Earl 'Fatha'Hines discusses his time at the Grand Terrace.

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Earl 'Fatha'Hines discusses being a band leader.

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Earl 'Fatha'Hines discusses songwriting.

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Q: “The twelve years that you were at the Grand Terrace, both established you and probably didn’t do a lot for you because you weren’t out on the road”

A: “The bad part about it was we were recording every night over two networks. So it was kind of tough to actually find out just how strong we were, you know, see. But I used to get a kick out of it. I remember the last time, some band came out, I forgot whose band it was, on a Sunday. Paul Whiteman and Lombardo both were in there that night. So we played and the other gang played. Well, we played... they played first and we played second. So we pulled all new arrangements out, so Paul Whiteman says, "There is no chance. There is no ... What are you talking about? This organization is so far above them." And so the head of the gang just says, "Look, let him." And they gave him a contract for life, a lifetime contract. Whatever they said went... whether Fox liked it or not ... Whether you like it or not, you know, he listened to what they had to say because they were very treacherous and they’d take advantage of some of his family or something like and he knew that. So he just let them, "Whatever you want." you know. And that's how we happened to just stay right there at the Grand Theaters.”