Madeleine Peyroux gets out from under the covers on her latest, Bare Bones

When is a jazz singer not a jazz singer? No, we're not headed for tiresome quibbling over what makes "real jazz"—I'm just thinking of how easily Madeleine Peyroux's Billie Holiday-inspired phrasing and cool swing grooves can beguile me into thinking of her as simply an unusually laid-back interpreter of standards, rather than as the sophisticated singer-songwriter she is gradually proving herself to be.

Her new album Bare Bones, scheduled for release just three days before her Friday night concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, should lay that misconception to rest. For the first time, she's featuring only songs she had a hand in writing—and as for the style, probably the only reason to call it jazz is if you think popular singers aren't allowed to have this much finesse or to employ such talented instrumentalists. There's no denying that her vocal inflections and delicate sound can seem to channel Billie Holiday, but even on Peyroux's 1996 debut Dreamland, her unorthodox treatment of "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" with loping oom-pah harpsichord and ethereally wandering slide guitar might have tipped us off that this was not another American Songbook diva.

But enough with the terminology. Peyroux's unconventional career began with her move from the U.S. to Paris as a teenager, where she discovered the Latin Quarter street music scene. She traveled Europe in her late teens for three years, singing classic jazz and blues and developing her craft. Her widely hailed first album featured standards of diverse pedigrees—songs associated with Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Edith Piaf, Bessie Smith—as well as three originals, and it enlisted such heavy-hitting jazz players as Cyrus Chestnut and Regina Carter. Soon she was booked with Lilith Fair, and even found herself sharing a bill with Nina Simone.

Instead of following this success straight away with another album, though, she spent much of the following eight years performing on the Paris streets and in small clubs. She finally returned to the studio for Rounder Records in 2004 and again in 2006, working closely with producer/bassist Larry Klein—best known for his work with Joni Mitchell in the '80s and '90s. Peyroux's repertoire became even wider-ranging than before, adding thoughtful interpretations of songs by Leonard Cohen, Elliott Smith, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan to the mix, and a heart-wrenching duet with k.d. lang on Mitchell's classic "River."

The 2004 album's lone original was the catchy "Don't Wait Too Long," co-written by Peyroux with Klein and Norah Jones collaborator Jesse Harris. This team wrote three more songs for the next album, which also featured a song co-written with Walter Becker of Steely Dan. The strength of this material must have emboldened Peyroux, with Klein's help, to record an album of all originals.

Bare Bones may actually boast the widest variety of musical flavors she's offered yet, from acoustic guitar ballad to funky groove (the latter on another collaboration with Becker). She's had time to develop a strong rapport with Klein and with veteran sidemen Larry Goldings and Dean Parks, who also appear on the previous two albums. As strong a start as she made singing mainly "covers," Peyroux may just now be hitting her stride. Jazz or no jazz—or probably some of both—her Friday concert catches her at an exciting moment in a fascinating career.

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