While some crossover projects look like good ideas on enterprising marketing departments' spreadsheets, much of the time they end up sounding like academic exercises in futility, the genre patronized, the artist mismatched. That's emphatically not so with Yo-Yo Ma's latest stretch outside of the classical fold, which turns out to have been a major brainstorm with felicitous results. In small groupings ranging from duo to octet (most tastefully arranged by producer Jorge Canandrelli), Ma's rich and full-bodied sound imbues this wonderfully varied set with a spirited gravitas. A sign of this virtuoso's magnanimity is his musical generosity. Sure, we get plenty of gorgeous cello throughout, but by letting his supporting cast shine in solo spots as well as in finely balanced chamber music moments, the sum of the whole is well served. Listen to the dizzily intertwining guitar lines by brothers Sergio and Odair Assad in support of Ma on "Menino," or the artful give-and-take of the melody between Ma and clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera on "Carinhoso." A pleasure from start to finish, OBRIGADO BRAZIL should gain the attention of Ma fans and Brazilian music aficionados alike, not to mention those folks who hand out those cute little bronze statues every year.