On December 28 , 1928 ( his 25th birthday and six weeks before the Saint Valentine 's Day Massacre ) , the always-immaculate Hines opened at Chicago 's Grand Terrace Cafe leading his own big band , the pinnacle of jazz ambition at the time . " All America was dancing " , Hines said , and for the next 12 years and through the worst of the Great Depression and Prohibition , Hines 's band was the orchestra at the Grand Terrace . The Hines Orchestra – or " Organization " , as Hines preferred it – had up to 28 musicians and did three shows a night at the Grand Terrace , four shows every Saturday and sometimes Sundays . According to Stanley Dance , " Earl Hines and The Grand Terrace were to Chicago what Duke Ellington and The Cotton Club were to New York – but fierier . " The Grand Terrace was controlled by the gangster Al Capone , so Hines became Capone 's " Mr Piano Man " . The Grand Terrace upright piano was soon replaced by a white $ 3,000 Bechstein grand . Talking about those days Hines later said : From the Grand Terrace , Hines and his band broadcast on " open mikes " over many years , sometimes seven nights a week , coast-to-coast across America – Chicago being well placed to deal with live broadcasting across time zones in the United States . The Hines band became the most broadcast band in America . Among the listeners were a young Nat King Cole and Jay McShann in Kansas City , who said his " real education came from Earl Hines . When ' Fatha ' went off the air , I went to bed . " Hines 's most significant " student " was Art Tatum
Saint Valentine 's Day Massacre
Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
Earl Hines