The German-born pianist-composer Monika Herzig's Sheroes boasts a female cast of international class instrumentalists. It's the follow-up to Herzig's similarly all-girl The Whole World In Her Hands released two years ago. The new CD comes at you from various stylistic directions with Latin, Caribbean and jazz-rock dominating a repertoire that's been largely contributed by band members. Though it's mostly unexceptional in the writing department, there are a few standouts: the leader-pianist's cosily appealing ‘Nancy Wilson Portrait’ with a suave solo by the Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen for one, and Jamie Baum's aptlytitled ‘Wayning’ with its leftfield harmonic swerves demonstrates the flautist's strengths as a composer as heard on many of her own recordings as leader. The tracks to skip are a pair of rather slight covers of 1960s pop hits: a MOR fusion take on ‘House of the Rising Sun’ and a backbeat-driven jam on ‘Ain't No Mountain High Enough’. The originals sound better. As a recording Sheroes doesn't really take off or hang together, even if there's some attractive soloing and engaging bits along the way.