Billy Marrows - Dancing On Bentwood Chairs (2026)
BAND/ARTIST: Billy Marrows
- Title: Dancing On Bentwood Chairs
- Year Of Release: 2026
- Label: Marrowpatch Records
- Genre: Jazz
- Quality: mp3 320 kbps / flac lossless (tracks)
- Total Time: 00:50:00
- Total Size: 116 / 260 mb
- WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist
01. The Cock-Eared Optimist
02. Woland Blues
03. Intro to Dancing On Bentwood Chairs
04. Dancing On Bentwood Chairs
05. The Protagonist
06. Anthem for W.O., Pt. 1
07. Anthem for W.O., Pt. 2
08. Woland Returns
09. Speedwell
10. Intro to Capel Fawnog
11. Capel Fawnog
12. Great Ball At Satan's
Billy Marrows (guitar, baritone guitar, loops); Chris Williams (alto saxophone); Huw V Williams (double bass); Jay Davis (drums)
Recorded in Leytonstone, UK on 12th December 2021 (track 8 samples a live recording of ‘Woland Blues’ at The Brink on 25th November 2021)
Billy Marrows’ debut release, Penelope, was one of the highlights of 2024. The project was created as a surprise for his mother who was struggling with cancer, with all proceeds going to charity, though she never got to hear the finished recording. Leading a 12-piece chamber jazz ensemble Grande Família, Marrows produced a work of life-affirming delight and garnered a nomination for jazz album of the year at the 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
His follow-up release was always going to be of great interest, and so it should be as Dancing on Bentwood Chairs is an impressive and highly enjoyable recording. The album title is taken from one of his father’s artworks who also provided the cover art. Rather than draw upon a large chamber jazz ensemble, the focus here is on Marrows’ other main project the Billy Marrows Band; a quartet with Chris Williams on alto sax, Huw V Williams on double bass, and Jay Davis on drums.
The album was recorded 18 months prior to Penelope, but was sidelined when that project became a priority. What we hear is a different side of Marrows, working with a leaner band, but like Penelope it is Marrows’ intelligent writing and the group’s interwoven contributions that particularly impress. His intricate compositions convey a beguiling complexity and are played with a rounded warmth that makes this such an inviting experience. And there are a diverse range of inspirations at work here, contributing to an intriguingly varied and nicely programmed set.
The opener ‘The Cock-eared Optimist’ is inspired by a pet cat, providing complex, twisty, rhythmic and harmonic changes, as unpredictable and enjoyable as, well, watching a cat.
‘Woland Blues’, named after the Devil character in Mikhail Bulgakov’s classic novel ‘The Master and Margarita’, builds a striding rhythm with a sense of menace and intent, punctuated by Chris Williams’ blues sax and Marrows’ warbling guitar, working up to a head of steam.
The title track is another of the album’s standouts. Opening with a lightly dancing guitar intro with distortions and loops, a catchy, uplifting melody emerges, embroidered first on guitar then sax before settling into a most pleasingly infectious anthem.
‘Anthem for W.O. – Part 1’ and ‘Part 2’ were written for the war poet Wilfred Owen on the 100th anniversary of his death and you cannot help but be transported by images painted vividly with sound. The intro to ‘Part 1’ feels like mist clearing over a battlefield with Chris Williams’ pained and anguished sax calling above. ‘Part 2’ is more peaceful, full of Marrows’ washed guitar tones and this time a gently yearning sax sounding.
‘Capel Fawnog’ is inspired by a panoramic Snowdonian view, from mountains to the sun setting on an estuary. Huw V Williams’ deep reverberating bass intro, washed with Marrows’ gently distorted and looped guitar, conveys a sense of grandeur from the outset. When the full band steps in adding weight, a slow sax then guitar soars above eagle-like. With some delightful touches, Marrows knows how to build beauty and drama, and there are times when you forget there are just four members of the band.
The quartet is set to tour the album, with dates in February, March and April. It will be interesting to hear what they do with this material four years after the original recording.
01. The Cock-Eared Optimist
02. Woland Blues
03. Intro to Dancing On Bentwood Chairs
04. Dancing On Bentwood Chairs
05. The Protagonist
06. Anthem for W.O., Pt. 1
07. Anthem for W.O., Pt. 2
08. Woland Returns
09. Speedwell
10. Intro to Capel Fawnog
11. Capel Fawnog
12. Great Ball At Satan's
Billy Marrows (guitar, baritone guitar, loops); Chris Williams (alto saxophone); Huw V Williams (double bass); Jay Davis (drums)
Recorded in Leytonstone, UK on 12th December 2021 (track 8 samples a live recording of ‘Woland Blues’ at The Brink on 25th November 2021)
Billy Marrows’ debut release, Penelope, was one of the highlights of 2024. The project was created as a surprise for his mother who was struggling with cancer, with all proceeds going to charity, though she never got to hear the finished recording. Leading a 12-piece chamber jazz ensemble Grande Família, Marrows produced a work of life-affirming delight and garnered a nomination for jazz album of the year at the 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
His follow-up release was always going to be of great interest, and so it should be as Dancing on Bentwood Chairs is an impressive and highly enjoyable recording. The album title is taken from one of his father’s artworks who also provided the cover art. Rather than draw upon a large chamber jazz ensemble, the focus here is on Marrows’ other main project the Billy Marrows Band; a quartet with Chris Williams on alto sax, Huw V Williams on double bass, and Jay Davis on drums.
The album was recorded 18 months prior to Penelope, but was sidelined when that project became a priority. What we hear is a different side of Marrows, working with a leaner band, but like Penelope it is Marrows’ intelligent writing and the group’s interwoven contributions that particularly impress. His intricate compositions convey a beguiling complexity and are played with a rounded warmth that makes this such an inviting experience. And there are a diverse range of inspirations at work here, contributing to an intriguingly varied and nicely programmed set.
The opener ‘The Cock-eared Optimist’ is inspired by a pet cat, providing complex, twisty, rhythmic and harmonic changes, as unpredictable and enjoyable as, well, watching a cat.
‘Woland Blues’, named after the Devil character in Mikhail Bulgakov’s classic novel ‘The Master and Margarita’, builds a striding rhythm with a sense of menace and intent, punctuated by Chris Williams’ blues sax and Marrows’ warbling guitar, working up to a head of steam.
The title track is another of the album’s standouts. Opening with a lightly dancing guitar intro with distortions and loops, a catchy, uplifting melody emerges, embroidered first on guitar then sax before settling into a most pleasingly infectious anthem.
‘Anthem for W.O. – Part 1’ and ‘Part 2’ were written for the war poet Wilfred Owen on the 100th anniversary of his death and you cannot help but be transported by images painted vividly with sound. The intro to ‘Part 1’ feels like mist clearing over a battlefield with Chris Williams’ pained and anguished sax calling above. ‘Part 2’ is more peaceful, full of Marrows’ washed guitar tones and this time a gently yearning sax sounding.
‘Capel Fawnog’ is inspired by a panoramic Snowdonian view, from mountains to the sun setting on an estuary. Huw V Williams’ deep reverberating bass intro, washed with Marrows’ gently distorted and looped guitar, conveys a sense of grandeur from the outset. When the full band steps in adding weight, a slow sax then guitar soars above eagle-like. With some delightful touches, Marrows knows how to build beauty and drama, and there are times when you forget there are just four members of the band.
The quartet is set to tour the album, with dates in February, March and April. It will be interesting to hear what they do with this material four years after the original recording.
| Jazz | FLAC / APE | Mp3
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