British composer Simon Jeffes, born February 19, 1949 and deceased December 10, 1997, established the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, commonly shortened to PCO. His birthplace was Sussex, England, though childhood years were spent in Canada and across multiple European locations. Guitar study began at age thirteen amid boarding-school life in England; subsequent training in classical guitar, piano, and music theory took place at Chiswick Polytechnic, yet Jeffes withdrew prior to completion. A stint followed with Gilbert Biberian's Omega Players, after which he supplied accompaniment for producer Rupert Hine on the solo projects Pick Up a Bone (1970) and Unfinished Picture (1971). Residence in Japan throughout 1972 cultivated an affinity for ethnic traditions, above all African idioms, leading Jeffes to pursue their integration with longstanding Western forms. The PCO emerged as the practical vehicle for compositions reflecting this hybrid outlook. Jeffes repeatedly recounted that the Penguin Cafe idea itself surfaced during a dream brought on by food poisoning in southern France in the summer of 1972; he subsequently penned a poem opening with the declaration, "I am the proprietor of the Penguin Cafe, I will tell you things at random." The ensemble's aesthetic he characterized as "modern semi-acoustic chamber music."
A loosely assembled collective, the PCO maintained Jeffes and cellist Helen Liebmann as its sole constants. Early London performances beginning in 1973 operated under the name Penguin Cafe Quartet, with the initial, non-public lineup comprising Jeffes on electric guitar, Liebmann, violinist Gavyn Wright, and Steve Nye on electric piano. Their debut recordings appeared in 1974: "Penguin Cafe Single," "The Sound of Someone You Love Who's Going Away," and "It Doesn't Matter." Nye, acquainted with producer Brian Eno, arranged an introduction in 1975; Eno subsequently invited the group to record for his Obscure Records label, an imprint of Editions E.G. The resulting sessions incorporated university lecturer Neil Rennie on ukulele and painter Emily Young on vocals; Young's cover artwork supplied the visual identity for Music from the Penguin Cafe (1976). First public performance occurred as an opening act for Kraftwerk at London's Roundhouse in 1977, by which point the ensemble had grown to include Geoffrey Richardson on viola, Peter Veitch on accordion, Giles Leaman on woodwinds, Braco on drums, and Julio Segovia on cymbals. With membership now exceeding four, the designation Penguin Cafe Orchestra replaced the earlier quartet label.
Jeffes converted a North Kensington garage into a recording facility in 1979 and commenced work the following year on the PCO's second album, issued in 1981 simply as Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Composer Marcus Beale subsequently joined on violin ahead of the initial European tour; a Japanese engagement followed in early 1982. Strong reception in Japan prompted further visits and the live EP Mini Album, captured largely in Tokyo. Personnel shifts accompanied preparation of the third studio release, Broadcasting from Home (1984), which welcomed trombonist Annie Whitehead, trumpeter Dave Defries, and drummers Fami, Trevor Morais, and Mike Giles. Extensive touring and television appearances after the album's release elevated visibility, culminating in the fourth album, Signs of Life, which entered the British charts in April 1987 and introduced percussionist Danny Cummings alongside violinist Bob Loveday.
A full-length concert recording captured at Festival Hall on July 9, 1987 appeared the next year as When in Rome .... Bassist and percussionist Ian Maidman and guitarist Paul Street joined during this period. Jeffes next accepted a commission from Royal Ballet choreographer David Bintley to adapt PCO material for the dance work Still Life at the Penguin Cafe, staged at Covent Garden and in additional U.K. venues as well as Germany and Australia. European touring occupied much of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The final studio album of original material, Union Café (1993), issued on Jeffes's own Zopf imprint, featured the core of Jeffes, Liebmann, Maidman, Rennie, Richardson, Segovia, and Whitehead augmented by numerous guests. A 1994 tour yielded the live album Concert Program (1995), taped July 23, 1994 at Wool Hall in Somerset, England and distributed in the United States by Windham Hill.
Activity persisted through the mid-1990s even as Jeffes reduced his involvement, relocating to Somerset in 1996 to focus on solo piano. Formal disbandment followed his death from a brain tumor. Although PCO compositions appeared in numerous commercials and films, they supplied the complete soundtrack for the 1998 motion picture Oskar und Leni, released as a Peregrina album in 1999.
A decade after Jeffes's passing, former members reconvened for three concerts, December 11–13, 2007, at Islington's Union Chapel in North London. Participants included Helen Liebmann on cello, Neil Rennie on ukulele, Geoffrey Richardson on viola and clarinet, violinist Peter McGowan, pianist Steve Fletcher, oboist Barbara Bolte, trombonist Annie Whitehead, and bassist/percussionist Jennifer Maidman, with guest spots by Steve Nye and Arthur Jeffes, the composer's son. Despite favorable attendance and response, the ensemble immediately declared no further performances planned. A cryptic October 2008 website posting alluded to "some very tentative plans afoot to start a new enterprise in the PCO saga... more later." Arthur Jeffes subsequently founded Music from the Penguin Cafe, an ensemble containing no original members yet preserving the group's sonic and aesthetic identity through both legacy compositions and new pieces written by Arthur. The project soon shortened its name to Penguin Cafe, began festival appearances in 2009, and issued the debut studio album A Matter of Life... in 2011. Meanwhile, surviving original members performed the classic repertoire sporadically, first under the name the Anteaters before adopting the Orchestra That Fell to Earth.
