Monika Herzig’s Sheroes: All in Good Time (2024)

This is the fourth project under the banner Sheroes, an all-female band led by Monika Herzig who on this release provides piano and Fender Rhodes. She is joined by Jamie Baum (flutes), Reut Regev (trombone), Camille Thurman (tenor saxophone, vocals), Leni Stern (guitar), Gina Schwarz (bass), and Rosa Avila (drums). Most of the songs are originals, with just a few covers, but instead of just looking at the jazz standards she has also looked into the pop scene from just a decade ago and turned Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls)” into a very different proposition indeed. Given the bandleader plays keyboards one would expect them to have a much higher prominence in the arrangements but generally they sit in the middle ground, providing the link between the complex and very busy rhythm section and the sax/trombones.

There are times when the music is somewhat galloping away, others when it is far more dynamic and delicate such as on “PC” which contains some nice flute. Recorded in three days last year, this is highly structured and arranged, and there is a feeling of the musicians feeling somewhat limited in what they can do, and I am sure this is far more liberated in the live environment where there is the opportunity to really bounce off each other. It is highly unusual to come across a band, in any genre, where everyone is a woman, but all these musicians are there solely on merit and the result is an album which is pleasant while never being truly groundbreaking.

Rating: 7/10