Susie Hansen Latin Band plays lively Afro-Cuban salsa and Latin jazz; electric violinist and vocalist Susie Hansen has been a favorite in Los Angeles for over twenty-five years. Her ensemble, the Susie Hansen Latin Band, has performed to hundreds of thousands of people, and they love to get the audience up and dancing—as Susie says, “We aim for the feet!” Their music appeals to audiences of all ages and a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. Susie and her band play familiar and traditional salsa in Spanish, many original salsa and Latin Jazz compositions, Latin-style interpretations of American jazz standards, typico Cuban charanga music, and great salsa and cha cha cha in English. Their music also includes the popular Latin dance styles of cumbia, merengue and bolero. The salsa vocals are authentic and improvisational. Her all-star band features Daniel Castillo on lead vocals and congas, Kaspar Abbo on lead vocals and guitar, Joe Rotondi on piano, Tony Shogren on timbales, and other great musicians. The band is truly a crowd pleaser with its rhythmic energy and drive.

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. Raucously fun and upbeat, it’s hard not to get up and dance.” In 2004, Latin Beat magazine chose Susie’s first CD Solo Flight as one of its top 100 Independent Latin Jazz recordings, and Mark Holston wrote in JAZZIZ Magazine that “her violin speaks the language of Latin jazz with total fluency.” Her second CD, The Salsa Never Ends, was dubbed a “Salsa anthem for the 2000s” in Europe, and features the prominent song “La Salsa Nunca Se Acaba,” which has been popular across the country and around the world. Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times says, “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 salsa band. Hansen can solo as if her bow was afire. The whole room was jumpin’ for joy.”

A long-time favorite in Los Angeles, Susie and her band play at least 100 to 125 live performances each and every year, including for such events as the Playboy Jazz Festival, Fiesta Broadway, San Jose Jazz Festival and Newport Beach Jazz Festival. Susie has toured nationally with her band, and has personally appeared and/or recorded with Tito Puente, Orquesta Los Van Van, Celia Cruz, Giovani Hidalgo, Vikki Carr, Orquesta Aragon, Paquito d’Rivera, Francisco Aguabella, Macy Grey, Jose Rizo’s Jazz on the Latin Side All-Stars, Tierra, El Gran Combo, Rachel Z, Bobby Matos, Orquesta Broadway, and Sonora Poncena. The band has opened for Los Lobos, Diane Schuur, Andy Montanez, Tito Nieves, Nestor Torres and more.

The Susie Hansen Latin Band concert is sponsored by the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Additionally it is being sponsored by MemorialCare Medical Group, and presented by the Cultural Services Division, Community Services Department of the City of Torrance.