[1] He performed with many prominent 20th-century jazz musicians, including Jelly Roll Morton and John Coltrane.

[2][1] Bushell was born in Springfield, Ohio, to Alexander Payne, Jr. (1875–1908) and Effie Penn (maiden; 1879–1968).

He was best known as a jazz sideman with people such as Perry Bradford, and performed and/or recorded with many of jazz's great names, such as Fletcher Henderson, Bunk Johnson, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Eric Dolphy, Gil Evans, and John Coltrane.

Bushell eventually settled in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked as a music teacher.

[3] Bushell – on July 24, 1923, in Manhattan – married Marie Roberts (maiden; 1902–1971), who, among other things, had been a member of the Chocolate Kiddies chorus for the 1925 European tour.