He had a number of popular hits such as "Flamingo", "Harlem Nocturne", "Temptation", "Sleep", "Special Delivery Stomp", and "Where or When", which all showed off his characteristic growl on the horn.

Bostic made his first recording with Lionel Hampton in October 1939,[4] with Charlie Christian, Clyde Hart and Big Sid Catlett.

[4] He worked with territory bands as well as Arnett Cobb, Hot Lips Page, Rex Stewart, Don Byas, Charlie Christian, Thelonious Monk, Edgar Hayes, Cab Calloway, and other jazz luminaries.

At various times, his band included Keter Betts, Jaki Byard, Benny Carter, John Coltrane, Teddy Edwards, Benny Golson, Blue Mitchell, Tony Scott, Cliff Smalls, Charles Thompson, Stanley Turrentine, Tommy Turrentine, and other musicians who rose to prominence, especially in jazz.

Bostic's King album entitled Jazz As I Feel It (1963)[4] featured Shelly Manne on drums, Joe Pass on guitar and Richard "Groove" Holmes on organ.

Bostic was pleased with the sessions, which highlight his total mastery of the blues, but they also foreshadowed musical advances that were later evident in the work of John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy.

He wrote arrangements for Paul Whiteman, Louis Prima, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, Artie Shaw, Hot Lips Page, Jack Teagarden, Ina Ray Hutton, and Alvino Rey.

In 1953, Bostic and his Orchestra performed for the famed ninth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on June 7.

Also featured that day were Roy Brown and his Orchestra, Don Tosti and His Mexican Jazzmen, Shorty Rogers, Nat "King" Cole with Velma Middleton, and Louis Armstrong and his All Stars.

[6] During the early 1950s, Bostic lived with his wife in Addisleigh Park in St. Albans, Queens, in New York City, where many other jazz stars made their home.

Today he rests under a simple black slate grave marker inscribed with his name, birth/death dates, and a solo saxophone, located not far from such other musical luminaries as Chet Baker, Ray Charles, and Ella Fitzgerald, who was born exactly four years after Earl.

If one listens carefully to Bostic's fabulous stop time choruses and his extended solo work, the roots of Coltrane's "sheets of sound" become clear.

"[2] Victor Schonfield pointed out that "...his greatest gift was the way he communicated through his horn a triumphant joy in playing and being, much like Louis Armstrong and only a few others have done.

Although he recorded many commercial albums, some notable jazz-based exceptions on the King label include Bostic Rocks Hits of the Swing Age, Jazz As I Feel It and A New Sound.

His live performances provided an opportunity for a departure from his commercial efforts and those who witnessed these shows remember him driving audiences into a frenzy with dazzling technical displays.

The new sound incorporated his unmistakable rasp or growl, shorter lines than in his jazz-based recordings, emphasis on a danceable back beat and a new way of wringing "...the greatest possible rhythmic value from every note and phrase.

The 1956 version of "Where or When" features Bostic growling through the mid-range of the instrument behind a heavy backbeat and loud bass and it is a marked departure from his approach to the same tune recorded on Gotham in 1947 which showed off his sweet "singing" in the upper register with barely audible percussion.