lili haydn

With her petite stature and cherubic face, featuring piercing blue eyes and porcelain skin framed by wavy dark hair, Lili Haydn still looks very much like the child prodigy she was two decades or so back when she was studying classical music on the violin.

These days, she’s the hardest rocking violinist/singer you’ll ever see or hear, occasionally channeling her violin through a wah-wah pedal and other effects more commonly used on electric guitars. Her torrid, emotionally charged playing has earned her touring and recording gigs with everyone from Herbie Hancock and George Clinton (who dubbed her “the Jimi Hendrix of the violin”) to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Josh Groban.

Haydn will be back on local stages fronting her own band as “Place Between Places,” her third solo effort, is set for release on April 1 on Nettwerk Music. Haydn composed most of the album in the living room of her Laurel Canyon aerie on an antique baby grand piano inherited from her grandmother – fitting as many of the songs are about family.

The dance music elements on her most recent recording are mostly gone, replaced by acoustic instruments. “I wanted to give voice to my soul,” said the self-described “breathy girl” singer. “All the songs come from my essence. It’s a map of my spiritual evolution.” The songs mostly look inward. “I Give Up” describes surrendering to “whatever may be the source of all life,” as Haydn described it. “The tidal wave that is bigger than me – a revelation that I can’t control everything, and that’s a big deal for a control freak.”

The songs that follow are in large part about how to make sense of the contrast between what’s trivial and what’s real. “Satellites” is a profession of faith in troubled times, struggling to comprehend the universe with its cruelty and disasters.

“Places” is simultaneously more intimate and more orchestrated than Haydn’s past efforts. “It is almost entirely organic – virtually no loops, no synthesizers,” Haydn explained. Guest musicians include Ben Hong, principal cellist of the LA Philharmonic; the daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra; and pianist Paul Centelon, who composed music for The Diving Bell and The Butterfly and other films.

Look for Haydn on select dates on Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors tour and headlining with her own band locally and across the country. Haydn will perform on The Tonight Show on March 31; at a CD release party at the Roxy Theatre hosted by Bill Maher and partnering with Amnesty International USA to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on April 1; and at the Dodgers’ game on April 2 where she will sing and play the national anthem. Check Haydn’s site (www.myspace.com/lilihaydn) for details.