It’s good to have it both ways. To have that triple-tiered decadent cake and the knack for eating it too, to bat homers for both teams, to play both sides of the fence, what could be better? Violinist Sara Caswell has it good.

She has it both ways.

Garnering a reputation as both a solid classical and jazz violinist, the 27 year old embodies a new breed: one who is able to slide her bow with the utmost of ease between two genres, presumed in recent history to be polar opposites. “I compare it to a child being bilingual,” explains Caswell, referring to her musical rearing and technique. “I don’t think about the changes that I have to make when switching from one style to another.”

Which is what Caswell also says distinguishes her from being a “crossover artist,” a relatively recent buzz word used to describe musicians who, despite years of training and study in one genre, make a determined effort mid-career to make it professionally in another.

“When I think of a crossover artist, I typically think of a classical musician who’s spent most of his or her time developing their craft in the classical vein,” Caswell says, “then, maybe down the road, crosses over and explores other styles of music.”

Caswell’s interpretation is much friendlier than most, without an ounce of defensiveness. Born and bred on equal parts jazz and classical from a very early age, Caswell’s brunched on structured concertos and freestyle improvisation for the better part of her life.

She’s no poseur.

Growing up in Bloomington, Indiana, the cosmopolitan small town known for drawing talented performers in all disciplines the world over, exposed her to everything from Celtic fiddle to Western European opera.

“It didn’t hurt any either that both my parents are musicologists,” she adds.

Her cultivation of classical playing began at age five under the tutelage of the esteemed violinist and educator Mimi Zweig. Caswell learned the fundamentals of classical violin and developed a lasting love for Romantic-era staples. She learned Baroque violin from Stanley Ritchie, director of the Baroque Orchestra at Indiana University.

But it was fumed violin teacher Josef Gingold who nourished in the young Caswell an emotional connection to playing, a talent for which she’s received much critical praise that has permeated her music and her life. “The most lasting lesson I got from him is that the most beautiful music is that which comes directly from the heart,” she recalls. “It gave me such an understanding of the music; how deep you had to dig both in your soul and in the composer’s mind to really get a sense of how the music is to be performed.”

Her jazz schooling began at age eight with David Baker, who Caswell says “really let my ear be my guide and that takes a lot of guts.” Her studies eventually led her to swing jazz with the likes of Patrick Harbison and John Blake, Jr. She completed four years of undergraduate work at the University of Indiana on a full scholarship, double majoring in classical violin performance and jazz studies.

These days, Caswell has found herself leaning mostly toward jazz and has performed with some of the country’s most revered legends, including jazz violinist Johnny Frigo and the late Skitch Henderson, who Caswell proudly called a mentor and a friend. “To know him is to know the history of American popular songs. He lived this music,” she says.

Founder and conductor of the New York Pops, Henderson was so impressed by Caswell’s playing that he made her an official member of the orchestra in 2004.

In between earning a masters degree at the Manhattan School of Music in jazz violin performance, she heads up her own jazz trio and shares a quintet with her sister, jazz vocalist Rachel. Caswell also has managed to record and release a recent album.

But Beautiful, a 12-track release on Arbors Records, follows Caswell’s debut First Song. Here she focuses her attention on neither jazz nor classical, but rather sumptuous melodies, for that is what really pulls the strings of the earnest player’s heart.

Shy as a child, Caswell says playing violin has been her primary tool for communication and has taught her as much about music as it has about living.

“When you get on stage and are able to make beautiful music with other musicians and an audience that’s with you, it’s unlike any experience in the world,” she says.

“I live to be on stage making music with people and for people.”