He played with Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, and Art Taylor in 1947 but quit music from 1949 to 1952, working in a post office.
His musical associations at the time included Elmo Hope (1952), Benny Harris (1952–53), Charlie Rouse (1953–54), Joe Roland (1955), Freddie Redd (1956), Gigi Gryce (1956–57), and Phineas Newborn (1957).
After this he began doing social work in New Jersey and was less active as a performer, though he continued playing with Mal Waldron (1958–60), Randy Weston (1959), Abbey Lincoln (1959–60), Charles Mingus, and Kenny Dorham.
In the 1960s Euell worked in Harlem directing an arts program (1962–66) and then returned to school, receiving a Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1973.
He was Assistant Secretary for Public Service at the Smithsonian from 1970 to 1982, and was partly responsible for the institution's increasing interest in jazz history.