Margherita Fava, Murrina Review

Margherita Fava’s Murrina: Jazz as Mosaic

by Sylvannia Garutch

For Margherita Fava, the piano has always been both a vessel of transformation. Born in Italy to a family of baroque specialists, she carries the counterpoint of her early years into a modern jazz vocabulary shaped in Michigan and Tennessee. Her 2023 debut, Tatatu, announced a pianist with a finely tuned balance of clarity and daring. With her sophomore release, Murrina, Fava expands that vision into a nine-track program where inspiration, tradition, and chance moments become a unified mosaic, much like the colorful Venetian glasswork that gives the album its title.

“Murrine” is a glass microcosms that achieve its most outstanding beauty in combination. Fava applies this metaphor to music-making, and Murrina feels exactly like that as each track is an individual statement, but also part of a larger design. The interplay of her core trio of Fava on piano, Brandon Rose on bass, and Jonathan Barber on drums provides a foundation of confidence and pliability. Special guests Bob Reynolds, Jeff Babko, and Taber Gable expand the palette at just the right moments.

Fava admits the origin of “No Clue” remains mysterious, an inspiration arriving unannounced. On record, it sounds like intuition being crystallized in real-time. The rhythmic motif in the chords leads to a quick motif and flowing melody. During the performance, Barber’s rhythmic authority and crisp accents give shape to Fava’s flowing lines and intervallic chords. Rose follows the harmonic color with his rich bass tones while the trio locks into a contemporary groove. The composition feels intuitive, as if the trio discovers it together, affirming the spontaneous quality Fava described.

“Keep On” is a message of persistence and hope, and the collaboration with Bob Reynolds deepens its resonance. His tenor solo, lyrical, unhurried, and edged with modern jazz warmth, embodies the style the song honors. The harmonic movement underneath stays luminous, while Barber’s drumming and Rose’s bass harmonic flow push the band forward without strain. It is an example of the album’s genuine creative kinship.

Reimagining Brahms’ “Intermezzo, Op. 117, No. 2” is no small feat, but here Fava succeeds by listening to the core message of the written music and translating that through her modern jazz vocabulary. The famous lullaby-like theme, once sung to her by her mother, emerges in modern jazz clarity as she reshapes it harmonically and rhythmically. The performance shows her delicate piano touch that transcends musical styles. Rose’s bass anchors the re-harmonization with gravity, Barber supplying a modern pulse.

“Murrina,” the title track, inspired by Tom Harrell, glows with contemporary gospel inflections. Rose’s bass line grounds the music in funk and earthiness, while Fava’s piano builds upward with prismatic colors. The improvisations stretch across dynamic levels, capturing the sense of light refracting through glass. The album’s concept becomes most tangible in its layered, refracted, and alive sounds.

Fava’s version of Ellington’s classic “Satin Doll” finds freshness through rhythmic displacements and harmonic re-colorings. She preserves the original melody with fidelity but sets it within a prism of subtle reharmonizations. The introduction, directly based on Duke’s own recording, ties her work to the source, but her rhythmic imagination ensures the tune sounds renewed.

In “Yarn,” Fava crafts a composition set to a relaxed swing feel that has a soft and cozy harmonic flow. The melody is colored with gentle melancholy, floating above a supple post-bop groove. The trio digs into an excellent swing feel for Fava’s solo, where she plays with post-bop colors. Rose’s solo, imbued with the lyricism of their shared mentor Rodney Whitaker, furthers the atmosphere.

Accidental or not, “Murrina Reprise” is a brief extemporaneous moment captured by engineer Eric Sills radiates authenticity. The laughter, looseness, and gospel shading remind the listener that an album is a product of chemistry between the trio. By including it, Fava affirms her belief in the beauty of creativity in the moment.

Initially conceived as a triadic study, “Foreshadow” reveals Fava’s musical instincts are sharp. The composition unfolds with structural elegance, reminiscent of Cedar Walton yet distinctly her own. Barber’s drumming adds fire to the trio’s dialogue, and Rose’s interaction with Fava’s fluid piano phrases makes this performance radiate. The piece’s chemistry justifies Jeff Babko’s encouragement to include it. What began as a student’s sketch has become a fully realized statement.

Fava closes with James Williams’ “Alter Ego,” framing it in a dual arrangement that dramatizes the very concept of its title. The first half, anchored by Rose’s electric bass and Fava’s Gerald Clayton-inspired accompaniment, nods to Roy Hargrove’s iconic version. Then comes a sudden expansion of synth layers from Babko and Gable, a burning solo, and finally a 7/8 vamp inspired by Eldar Djangirov’s “Airport.” Barber and Rose drive the band through the rhythmic shifts with precision, and the piece ends by circling back to its opening motif. The journey is daring and fittingly concludes an album about balance and transformation.

With Murrina, Margherita Fava has crafted a second album that shows her compositional voice, interpretive sensitivity, dynamic piano playing, and bandleading poise. She set out to make music like the glass art she loves, with each piece beautiful alone, but more luminous together, and she succeeded. If Tatatu introduced her as a talent to watch, Murrina establishes her as an artist with a vision, capable of bridging heritage and innovation, intimacy and expansiveness to life.