He was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and grew up in Kearny, New Jersey, where he learned to play the saxophone at a young age and was influenced by the music of Isham Jones, later attending the Juilliard School.

In the early 1940s, Paxton arranged music for Bunny Berigan, Bea Wain, Charlie Spivak (along with Sonny Burke and Nelson Riddle), Ina Ray Hutton, Vaughn Monroe, and Sammy Kaye.

[3] Some of Paxton's compositions and arrangements include: "Paxonia", "All of Me", "Streamliner", "This Can't Be Love", "I'm Coming Virginia", "Jug Night", and "I'm Gonna See My Baby", among others.

Paxton's big-band background came in particularly handy with the Duprees, who combined group vocals with deliberately nostalgic swing orchestra backing on hits like "You Belong to Me" and "Why Don't You Believe Me.

[6] As a credited songwriter for Coed Records, Paxton used the pseudonym "George Eddy" on songs including "The Writing on the Wall", a 1961 hit for Adam Wade which he co-wrote with Sandy Baron and Mark Barkan.