MIT Engineering Graduate Finds Her Niche Playing the Violin for a Latin Jazz Band

Except for the fact that she doesn’t smoke cigarettes, Susie Hansen would fit right into those “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby” Virginia Slims ads. She’s definitely a woman for the ‘90s.

Armed with a master of science degree in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and classical training as a violinist, the Chicago native who’s lived in Los Angeles since 1988 has found her niche.

But it’s not what you’d expect from a woman with her background: Hansen makes her living chiefly as the leader of a nine-piece Latin jazz and salsa band.

Take, for instance, the crowded dance floor on a recent Tuesday night in one of the band’s last appearances at Bentley’s in Santa Monica.

Dressed in a flower print skirt, black T-shirt that featured her name and likeness, and matching black tights and shoes, the lean Hansen swayed to the band’s alluring rhythms as saxophonist Steve March soloed over the rousing tune.

When the number was finished, she took the mike to announce, “Someone complained that we haven’t played any boleros (slow Latin ballads) in a while and we’re going to remedy that right now.” Closing her eyes, she played the melody to the pop standard “For Once in My Life” on her white Zeta electronic violin while members of horn and rhythm sections joined in.

For the next number, Hansen turned the heat up and kept the dance floor crowded with Luis Enrique’s “Que Sera De Ti.” Lead vocalist Nengue sang the Spanish lyrics over charged backing from the others. Hansen engaged in snappy four-bar call-and-response exchanges with trombonist Eric Jorgensen.

“This is my third time catching her here. I’ve heard her other places, too. She knows Latin jazz and salsa really well,” said Gilbert Rodriles, who traveled from Lynwood to hear and dance to the violinist’s salsa band.

“I like her energy,” said Alison Berglas of Santa Monica, who earlier was dancing. She said she was hearing Hansen for the first time.

During the break, a steady stream of fans came by to say hello to Hansen.

“Latin music has swept me away,” said Hansen, whose band plays regularly at a number of area venues.

On Tuesdays they are at 5th Avenue in Santa Monica, Wednesdays at Fitzgerald’s in the Warner Center Hilton in Woodland Hills, and, starting today, at the Crush Club in Hollywood. The band also makes occasional one-night appearances at Miami Spice in Venice, Sausalito South in Manhattan Beach and Tasca in Hollywood.

“I just love it. It makes me feel good,” Hansen said of the come-hither pull of Latin rhythm. “If you look at people listening or dancing to Latin music, they’re all happy.

“I also like the fact that the violin gets to play in the rhythm section. There’s a meditative state you get to when you play rhythm as opposed to melody. Rhythm section people talk about really getting into the groove, really swinging--it’s wonderful to be part of that. It’s a joy that’s unmatched in anything else that you do.”

Hansen almost missed her calling.

She has played violin since she was a child; her father, a former violinist with the Chicago Symphony, was her first teacher.

By the time she started high school, her interest in the violin had waned and she turned her attention instead to math.

“I’m a natural-born problem-solver,” Hansen said. “It sure does help in the business of managing my own band, and helps tremendously with problems with machinery. I can figure out what’s wrong with equipment.”

In the mid-1970s at the University of Illinois at Champagne--where she majored in math and computer science--friends nudged her to start playing again. Hansen not only joined the university orchestra but also experimented by performing with a rock band and began listening to jazz.

But she was not ready to embark on a musical career. “I kept on track with math. You don’t just get accepted to MIT and say, ‘I’m going to be a musician,’ especially since I hadn’t been playing for eight years.”

After finishing her master’s at MIT, Hansen said she finally felt the need to make a commitment to music. She stayed in Boston, studying classical violin with Eric Rosenblith of the New England Conservatory of Music, and jazz with Charlie Banacas. With Banacas, Hansen said, “I learned a lot about jazz theory, improvisation and be-bop, which I’m employing on my Latin gigs.”

In the mid-1980s Hansen moved to Chicago and started playing be-bop. Soon after, fate stepped in and introduced her to Latin music.

“I was playing with my own band at a citywide festival, A Taste of Chicago, in 1986,” she recalled. “The band that appeared before me was Victor Parra’s Mambo Express All-Stars and they had just fired their violinist the week before. He heard me and asked me to come play with him. I said: ‘I don’t know how,’ and he said, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get it,’ and just like with the rock band, he was right.”

Hansen learned to play Latin music by a time-honored method: She dispensed with caution and jumped in with both feet.

“In Victor’s band, there were no rehearsals, no written music, no tunes I knew, and people would turn to me and sing parts for me to play a line and I was expected to do it,” she said, laughing.

“But after about two gigs, I realized I needed to learn, so I started taping performances, borrowing records and doing research,” Hansen said. Eighteen months later, she was fronting her own Latin band.

Arriving in Los Angeles, she quickly got involved in the local Latin music scene, playing with conga drummer Francisco Aguabella, timbales player Bobby Matos and singer Candy Sosa, among others.

“She’s got a pretty good grasp of the violin’s role in Latin music,” said Matos, well known in Los Angeles’ Latin jazz community. “She uses it melodically, like a saxophone, though traditionally the violin has been more of an accompanying instrument in the charanga bands, where violin is featured. Still, she comes from a very informed viewpoint. And she has a great deal of enthusiasm, and communicates how much fun she’s having. She was always an asset to my group.”

The thirtysomething Hansen has been at the helm of her group for about 18 months. She said the band, which she would love to get on record, blends musical integrity with accessibility. “I wanted it to remain true to jazz and have a lot of improvisation, but I also wanted it to be a dance band,” so that the opportunities for work would be greater, she said.

“I feel that music is a real clear channel for expressing love and for other people to feel the love and joy of life,” she said. “When I really play from the depths of my soul, I feel that it brings the people in the audience and the people in the band to a higher place of joy and love in their life. That’s the most satisfying thing I have with my music.”

Hansen’s band plays Tuesdays at 5th Avenue, 429 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, (213) 458-5956; Wednesdays at Fitzgerald’s in the Warner Center Hilton, 6360 Canoga Ave., Woodland Hills, (818) 595-1000; Sundays at the Crush Club (in the Continental Club), 1743 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood, (213) 461-9017. Engagements run from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., except Fitzgerald’s, which is 8 p.m. to midnight.