abandoned his family's plans for him to be a pharmacist (although retaining the medically inspired nickname "Doc") to play music, performing in Nashville's African American Vaudeville theater.

[1] Cheatham returned to the United States in 1930, and played with Marion Handy and McKinney's Cotton Pickers, before landing a job with Cab Calloway.

He performed with Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson, Fletcher Henderson, and Claude Hopkins in the 1940s;[1] after World War II he started working regularly with Latin bands in New York City, including the bands of Perez Prado, Marcelino Guerra, Ricardo Ray (on whose catchy, hook-laden album Jala, Jala Boogaloo, Volume II, he played exquisitely (but uncredited), particularly on the track "Mr. Trumpet Man"), Machito, and others.

[1] In 1959, the U.S. State Department funded a trip for bandleader Herbie Mann to visit Africa, after they heard his version of "African Suite".

Band personnel included Herbie Mann, bandleader, flute and sax; Johnny Rae, vibist and arranger; Don Payne, bass; Doc Cheatham, trumpet; Jimmy Knepper, trombone; Patato Valdés congas; and Jose Mangual, bongos.

Destinations listed on the official itinerary included Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Rhodesia, Tanganyika, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia.

As a level and microphone check at the start of a recording session with Sammy Price's band, Cheatham sang and scatted his way through a couple of choruses of "What Can I Say Dear After I Say I'm Sorry".

Cheatham toured widely in addition to his regular Sunday gig leading the band at Sweet Basil in Manhattan's Greenwich Village in his final decade.