The long standing ties between New Orleans and France were strengthened in the aftermath of the 2005 levee failure that destroyed most of the city. Many New Orleans musicians in exile were welcomed in Paris, just as they had been over the years as they fled their home city to escape pestilence or America’s great sin, Jim Crow. Tom McDermott took advantage of his Parisian relocation to record this beautiful album of piano solos. It’s a format we rarely hear him play in around New Orleans, although he used to enthrall the boisterous crowds at Storyville on Bourbon Street and did an impromptu solo show at the Blue Nile last Halloween even though the club wasn’t offically open.

Since McDermott doesn’t sing, his piano playing must stand on its own. But McDermott is not a flashy player who commands attention via his dazzling technique. His strengths are in the breadth of his interests and in a musical imagination that sees connections in unlikely places, links that illuminate musical history. The attentive crowd at L’Archipel listens carefully, applauding after each selection as McDermott delivers a history of New Orleans music interspersed with his own compositions and musical obsessions. He starts the proceedings by going back to the origins of New Orleans piano, but McDermott’s “Copasetic Boogie” contrasts the dancing lines of barrelhouse boogie piano with long melodic phrases and tricky asides. He uses Jelly Roll Morton’s “New Orleans Joys” to emphasize how much Professor Longhair and his disciples owe to Morton’s style, adapts that style to a more modern take on his own “Holy Rollin’,” then contrasts the classical formality of Gottschalk with the virtuosity of James Booker on “Midnight in Seville/Tico Tico a la Booker” and Booker’s own “Pop’s Dilemma.”

McDermott’s own musical personality lurks beneath all of these ideas, then bursts to the surface with his deconstruction of “Norwegian Wood,” in which he Gershwinizes Lennon/McCartney. McDermott explores his theory about the connection between Brazilian and New Orleans music on “Choro #1” before delivering a crowd pleasing series of classic tunes—“St. Louis Blues,” “Jitterbug Waltz,” “The Entertainer” and “Just A Closer Walk With Thee” then finishing with James P. Johnson’s joyous “Carolina Shout.” The album includes a bonus track which was not part of the concert, a gorgeous waltz in which McDermott is joined by an unnamed violinist and accordionist.

Danza featuring Tom McDermott and Evan Christopher play Jazz Fest May 5, 12:30 p.m. in the Economy Hall Tent