Butler was raised in Washington, DC, where he picked up trumpet in his late teens.
He played with Cliff Jackson and Horace Henderson in New York City, then joined Marion Hardy's Alabamians in 1931-32.
There he played for several years with Willie Lewis, as well as with Frank "Big Boy" Goudie and with his own bands.
In 1940 he was in New York again, where he played with Mercer Ellington, Art Hodes, Mezz Mezzrow, and Bingie Madison.
After a brief stay in Toronto he moved back to Europe in 1950, remaining there until 1968 as a regular at the La Cigale club in Paris.