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# Some hep cats just swing
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/some-hep-cats-just-swing/
- Published: 2007-10-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T03:39:53.000Z
- Author: Daniel Archuleta
- Tags: Entertainment, Mid-City, #archive-import

*Suzy Williams and Her Solid Senders call Temple Bar home*

MID-CITY Suzy Williams and Her Solid Senders know how to bring it, daddy-o.

They’ve been bringing it to Temple Bar at least once a month, and will provide the same cool thang this Monday. Aside from the obvious odes to hip culture past, this act is really something to see — and hear.

“I love great jazz from the last century. The 1940s was the last bastion of music I hadn’t explored a great deal. It inspired me to write songs for it. I love the big band arrangers that really had the people dancing,” Williams said. “I started with the ’20s. I’ve done Sophie Tucker. I’ve done ’50s R&B and cocktail jazz. I started out with Bessie Smith. I found out early that I could imitate her well. I haven’t met anybody white or black that could do Bessie.”

When talking to Williams, it doesn’t take long to realize this hep chick really digs old-school music. She rattles off references to jazz greats a mile a minute and isn’t afraid to break out into song at any time. She sang her latest ditty, “Knuckle Down, Knuckle Heads,” during a recent phone interview. After just a couple of a cappella bars, it becomes obvious that not only does she cover music from bygone years with gusto, but she breathes new life into an aging genre with a flair few can match.

“I’ve been writing ditties like that all year. I’m just thrilled I got these eight sexy guys backing me up. I have a really fine band that knows what they’re doing,” said Williams of her Solid Senders.

Dan Winestien is the band’s arranger and Kahlil Sababagh, who has worked with Suzy for 10 years, is the band’s leader. Williams has nothing but praise for her bandmates and gives much of the act’s credit to their talents.

“Dan is just amazing at arranging music and Kahlil is the backbone of the whole band. My guys are really something to hear,” she added.

While she has been playing with her latest band for just a couple of years, Williams has been in the music game her entire adult life.

She began her music career at the tender age of 18 and hasn’t looked back since. Williams, 54, has played gigs from here to Carnegie Hall in her time and has teamed with some pretty heavy hitters over the years. She joined forces with Stormin’ Norman back in the ’70s and later with Bill Burnett, a composer/writer/producer who has written songs for Bette Midler and co-created Nickelodeon’s “ChalkZone.”

“We had a very charmed life and gas was inexpensive. We were playing rag and roll kinda stuff, like George Gershwin meets rock. You know, real boogie woogie music,” Williams said of her days with Stormin’ Norman.

Before making her way to New York City and hitting it off with her collaborators, Williams began life in Gridly, California — a little town north of Sacramento she recalls with nostalgic fondness.

“It was a funky agricultural town and my mom was a wonderful singer who was broken-hearted by divorce. She sang these great torch songs with her beautiful voice. It wasn’t long before I started singing and realized I might have a future in music,” she said. “I couldn’t see how I could do anything else.

“It was either the sex trade or music, and I don’t think there was much future in that other trade.”

Considering her past and the many influences she counts as her inspiration, it’s no wonder that she wants kindred souls to attend the band’s shows.

“I’m looking for the jitterbugs. Right now, I have a great deal of friends who show up. I have lived on the Westside for a long time and have amassed a great group of people. I need young and old people to come. But, I’m really looking for the jitterbugs to show up,” Williams said, regarding the kind of crowd she usually draws. “I’ve been posting on the Internet a great deal that we’re a jump band that really jumps.”

Suzy and the Senders have been gig-ging at Temple Bar on a regular basis since June and will continue doing so into the new year. The band will be taking December off, regrettably. Catch this soulful act Monday at 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Cover is $10 at the door. For information, call Temple Bar at (310) 393-6611.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/102607-13_01.jpg)

BOOGIE TIME: Suzy Williams and Her Solid Senders play Temple Bar on Monday. (Photo: Photo courtesy Suzy Williams)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 26, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/102607.pdf?ref=smdp.com)