pieces interspersed with Billy’s performances of his distinctive solo guitar compositions.

“My mum’s illness meant that everything was sped up. This music was made for her to listen to while she couldn’t go to any concerts. We played for her while she was ill, and I wanted to build on this thing that she enjoyed, and then complete it and release it, and try and make it a force for good. I can’t quite believe that I’ve got the CD in my hand now!”

All proceeds from the album will go to the World Child Cancer charity, a cause that Penny supported, bringing the kind of care that she received from the NHS to parts of the world without public health services.

Billy’s own journey into music reflects the eclectic heritage of his own extended family: “When I was 13 or 14 I was really into Jimi Hendrix. Then my cousin Jonas showed me Weather Report and John Scofield and Allan Holdsworth and Steve Coleman: he took me to see Steve and when we met them afterwards, he astonished the band by being able to sing along to the tunes! I was very lucky that in my school, Easingwold, had a really great extracurricular music programme – it’s just a normal North Yorkshire comprehensive, nothing fancy, but they had music four days a week and on the fifth day I’d go to what they called the composing centre, where they had some basic facilities to write and record.

“And my Year 7 form teacher was a guy called Mike Monument who is a great musician and was really encouraging, teaching me about jazz and even getting me my first gigs.”

Writing original music was always an integral part of Billy’s musicality. “I wrote my first music when I was 12 – I had an eight-track digital recorder my parents got me. Then I did the Sound of Music composition summer school with Issie Barratt who was really encouraging and got me to write something for NYJC. Then the next year I did the NYJC summer school with some incredible people like Jacob Collier and Tom Barford – even some of the people who are on my album. And now I’m teaching on the NYJC summer school this year! The level of the students is so mindblowing!”

He gained a place on the Royal Academy Jazz Course – tutor Mike Walker is another big influence – and honed his writing under the guidance of Pete Churchill and Barak Schmool. His spell with Patchwork Jazz Orchestra saw him contributing his original compositions to the band book: he also completed a course with Vince Mendoza at the Metropole Orchestra.

“It was quite brutal, but incredibly inspiring as well!”

Django Bates’ Loose Tubes were another big formative influence: “I was mostly self-taught when I started learning jazz and The Tubes were a massive influence: it’s that sense of fun and playfulness, and also the importance of melody.

"I try and make every part of the arrangement a strong melody: if every part has integrity in its melody and rhythm then you can do anything!”

Alongside the A Grande Familia and the Billy Marrows Big Band there’s also The Billy Marrows Band - a quartet with Huw V Williams, Chris Williams and Jay Davis.

“The approach of that band is more open-ended, created specifically for that group of musicians. I try and give each line of the composition a strength, then let the musicians make it their own. For instance, Chris’ work in bands like Led Bib is so different to mine, his interpretation of the written line is so distinctive, and it’s that juxtaposition that I find so exciting.”

As if this isn’t enough, Billy’s also been exploring augmented line-ups of the band, adding favourite horn players like Tim Ridout and rising star Emma Rawicz, and Ralph Wyld on vibes. Then there’s his 17-piece Big Band project: “It’s with Chris Batchelor on trumpet and I’m super excited to be working with an original Loose Tube.”

However, all these projects have taken a temporary back seat as Billy brings A Grande Familia to the world.

“This project is very dear to my heart and I hope that people find something in it for themselves.”

This article originally appeared in the February 2024 issue of Jazzwise. Never miss an issue – subscribe today