[3] Hines also used Teddy Wilson, Jess Stacy and Nat "King" Cole as backup piano-players but Smalls was his favorite.
[2] After the inevitable post-World War II break-up of the Hines big-band, Smalls went on to play and record in smaller ensembles with his former Earl Hines band colleagues, singer and band-leader Billy Eckstine, trombonist Bennie Green, saxophonist Earl Bostic and singer Sarah Vaughan.
[5] Recovering, Smalls shifted his musical career to serve as music director/arranger for singers Eartha Kitt, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Clyde McPhatter, Roy Hamilton and Brook Benton.
[2][3][6] In the 1970s Smalls returned to jazz-recording, including four solo tracks for The Complete Master Jazz Piano Series in 1970, with Sy Oliver in 1973, Texas Twister with Buddy Tate in 1975, Swing and Things in 1976 and 'Caravan' in France in 1978.
In 1980 Smalls was featured playing piano in The Cotton Club, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.