He made recordings with many well known jazz artists, among them Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Ethel Waters, and Mamie Smith.
[1] By 1921 he had moved to New York City where he was playing in Fletcher Henderson's band, the Black Swan Masters.
[1] He plays in a variety of shows in New York in the late 1920s, and in 1927 he recorded with the blues and vaudeville singer Clara Smith.
Other members in the group at the time he joined included clarinetists Barney Bigard and Omer Simeon, and double bass player Pops Foster.
[2] From 1931-1933 he worked with Elmer Snowden and his band the Washingtonians whose members also included pianist Duke Ellington, drummer Sid Catlett, trombonist Dicky Wells, and trumpeter Roy Eldridge.
[2] At this point the rise of Rock and roll in the 1950s led to the end of big band jazz era, and his work with prominent recording artists ceased.