Sunset Cafe
Encyclopedia
The Sunset Cafe was a jazz club
in Chicago
, Illinois
operating during the 1920s and 1930s. It was one of the most important American jazz clubs, especially around the period between 1917 and 1928 when Chicago became a creative capital of Jazz innovation. The club was a rarity from its inception as a haven from segregation, since the Sunset Cafe was an integrated or "Black and Tan" club where Afro- and Euro- Americans, along with other ethnicities, could mingle freely without much fear of reprisal. Many important musicians developed their careers at the Sunset Cafe.
The building that housed the Cafe still stands at 315 E 35th St in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. Originally built in 1909 as an automobile garage, after a 1921 remodeling, it became a venue with around 100 tables, a bandstand and dance floor.
Owned by Louis Armstrong
's manager, Joe Glaser, the venue played host to such performers as Louis Armstrong
, Cab Calloway
. Johnny Dodds
, Bix Beiderbecke
, Jimmy Dorsey
, Benny Goodman
, Gene Krupa
and Earl "Fatha" Hines.
Shortly after beginning to record his Hot Five records, Louis Armstrong began playing in the Carroll Dickerson
Orchestra at the Sunset Cafe in 1926, with Earl Hines on piano. The band with Hines as musical director was soon renamed Louis Armstrong and his Stompers.
Cab Calloway
got his professional start onstage under Louis Armstrong at the Sunset Cafe. Calloway eventually became one of only a few big band leaders to come up under Armstrong and, of course, Earl Hines. When Louis departed the Cafe for New York - it was the young Cab Calloway
- 20-year-old "kid from Baltimore" whom Armstrong and Glazer picked to take over from Louis at the Sunset. A few years later Calloway followed his mentor Armstrong to NY, and before long found himself headlining at The Cotton Club, while back in Chicago the Hines inherited the Sunset Cafe mantle. In 1928, the 25-year-old Earl Hines opened what was to become a twelve year residency at what was now re-named The Grand Terrace Cafe - by now "controlled" [or 25% 'controlled'] by Al Capone.
With Hines as its bandleader, what used to be the Sunset Cafe continued its tradition, introducing under Hines Charlie Parker
, Dizzie Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan
, Nat "King" Cole and Billy Eckstine
, as well as the dancer - Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. And it was "live" from The Grand Terrace that the Hines Band became the most broadcast band in America.
While the historic structure that once housed New York's original Cotton Club was torn down decades ago for urban renewal
, Chicago's original Sunset Cafe/Grand Terrace Cafe building still stands, and still has some of its original murals on the walls. The Sunset Cafe/Grand Terrace Cafe building returned to its modest roots after the then Grand Terrace Cafe closed in 1950, serving as a political office for a short time, and then as an Ace Hardware
store until the present day. The building received Chicago Landmark status on September 9, 1998.
Jazz club
A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music. Jazz clubs have been in large rooms in the eras of Orchestral jazz and big band jazz and when its popularity as a dance music was common...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
operating during the 1920s and 1930s. It was one of the most important American jazz clubs, especially around the period between 1917 and 1928 when Chicago became a creative capital of Jazz innovation. The club was a rarity from its inception as a haven from segregation, since the Sunset Cafe was an integrated or "Black and Tan" club where Afro- and Euro- Americans, along with other ethnicities, could mingle freely without much fear of reprisal. Many important musicians developed their careers at the Sunset Cafe.
The building that housed the Cafe still stands at 315 E 35th St in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. Originally built in 1909 as an automobile garage, after a 1921 remodeling, it became a venue with around 100 tables, a bandstand and dance floor.
Owned by Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
's manager, Joe Glaser, the venue played host to such performers as Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
. Johnny Dodds
Johnny Dodds
Johnny Dodds was an American New Orleans based jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong. Dodds was also the older brother of drummer Warren "Baby"...
, Bix Beiderbecke
Bix Beiderbecke
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer.With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s...
, Jimmy Dorsey
Jimmy Dorsey
James "Jimmy" Dorsey was a prominent American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, and big band leader. He was known as "JD"...
, Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
, Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
and Earl "Fatha" Hines.
Shortly after beginning to record his Hot Five records, Louis Armstrong began playing in the Carroll Dickerson
Carroll Dickerson
Carroll Dickerson was a Chicago and New York-based dixieland jazz violinist and bandleader, probably better known for his extensive work with Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines or his more brief work touring with King Oliver....
Orchestra at the Sunset Cafe in 1926, with Earl Hines on piano. The band with Hines as musical director was soon renamed Louis Armstrong and his Stompers.
Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
got his professional start onstage under Louis Armstrong at the Sunset Cafe. Calloway eventually became one of only a few big band leaders to come up under Armstrong and, of course, Earl Hines. When Louis departed the Cafe for New York - it was the young Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
- 20-year-old "kid from Baltimore" whom Armstrong and Glazer picked to take over from Louis at the Sunset. A few years later Calloway followed his mentor Armstrong to NY, and before long found himself headlining at The Cotton Club, while back in Chicago the Hines inherited the Sunset Cafe mantle. In 1928, the 25-year-old Earl Hines opened what was to become a twelve year residency at what was now re-named The Grand Terrace Cafe - by now "controlled" [or 25% 'controlled'] by Al Capone.
With Hines as its bandleader, what used to be the Sunset Cafe continued its tradition, introducing under Hines Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, Dizzie Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
, Nat "King" Cole and Billy Eckstine
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine was an American singer of ballads and a bandleader of the swing era. Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular...
, as well as the dancer - Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. And it was "live" from The Grand Terrace that the Hines Band became the most broadcast band in America.
While the historic structure that once housed New York's original Cotton Club was torn down decades ago for urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
, Chicago's original Sunset Cafe/Grand Terrace Cafe building still stands, and still has some of its original murals on the walls. The Sunset Cafe/Grand Terrace Cafe building returned to its modest roots after the then Grand Terrace Cafe closed in 1950, serving as a political office for a short time, and then as an Ace Hardware
Ace Hardware
Ace Hardware Corporation is a hardware cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. ACE Hardware Corporation, with 4,444 stores, does over $3 billion in retail hardware sales annually down from its peak of $12.5 billion in 2007.-History:...
store until the present day. The building received Chicago Landmark status on September 9, 1998.