Burke was adept at both violin and trombone, and played both professionally in jazz bands.
He worked with Walter Barnes late in the 1920s, then with Cassino Simpson and Ed Carry in the early-1930s.
In the 1940s he played with Walter Fuller and Coleman Hawkins, and later in the decade with Duke Ellington and Cootie Williams.
In the early 1950s, he joined Cab Calloway's band, then worked with Buddy Johnson a few years later.
[2] In the 1960s and 1970s, Burke played less frequently, though he occasionally performed with musicians such as Lem Johnson and Wally Edwards.