When he was fifteen, Collette became a part of the Woodman brothers' band, along with Joe Comfort, George Reed, and Jessie Sailes.

[1] During his first couple years of high school, Collette began traveling to Los Angeles in order to form connections with other musicians.

At the age of 19, Collette started taking musical lessons from Lloyd Reese, who also taught Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, and many others.

His memoir records a trip that he, Bill Douglass, and Charles Mingus made from Los Angeles to San Francisco in October 1942, after hearing that a Navy officer was recruiting musicians from the union there to serve in an all-black band that would be stationed at St. Mary's.

"[3] After serving as a U.S. Navy band leader, he played with the Stars of Swing (Woodman, Mingus, and Lucky Thompson), Louis Jordan, and Benny Carter.

In the 1950s, he worked as a studio musician with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, and Nelson Riddle.

In 1955, he was a founding member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet, playing chamber jazz flute with guitarist Jim Hall, cellist Fred Katz, and bassist Carson Smith.

[1] In 1949, Collette was the first black musician to be hired by a nationally broadcast TV studio orchestra, on You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho.

Increasingly successful in the late 1940s, Collette was called upon frequently for collaborations and recordings on alto saxophone with musicians such as Ivie Anderson, Johnny Otis, Gerald Wilson, Ernie Andrews, and Charles Mingus.

[1] In 1955, Collette became a founding member of the unusually instrumented chamber jazz quintet, led by percussionist Chico Hamilton.

[4] In 1957, the group (accompanied by flutist Paul Horn and guitarist John Pisano) made a cameo appearance in the Burt Lancaster-Tony Curtis film, "Sweet Smell of Success".

[7] In November 1958, Langston Hughes read poems to accompaniment by Collette and his band at the Screen Directors Theatre in Los Angeles.

[9] Collette joined the faculty at California State University, Pomona campus in 1992 where he was a conductor of the jazz and combo band.

[10] Collette's career and accomplishments were rewarded by the Los Angeles Jazz Society where he received a special commendation, and with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Federation of Musicians.

With Chet Baker With Louis Bellson With Brass Fever With James Brown With Red Callender With Conte Candoli With Benny Carter With June Christy With Nat King Cole With Miles Davis and Michel Legrand With Sammy Davis Jr. With Ella Fitzgerald With Gil Fuller With Ted Gärdestad With Jimmy Giuffre With Chico Hamilton With Eddie Harris With Jon Hendricks With Freddie Hubbard With Quincy Jones With Fred Katz With Stan Kenton With Barney Kessel With Wade Marcus With Les McCann With Carmen McRae With Charles Mingus With Blue Mitchell With Lyle Murphy With Oliver Nelson With Dory Previn With Don Ralke With Buddy Rich With Little Richard With Shorty Rogers With Pete Rugolo With Horace Silver With Frank Sinatra With Gábor Szabó and Bob Thiele With The Three Sounds With Mel Tormé With Stanley Turrentine With Gerald Wilson With Nancy Wilson With Red Norvo