Sunset Cafe - Cab Calloway

Cab Calloway

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 renamed The Grand Terrace Cafe - by now "controlled" by Al Capone.