Founder Francois Zalacain's friend Chris Coffey discovered her on a rubber stamp in a Greenwich Village shop in 1980.
With no binding contracts, no specific mission, and an acceptance of any jazz style, Sunnyside is a relaxed independent label.
He met pianist Harold Danko one night at the Village Vanguard and a friendship ensued.
A Lee Konitz album followed, and without meaning to, Zalacain had established a record label.
The crew went to Madison Square Garden for the event and waited for three hours for the Jazz Vocal Album category.
Diana Krall won, as the group had expected, so they set off for a nice dinner at the trendy, French-Thai restaurant, Vong.
"We didn't win the Grammy but we met the son of Lee Morgan that night."
With a larger distribution, first Ryko in 2002 and all the electronic stores, the label added many licenses to its catalog, most of them coming from France.
While many of Sunnyside's own artists bring influences from their native lands to their music, most of them currently live in New York.