For those unaware, international jazz pianist and humanitarian Monika Herzig expands her extensive album catalog with her new instrumental jazz album Transparent, which merges listenable instrumental melodies with exciting themes.

Transparent, the title a play on words nodding to both clarity and parenting a transgender child, is a portrait in modern jazz of yesterday and tomorrow. Highlighting Herzig’s renowned original compositions as well as a reimagination of Elton John’s hit “Your Song,” Transparent is a sleek 11-track collection of carefully curated new modern classics.

Working with Herzig on Transparent was a band of longtime collaborators and allies including her husband Peter Kienle (guitar), Tom Clark (saxophone), Jeremy Allen (bass) and Karina Colis (drums).

Featured artists include Joe Donnelly on “Shadow” and “Etch-A-Sketch” (flute/saxophone) and on “Look Out” and “Please Forget,” fellow trans parent and lead alto for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Ted Nash (saxophone).

1. Look Out
2. Transparent Hood
3. Please Forget
4. Shadow
5. Etch-A-Sketch
6. Invincible
7. Sacred Earth
8. Melody Erased
9. Dance in Harmony
10. Bring Us Together (B.U.T)
11. Your Song

The German-born jazz pianist opens her new recording on the stoically sculpted Look Out and the furtively confident Transparent Hood, and then we are gifted the rhythmically pleasing Please Forget, the skedaddlingly immersive Shadow, before the organic jam of Etch-A-Sketch is both brought forth.

Along next is the melodious hipsway of Invincible and the sterner, more precise fare of Sacred Earth, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the spirited Melody Erased, the entrancing, artful allure of Dance in Harmony, the set rounding out on the blossoming Bring Us Together (B.U.T), coming to a close on her extraordinarily articulate version of Elton John’s Your Song.

Herzig’s extensive career has established her as a global force of modern instrumental jazz. With Transparent she stands boldly, unyielding to societal pressure, to proclaim her motherly love for her own family.

According to the U.S. Transgender Population Health Survey from Transpop, 81 percent of transgender adults in the U.S. have thought about suicide, 42 percent of transgender adults have attempted it, and 56 percent have engaged in non-suicidal self-injury over their lifetimes. “You see they’re grappling. They have issues, and it’s more than regular puberty,” Herzig says. “But nobody knows exactly [what they’re going through].”

With the changing landscape of individual freedoms in the United States and worldwide, Herzig’s empowered album is a stark statement in a society of grey areas. Herzig’s graceful melodic lines are punctuated by slick stops and unexpected turns, much like parenting can be. Made possible by a 2025 South Arts Creative Residency Grant, Transparent was composed as part of a research project honoring transgender persons and their families. Herzig’s extensive career has established her as a global force of modern instrumental jazz.

www.monikaherzig.com