The pop-jazz singer Paula West was only half joking on Wednesday evening when she described the songs in her adventurous new show as being about underdogs. It's true that the Nina Simone-identified "See Line Woman" describes a prostitute and Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" is a murderer's lament. The hundred-year-old Bert Williams-Alex Rogers classic "Nobody," which Williams performed in blackface, is either tragic or mock tragic, depending on how it's interpreted.
But Ms. West and her excellent backup group, the Eric Reed Trio, are also performing "Hooray for Love," "Taking a Chance on Love" and Cole Porter's orgiastic come-on "Too Darn Hot." And as the singer pointed out, Porter, the last composer in the world you could call an underdog, also wrote about prostitution ("Love for Sale") and murder ("Miss Otis Regrets").
The show, which continues at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room through Nov. 5, finds Ms. West deepening her connections to the blues and to African-American music in general, as well as continuing her examination of Bob Dylan songs from a pop-jazz perspective. Two other groups replace Mr. Reed's later in the run: the Xavier Davis Trio (Oct. 18-22) and the Bruce Barth Trio (Oct. 25-Nov. 5).
Vocally, Ms. West is more confident than ever. The bottom end of her thickly textured voice has ripened into a driving expressive force. In up-tempo numbers she spews out the lyrics in long phrases that recall the Billie Holiday style of blending sound and sense into delicious mouthfuls of swing.
Ms. West, who projects a sly, humorous sensuality, travels the high road when it comes to raunch. The double-entendres in Eubie Blake and Andy Razaf's "My Handy Man Ain't Handy No More" are understated but not ignored. The lack of adornment in her calm, poised "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe," which she introduced as "a beautiful song about unconditional love," emphasized that very purity.
As for Mr. Dylan, in this engagement Ms. West and Mr. Reed have reshaped "Mr. Tambourine Man" into a jazz ballad that comes across as a woman's heeding of an inner voice telling her to cast off inhibitions and follow her instincts. That's exactly what Ms. West is doing.