[1] Cary earned a bachelor's degree in music from Wesleyan University in 1938 and started working in Connecticut and New York.
He landed full-time solo work at Nick's in Greenwich Village in New York City in 1941 (through 1943) and played with Joe Marsala in 1942.
[3] In 1943, he also worked as a staff arranger for Benny Goodman and played with the Casa Loma Orchestra and Brad Gowans.
[3] During a stint in the Army in 1944-46 stationed on Long Island, he managed to continue recording with Muggsy Spanier and Wild Bill Davison among others.
His life is the subject of the bio-discography Strictly a Musician: Dick Cary by Derek Coller, published in 2012.