Guitarist/composer Billy Marrows recorded his debut album with the 12-piece chamber-jazz ensemble A Grande Família in the summertime of 2023 as a shock for his mom Penny throughout her wrestle with pancreatic most cancers. The album was launched in her reminiscence on the finish of January 2024. All proceeds from the album are going to World Youngster Most cancers. The launch live performance is at Pizza Specific Jazz Membership on 13 Could 2024. Interview by Sam Norris.

LondonJazz Information: ‘A Grande Familia’, means means ‘a giant household’ in Portuguese. There are a few of your loved ones within the band, is that proper?

Billy Marrows: Sure- the bass participant is my cousin Jonas (Mbanu) and he’s considered one of my earliest musical influences. Even once I first began guitar aged 12 he would come spherical my home and play nice music, like John McLaughlin. He’s seven years older than me and he has a tremendous data of jazz and jazz fusion- stuff like Steve Coleman. I keep in mind he made me a giant folder of CDs with albums by Steve Coleman, Allan Holdsworth, Climate Report and Wayne Krantz. His solo firstly of the title monitor is considered one of my favorite moments- the texture is so good and he crafts such melodic phrases by means of tough harmonies.

His niece Dijan Mbanu, who had simply performed her GCSEs on the time of recording, can be featured on flute, as is my girlfriend Teresa Macedo Ferreira on viola. The rationale it’s such a household affair is as a result of in April final yr, about three weeks after my mum bought recognized with pancreatic most cancers, my aunt’s youngsters determined they had been going to organise for his or her households to return and keep in my dad and mom’ village in North Yorkshire. So all of us performed some music for my mum on Easter Sunday- I wrote one tune and we performed a Hermeto Pascoal tune. That’s once I had the thought to file extra music for my mum.

LJN: Is Hermeto Pascoal a giant affect in your composing?

Not but a subscriber of our Wednesday Breakfast Headlines?
Be part of the mailing listing for a weekly roundup of Jazz Information.

BM: I wouldn’t say he’s my primary affect, however undoubtedly fairly a giant one. I like Brazilian music but additionally his melodies are unimaginable. I like issues which have quirky, catchy little melodies. I keep in mind feeling that my melodies had been typically a bit square- I as soon as checked out a few of the tunes I’d written for my quartet and I realised that a whole lot of them had melodies that began on beat one! So with this bigger ensemble I used to be consciously making an attempt to make issues a bit asymmetrical with out making it bizarre for the sake of it. Quite a lot of the melodies I wrote for this album began with me singing or improvising, so coming from extra of an intuitive emotional place reasonably than occupied with it too arduous.

LJN: The file feels completely coherent. Are there frequent musical concepts which run by means of it?

BM: I had a setlist in thoughts earlier than recording the album, so a few of the tunes are written to guide into one another. Sure tunes I nearly regarded as ‘siblings’ as a result of they’ve comparable thematic materials however have completely different feels. I used to be impressed by Darcy James Argue’s Brooklyn Babylon, which has a whole lot of themes which arc over the entire album. Six of the tunes had been recorded in a single session, and my mum was in a position to hear them. They had been the three massive ensemble items (‘Nights are Drawing In’, ‘A Grande Familia’ and ‘L’Heroïsme’), the trio with Gustavo and Angus (‘Lambs’), the duo piece with me and Teresa (‘February [Anjo]) and a solo guitar piece, ‘Shenandoah’.

LJN: That solo piece is a very intimate second.

BM: We did that in a single take. It was proper on the finish of the session and we didn’t actually have time, so I simply needed to play one thing, as a result of I actually wished that tune on the album. However for me it’s not likely about each minute element being excellent. I’ve loved embracing the human facet of it, significantly for this album as a result of we did it multi function room, sat in a circle with out headphones. I don’t like massive ensemble information that sound too polished- there’s one thing I like about, say, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, with all these robust personalities collectively.

LJN: One of many different guitar solo items, ‘Be Proper Daring’, feels completely different in tone from a few of the different tracks. A bit of bluesier and earthier.

BM: I purposely put that in a spot the place it’s a little bit completely different to the tracks round it. It comes after the duet, and it’s mastered a little bit louder than the remainder of the album. I keep in mind asking Alex Bonney (combine/grasp engineer) whether or not he thought it was too loud once we first listened again, however he stated he thought it suited the impact of the tune. The sound works with the title, ‘Be Proper Daring’, which is an expression that my grandad stated to my mum to offer her confidence when she was uncertain about doing one thing. She used to say it to me too! So I actually wished to have a bit which was a bit extra strident- it’s fairly impressed by Wayne Krantz.

LJN: You launched the primary single ‘A Grande Familia’ in time for Childhood Most cancers Consciousness Month.

BM: That’s proper. I used to be doing all the pieces fairly quick to fulfill that deadline. However it may assist with the inventive course of to not have an excessive amount of time. There are issues which trying again I believe ‘how did we get all that performed in time?’, making an allowance for how lengthy issues can typically take when making an album.

LJN: All the quilt art- for the album and the singles- was created by your mum, is that proper?

BM: My mum was a proficient painter and drawer, however her work wasn’t exhibited a lot. It feels very nice albeit a bit unhappy that tons extra individuals are seeing these artworks by means of the album and single covers. We truly selected a few of the photos we had been going to make use of when she was nonetheless alive.

LJN: All of the proceeds from the file are going to World Youngster Most cancers. What made you select that charity?

BM: When my mum was in poor health, she felt actually grateful for all of the companies she had entry to. The native physician and nurses got here spherical loads to assist her to handle her ache and the occupational therapist helped her get a downstairs bathe put in at no cost. It bought my mum considering how many individuals world wide with most cancers are much less lucky, so I thought of donating the cash we comprised of promoting the file to a most cancers charity. I heard about World Youngster Most cancers on the radio and their enchantment was actually moving- I discovered that solely 10% of youngsters who get most cancers in creating international locations are cured, in contrast with 80% in developed international locations. Their trigger appeared so needed and so they work in a number of international locations world wide, so I assumed it could be nice to contact them in regards to the album.

Sam Norris is a London-based saxophonist, composer and author.

In reminiscence of Penny Marrows 1951-2023

LINK: Tickets for the album launch at Pizza Specific Jazz Membership, Soho on 13 Could / (Bought out/ Returns Solely)
Penelope on Bandcamp
Billy Marrows’ web site
World Youngster Most cancers