MARGHERITA FAVA
Jazz today is full of whiz kids with plenty of virtuosity at their disposal but with little to say musically. The Italian-born Margherita Fava is something altogether different. The evidence is all over her debut recording, TATATU.
At 27, Fava is not only a fluent pianist but also a compelling composer and bandleader — creative, communicative, and less interested in surface flash than forging an emotional connection with listeners and expressing an individual concept through a band built in her image. Fava has a sharp mind for savvy musical forms but also a sensitive ear for expressive storytelling. She is not just interested in the what of music but the why.
“She’s very soulful,” says the widely recorded bassist Rodney Whitaker, who produced TATATU and mentored Fava at Michigan State University, where he directs the award-winning jazz program. “I’ve never been around anyone writing at this stage in her life where the tunes have so much feeling. Even when she decides to be hip or more complicated harmonically, her music stays melodic. Everything is lyrical and singable.”
“Bird of Passage,” for example, unfolds like a short story. It’s through-composed with a sinuous melody, folkish rhythm, multiple sections, and a Sephardic feeling carried by Greg Tardy’s eloquent clarinet. He improvises over a chromatic vamp, before Fava’s composed bridge leads to her articulate piano solo over new harmony. Tardy reenters with more melody and even more intense improvising over the vamp. A brief reprise of Fava’s theme leads to a surprising coda: a rhythmic vamp ignited by a drum solo. The bass-and-drum team of Javier Enrique and Michael Reed underscores the shifting moods with patient maturity.
“I don’t micromanage,” says Fava. “I trust the band to do what they do. I talk in terms of energy and flow. Since I come from the countryside, I try not to be aristocratic. I want to be accessible. You don’t need a degree to understand my music.”
CURRENT RELEASE
