Pale lighting lush with golden luminescence dimmed on a suddenly silent audience and a velvety crimson spotlight washed the stage of Emerson Concert Hall. Click. The soft echo of a heeled boot echoed through the hushed concert hall as nationally renowned jazz performer Esperanza Spalding half glided, half danced across the stage.

Audience members of various races, cultures and ages gathered at Emory on Saturday night to delight in the sounds of young jazz bassist and singer Spalding and her quartet — pianist Leo Genovese, guitarist Ricardo Vogt and drummer Lyndon Rochelle — fresh from a performance at the White House.

Spalding’s sparkling vocals and agile instrumental plucking have secured their place among audiences worldwide, especially since the release of her album, Esperanza, in 2008. While working on motivational compositions for her next album in 2010, the musician’s career has taken her on a tour across the United States, Europe and Brazil.

Spalding leaned low to the microphone to sing a warm welcome to the audience at. Her vocals were enchanting, sharp with a distinct reedy lilt. Her high pitch allowed her to turn out versatile verses that glowed in their harmonies.

But voice alone did not govern Spalding’s performance. Creativity also pervaded her style, and the soulful spark burning within her music revealed itself in physical manifestations. Her feet were never still and her body swayed along with the rhythmic taps, which all moved in time with her swiftly shifting vocals.

Her arms embraced her double bass, a magnificent instrument famous for being the lowest-pitched stringed instrument in the modern orchestra. The double bass is also the largest in its family and, indeed, its graceful scroll curled high over the petite 25-year-old performer.

Yet as Spalding opened the evening with a radiant infusion of fervor and charisma in her vibrant rendition of Betty Carter’s “Jazz (Ain’t Nothin’ But Soul),” she reminded the audience that neither she nor her instrument dominate in the duo. As with the harmonious accompaniment of the remaining three members of her quartet, Spalding and her instrument represent a collaborative synthesis of souls.

Her pizzicato technique of plucking her double bass’ strings evoked melodies of young love in Spalding’s own compositions, “She Got to You” and “Sunlight.” Wrapping her slender body around her instrument, the bassist swept her nimble fingers along the fingerboard and stroked the strings with eloquent yet agile grace as heartfelt vocals, warm with passion, reverberated throughout the concert hall.

Spalding’s next song dwelled on the inspiring struggle of a friend from New York to pass the bar examination. Metaphorical lyrics drew parallels between her friend’s deeply-rooted convictions to succeed and a tree lush with the spices of life. Aptly titled “Cinnamon Tree,” the song was certainly a highlight of the evening, spurring whistles and cheers from the audience in intermittent bursts throughout the performance.

As the evening drew to a close, the atmosphere was charged with the spirit of soulful jazz. With vibrant vitality, Spalding made her place among jazz legends by reinventing classic songs such as “Midnight Sun,” originally composed in 1947 by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke, while also providing a few of her own lyrical innovations.

Yet becoming a sensation was no simple journey in the young singer’s unique past. Born in Portland, Ore., and raised in the rough King quarter by her industrious single mother, Spalding was first inspired to pursue a path in music after watching classic cellist Yo-Yo Ma on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Revealing proficiency with the violin, she taught herself to play the instrument well enough to be welcomed as a musician in the Chamber Music Society of Oregon at age 5, where she became a concertmaster at 15.

Discovering the bass in high school placed the passionate young woman on a path that would guide her to enrolling in the music program at Portland State University and later to being accepted to the esteemed Berklee College of Music on scholarship. Almost immediately after graduation, she was appointed as a faculty member at the college, making Spalding the youngest professor in the institution’s history.

In 2005, she was further honored by receiving the prestigious Boston Jazz Society scholarship for outstanding musicianship, which seeks to keep jazz alive by providing financial support for promising jazz musicians in Boston.

A breathtaking musical fusion of classical and modern jazz, Spalding’s concert was more than a performance. Her body pulsating with passion, Spalding’s final uplifting vocal symphony elicited an experience that will resonate always in the hearts of those who accompany her into the soul of jazz.

— Contact Michelle Izmaylov.