Sunset Cafe

The Sunset Cafe was one of the most important American jazz clubs of the past century. 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. The building that housed the Cafe still stands at 315 E 35th St in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Many of the most important musicians in jazz history launched their careers at the Sunset Cafe, especially around the period between 1917-1928 when Chicago rapidly became the world's creative capital of Jazz innovation.

Owned by Louis Armstrong's manager, Joe Glazer, the Sunset Cafe was without question one of the most important and pivotal venues in Jazz history. What became a venue of commanding historical significance was originally built in 1909 as an ordinary automobile garage. Despite its unremarkable beginnings, after a 1921 remodeling, this 'garage' became the platform that launched many major careers that permanently defined and transformed the Jazz artform. Such performers as Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway. Johnny Dodds, Bix Beiderbecke, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa and Earl "Fatha" Hines got their starts there and thus The Sunset Cafe building became one of the most important jazz venues in history. Armstrong recorded his first Hot Five records the same year he started at the Sunset Cafe. This was the first time that Louis Armstrong had made records under his own name. The records made by Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven with Earl Hines during their Sunset Cafe Years are undisputed as absolute artistic classics, and reflective of the early pinnacle of Armstrong's musicial genius. Many noted observers insist that these universally acclaimed masterpeices are in fact the greatest artistic achievements of Louis Armstrongs entire career. Cab Calloway got his professional start onstage under Louis Armstrong at the Sunset Cafe. Calloway eventually became one of the only 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 another great temple of Jazz The Cotton Club, while back in Chicago the matchless Earl 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. [ See extensive interview with Hines about this period in Earl "Fatha" Hines, 1hr 'solo' TV documentary made in Washington DC for ATV, England, 1975: original 16mm film plus additional tunes 'out-takes' from that film archived in British Film Institute Library @ bfi.org.uk: see also www.jazzonfilm.com/documentaries. In that film Hines said, "Al came in there one night and called the whole band and show together and said, "We want to let you know our position. We want you to be like the 3 monkeys, you hear nothing, you see nothing and you say nothing". ] With Earl "Fatha" Hines as its bandleader, what used to be the Sunset Cafe continued its proud tradition as one most important centers for jazz music of all time, introducing under Hines Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Nat "King" Cole and Billy Eckstine, among many other Jazz immortals - as well as the dancing immortal - Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. And it was "live" from The Grand Terrace that the Hines Band became the most broadcast band in America. [See Earl "Fatha" Hines, 1hr 'solo' TV documentary made in Washington DC for ATV, England, 1975]

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, in silent testimony to the historic Jazz music that once radiated outward from its miraculous and storied stage down who's steps "Bojangles" Robinson so famously danced to Earl Hines' Band. Despite its near monumental artistic significance, The Sunset Cafe/Grand Terrace Cafe building itself came full circle back to its modest roots after the then Grand Terrace Cafe closed in 1950. It then served as a political office - and then an ACE hardware store since. Thanks to the relentless efforts of fans, historians, and preservationists it received, Chicago Landmark status on September 9, 1998. [ [http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/S/SunsetCafe.html Sunset Cafe] . City of Chicago Dept. of Pl. and Devpmt., Landmarks Div. (2003). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.] In recent years, there has been talk of resurrecting this unique and historic site in some manner, but plans thus far remain embryonic.

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