She spends most of her time in Germany these days, but jazz diva Lillian Boutté’s feet are still firmly planted in New Orleans soil. On this tribute to Louis Armstrong, she revels in those roots.

The eldest component of the singing Boutté clan possesses a warm, unsullied voice, full of gospel flavor and easy-to-laugh personality typical of her family and hometown, and she can approach diverse material with great affection and sincerity. She’s also a natural storyteller, and many of these 14 tracks, “The Boy From New Orleans,” “I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say,” “Farewell to Storyville” and “Ole Man Mose,” for example, allow her to spin yarns through song. She even introduces several tunes with a few words about their significance to Satchmo, as on “Mack The Knife,” when she describes how Armstrong discovered the tune while touring in Germany and related it to his childhood experiences on the streets of New Orleans. These peppy intros inject a slight lounge feel to the proceedings, but are interesting nonetheless.

It’s the first Armstrong tribute I’ve encountered without a trumpet, but Thomas L’Etienne’s gracefully swinging clarinet, while more low key than Pops’ hot horn, renders the absence nearly meaningless. In fact, it’s hard to tell these musicians are European. Drummer Soren “Blackfoot” Frost plays second-line as though he were raised in the Tremé, and the other players—guitarist Denny Ilett Jr., bassist Andy Crowdy and pianists Michel Gilliet and Christian Willisohn—have mastered that laid-back yet danceable swing unique to New Orleans, a deceptively difficult feat considering it’s just as much about attitude as technique.

Overall, this is an enjoyable, relaxing disc which evokes the vibe of the French Quarter Festival: a pleasant April day, easy-going jazz and food aromas fill the air as tourists and locals leisurely mingle in old world surroundings.