Esperanza Spalding might have it all. At 23, she plays killer bass, possesses savvy arranger-composer skills and has a light, liquid voice. She even sings her Latin-flavored jazz in three languages. Four, if you count scat.
Spalding has enough allure to be a star. Her luminous smile is both shy and enormous, her sprite-like charm both youthful and feminine.
While her new album, “Esperanza,” is jazz/world music, Spalding has still managed to land coveted spots on two TV shows rarely friendly to jazz. She’ll appear Wednesday on “The Late Show With David Letterman,” and on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” June 11.
A child prodigy, Spalding played violin in a community orchestra in Portland, Ore., at 5, studied bass at Berklee at 17, and by 20 was a Berklee professor. For her CD release gig Thursday, an admiring crowd of friends, fans, students and peers packed the Regattabar at the first of two shows.
It was a family affair. Her mom, Tashina, sat at the CD table, reminiscing about how Esperanza, at 4, would sit at a piano, without a lesson, and make up entire songs. “I had a Mozart on my hands!,” she exclaimed.
In many ways, Spalding has lived up to her early promise. Her album is a light, often delightful batch of effervescent, Latin-tinged jazz, sung in English, Spanish and Portuguese. “Ponta De Areia,” Milton Nascimento’s magical birdcall of a love song, was one of the airy highs at Thursday’s show, with drummer Otis Brown, guitarist Ricardo Vogt and pianist Leo Genovese as Spalding’s elegant accomplices.
And yet, it is difficult to imagine pop-crossover stardom for Spalding. Her light voice is pleasing, but less than compelling. Her music is impressive, but lacks heat and excitement. Most important, Spalding does not make a personal statement with her songs. She doesn’t make them her own, at least not at this point in her still-young career.
Spalding’s songs do attain an easy, sensual flow. The crowd especially liked the inventive “I Know You Know” and “She Got to You.” The latter, an oddly joyful song of love lost, featured riveting solos. When Spalding grinned and rocked along, you could tell how deeply she felt the music. With more emotional depth, she may be a star yet.
ESPERANZA SPALDING
At the Regattabar, Cambridge, Thursday night.
