Over his career, Hall worked extensively with many leading performers as both a sideman and bandleader and is possibly best known for the 1941 chamber jazz song "Profoundly Blue".

He started Monday and played it Saturday," his brother Herb recalled in an interview with Manfred Selchow, who wrote a biography of Hall titled Profoundly Blue (1988).

[4] Hall spent nine years at the Café Society, playing and recording in between jobs with many of his contemporaries, such as Sid Catlett, Charlie Christian, Ida Cox, Wild Bill Davison, Sidney De Paris, Vic Dickenson, Roy Eldridge, Bud Freeman, Coleman Hawkins, Eddie Heywood, J. C. Higginbotham, Meade Lux Lewis, Lucky Millinder, Hot Lips Page, Zutty Singleton, Joe Sullivan, Art Tatum, Jack Teagarden, Big Joe Turner, Helen Ward, and Josh White.

In September 1947, Hall joined the All-Star Stompers with Wild Bill Davison, Ralph Sutton and Baby Dodds.

In late 1948, Hall took a job at Boston's Savoy Cafe, playing with members of Bob Wilber's band.

Steve Connolly of the Savoy Cafe asked Hall to bring his own band and replace Bob Wilber.

In November 1952, Hall participated in a special concert, "Hot Versus Cool," which pitted New Orleans-style jazz against bop.

The New Orleans-style musicians were Hall, Dick Cary, Vic Dickenson, Jack Lesberg, Jimmy McPartland, and George Wettling.

On the opposite side were Ray Abrams, Don Elliott, Dizzy Gillespie, Al McKibbon, and Max Roach.

Felix Blair of The New York Times wrote, "America's secret weapon is a blue note in a minor key.

The band moved to Los Angeles to participate in the filming of High Society (1956) starring Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby.

The evening's grand finale was Bernstein conducting the stadium symphony orchestra in an Alfredo Antonini arrangement of "Saint Louis Blues".

After his vacation, he performed with old friends Eddie Condon, Ralph Sutton, Teddy Wilson, Red Allen, and J. C. Higginbotham.

At the end of 1958, he entered the studio to record Petit Fleur with his sextet, including friends from Cafe Society such as Vic Dickenson.

He was unable to get students to practice, and their lack of discipline and interest motivated his return to the U.S. Hall flew to Copenhagen in 1961 to perform as a guest with Papa Bue's Viking Jazz Band.

Returning home, he assembled the Hall American Jazz Stars and played at Condon's in New York City.

During the early 1960s, he worked often, touring with Yves Montand and Chris Barber, and recording with Leonard Gaskin, Marlowe Morris, and the Dukes of Dixieland.

George Wein assembled a package of bands, and Hall was the featured star with the Dukes of Dixieland, who toured Japan in July 1964.

He played at the Carnegie Hall Salute to Eddie Condon and appeared at jazz festivals, often with his friend Vic Dickenson.

By then Hall was semi-retired and would show up unexpectedly at a nearby pub where the local band, Tomasso and His Jewels of Dixieland, would play.

Hall was to play with Alan Elsdon's band during the tour, which began in England and extended to Germany, Denmark, and Sweden.

In January 1967, there was another important engagement, John Hammond's 30th Anniversary Concert – Spirituals to Swing at Carnegie Hall in New York.

On February 3, 1967, Hall played at the Governor Dummer Academy with George Poor's band as a featured performer with Bobby Hackett.

The marriage was prompted by the imminent arrival of their son, Elton Edmond Hall, who was born on July 20, 1922, but died as a child on December 3, 1934.