New York-based, Cuban-born clarinettist/saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera says that half of his heart is Brazilian, and over the decades he has gone out of his way to show his affiliation to that most musical of South American countries by collaborating with a variety of its nationals. “The Brazilians have achieved in their music the most perfect balance between melody, harmony and rhythm,” he quotes the great Peruvian percussionist Alex Acuña as saying in the liner notes to Songs for Maura – the name of D'Rivera's mother – which was recorded in São Paulo with that city's Trio Corrente. It's a gorgeously openhearted, thoroughly cantabile disc, which swings between dreamily sentimental balladry (‘Sonoroso’, ‘For Leny’) and upbeat, fleet-footed ensemble playing (‘Murmurando’, ‘1 X 0’). D’Rivera's reed work throughout is marked by a dazzling lyrical ebullience, and Trio Corrente sound as though they have been accompanying him their whole lives – although in truth the collaboration is comparatively recent. The album's a real tonic if you're in danger of falling prey to SAD this winter.