Venezuelan pianist Edward Simon has a strong attachment to the Great Latin American Songbook. His 2016 trio album, entitled Latin American Songbook, featured jazz trio treatments of songs gathered from across Spanish/Portuguese-speaking America.

On this new disc, he returns to the idea, though with the twist that all the compositions are by women, and he’s supplemented his regular trio line-up of Reuben Rogers on bass and Adam Cruz on drums with Venezuelan percussionist Luis Quintero and – in a transformative gesture – Mexican singer Magos Herrera (plus Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo on two tracks.)

Many listeners will recognise ‘Gracias a la Vida’ by Chilean composer Violeta Parra – there’s a version by Joni Mitchell – and other well-known tunes such as ‘La Flor de la Canela’ by the Peruvian artist Chabuca Granda. The song selection also includes numbers by Marta Valdés (Cuba), Elizabeth Morris (Chile), Rosa Passos (Brazil), Georgina Hassan (Argentina) and Joyce Moreno (Brazil). Simon contributes a three-movement piece entitled ‘Latino Soy’, to part of which, ‘Naked Sky’, Herrera provides the words. Singing variously in Spanish, Portuguese and English, Herrera is a fine interpreter, and Simon’s arrangements are sensuous and elegant, making for a highly engaging collection.