Original building
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 remodelling it became a venue with around 100 tables, a bandstand and dance floor. [1]
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/Grand Terrace Cafe building still stands, and still has some of its original murals on the walls. The Sunset/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 an Ace Hardware store. The building received Chicago Landmark status on September 9, 1998. [2]
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, scat singing, bent horn, pouched cheeks, and light-hearted personality have made him an enduring icon.
Cabell Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years.
William Clarence Eckstine was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award "for performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording." His recording of "I Apologize" was given the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999. The New York Times described him as an "influential band leader" whose "suave bass-baritone" and "full-throated, sugary approach to popular songs inspired singers like Earl Coleman, Johnny Hartman, Joe Williams, Arthur Prysock, and Lou Rawls."
Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".
The Hot Five was Louis Armstrong's first jazz recording band led under his own name.
"West End Blues" is a multi-strain twelve-bar blues composition by Joe "King" Oliver. It is most commonly performed as an instrumental, although it has lyrics added by Clarence Williams.
Milton John Hinton was an American double bassist and photographer.
William Randolph "Cozy" Cole was an American jazz drummer who worked with Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong among others and led his own groups.
Blues Alley, founded in 1965, is a jazz nightclub in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Albert J. "Budd" Johnson III was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who worked extensively with, among others, Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, Count Basie, Billie Holiday and, especially, Earl Hines.
Freddie Webster was a jazz trumpeter who, Dizzy Gillespie once said, "had the best sound on trumpet since the trumpet was invented--just alive and full of life." He is perhaps best known for being cited by Miles Davis as an early influence. Bebop figure Babs Gonzales recalled that "Freddie [was] the best trumpet player I ever heard in my life. Until his death, Freddie was never understood; yet he was a great musician: Miles owes his sound to him."
The Savoy Ballroom in Chicago, United States was opened on Thanksgiving Eve, November 23, 1927, at 4733 South Parkway.
Velma Middleton was an American jazz vocalist and entertainer who sang with Louis Armstrong's big bands and small groups from 1942 until her death.
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.
Reuben "River" Reeves was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.
"Big Butter and Egg Man" is a 1926 jazz song written by Percy Venable. Venable was a record producer at the Sunset Cafe and wrote the song for Louis Armstrong and singer May Alix. The song is often played by Dixieland bands, and is considered a jazz standard.
Liza Mae "May" Alix was an American cabaret and jazz vocalist.
The Strip is a 1951 American crime film noir directed by László Kardos and starring Mickey Rooney, Sally Forrest and William Demarest. Much of the picture was shot on location in and around the Sunset Strip. Interiors were shot at the popular nightclubs Mocambo and Ciro's and at the restaurants Little Hungary and Stripps. A large part of the film's running time consists of musical performances by the "house band," which includes Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, and Earl "Fatha" Hines. and by performers at other clubs, such as Vic Damone.
The Louis Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven Sessions were recorded between 1925 and 1928 by Louis Armstrong with his Hot Five and Hot Seven groups. According to the National Recording Registry, "Louis Armstrong was jazz's first great soloist and is among American music's most important and influential figures. These sessions, his solos in particular, set a standard musicians still strive to equal in their beauty and innovation." These recordings were added to the National Recording Registry in 2002, the first year of the institution's existence.
