The Susie Hansen Latin Band is a popular Los Angeles-based band playing high-energy Latin dance and American pop music. Susie Hansen plays the electric violin and is the musical director. The band's specialty is Latin music -- salsa, cumbia, merengue, bolero, bachata, mambo, cha cha cha, charanga, samba, bossa nova and Latin jazz.  You will not find a better band for authentic Latin dance music.  If you would also like oldies, pop, rock and swing, they play a large repertoire of disco, swing, funk, classic rock, R&B, Motown, jazz standards (like Frank Sinatra), jump swing and big band.  Their music is loved not just by Latinos, but by people from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds.  Who doesn't love to dance to great Latin rhythms? Their cocktail music is lively, a perfect background for conversation.  Their dinner music is beautiful and never too loud.  Their dance music will get the audience up and moving -- as Susie likes to say, "We aim for the feet!"  

Their band has received many wonderful reviews. Don Heckman wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "Hansen was a ball of energy, creating an atmosphere of high voltage excitement." Phil Elwood of the San Francisco Examiner described the band this way: “It's a sizzling, swinging Latin band. Hansen can solo as if her bow was afire. The whole room was jumpin' for joy."  According to Brian McGackin of the Glendale News-Press, “I am usually hesitant to rave so dramatically about the quality of a band, but I just cannot seem to help myself. Fun and upbeat, it's hard not to get up and dance."  

Susie's third CD, "Representanted de la Salsa," has gotten extensive airplay across the United States and in Europe, South America and Asia.  The single "La Salsa Nunca Se Acava" from Susie's second CD "The Salsa Never Ends" continues to be popular with dance DJs across the US and around the world. Susie's first CD, "Solo Flight," was honored by Latin Beat Magazine as one of its Top 100 Independent Latin Jazz Recordings.

As for Susie's credits, she has performed and/or recorded with Tito Puente, Vikki Carr, Paquito d’Rivera, Orquesta Broadway, Orquesta Aragon, El Gran Combo, Sonora Ponceña, Jose Rizo’s Jazz on the Latin Side All-Stars, Francisco Aguabella, and the great Cuban band Los Van Van, both in Los Angeles and in Havana, Cuba.

Susie Hansen was born and raised in Chicago. Her father James Hansen played violin with the Chicago Symphony for 37 years and attended many of their concerts with her family. She had a violin lesson every Sunday with her dad and practiced for hours every day.

Having other interests and skills, Susie earning two Masters Degrees in Engineering from MIT, but music proved to be a stronger calling.

After moving to Southern California in 1988, Hansen performed with jazz musicians like Billy Mitchell, John Bolivar, Sal Marquez and the dynamic charanga band Bongo Logic. She got her first break three months after arriving in LA when Cuban master drummer Francisco Aguabella invited her to join his band. “I played his trombone book on my electric viola, so I learned really fast how to transpose from bass clef!” Throughout 1988 and 1989, she was a member of several other Latin groups, bands led by Bobby Matos, Long John Oliva, Papa Conga, and Candy Sosa, and became a recognizable and important part of the local Latin music scene. She formed her own Latin band in September of 1989.

The Susie Hansen Latin Band is well represented on Susie’s three recordings: Solo Flight (named by Latin Beat Magazine as one of its Top 100 Independent Latin Jazz Recordings), The Salsa Never Ends (includes “La Salsa Nunca Se Acaba” which is popular around the world), and her most recent, Representante de la Salsa. Each of these recordings features a variety of Latin dance styles and Latin jazz, especially salsa and cha cha cha, with the occasional bolero and merengue.

Their ensemble features the masterful Daniel Castillo from Venezuela on lead vocals in Spanish and percussion, and the soulful Kaspar Abbo from London on lead vocals in English and electric guitar. Susie not only plays electric violin, but is the band’s musical director and sings both bilingual lead and background. The powerful montuno-maester Joe Rotondi plays keyboards and hails from Hollywood. Bassist Mike Alvedrez's heritage is Mexican, and he supplies the heart-beat of the band. Drummer Abelardo Bolaño was born in Venezuela, and he provides the driving force of the rhythm on timbales and drum set. When they play with their bigger band, Roberto Cascante from Costa Rica joins them on congas, Danny Weinstein on trombone, and Dean Roubicek on sax and flute. Some of LA’s finest and best-known Latin jazz and salsa musicians are alums of Susie’s band – percussionists Tiki Pasillas, Jimmy Branly, Joe DeLeon; bassists Rene Camacho and John Belzaguy; singers George Balmaseda and Eddie Ortiz.

The Susie Hansen Latin Band plays between 100 and 125 gigs every single year. Among some of the highpoints have been appearances at the Playboy Jazz Festival, Norfolk VA Latino Music Festival, the Toronto Jazz Festival, Fiesta Broadway, the San Jose Jazz Festival. The great Cuban singer Celia Cruz and master percussionist Giovani Hidalgo have performed with her band. Apart from the band, the violinist has had opportunities to perform with Tito Puente, Paquito D’Rivera, Orquesta Broadway, Orquesta Aragon, Vikki Carr, and Jose Rizo’s Jazz on the Latin Side All-Stars, and she particularly treasures having played with Orquesta Los Van Van both in Los Angeles and in Havana, Cuba. But the violinist’s main focus is always her own band. A crowd pleaser with its rhythmic energy and drive, the Susie Hansen Latin Band has performed before hundreds of thousands of people through the years. They appeal to a wide and enthusiastic audience with their mixture of famous and traditional salsa numbers, infectious original compositions, and Latin-style interpretations of American jazz standards. Their solos are compelling, and the dance floor is always packed!