As a conductor, musician, and vocalist, he had a close artistic relationship with Arthur Russell and worked briefly with Meredith Monk and Pierre Boulez.

During the 1970s (and perhaps shortly thereafter), he openly expressed himself in terms of his race, sexual orientation, or both in at least one performance and also in his compositions, including Gay Guerrilla and Nigger Faggot.

Eastman had a rich, deep, and extremely flexible singing voice, for which he became noted in his 1973 Nonesuch recording of Eight Songs for a Mad King by the British composer Peter Maxwell Davies.

Eastman's talents gained the attention of composer-conductor Lukas Foss, who conducted Davies' music in performance at the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

"[2] Additionally, Eastman's friend Kyle Gann has speculated that his inability to acclimate to the more bureaucratic elements of academic life (including paperwork) may have hastened his departure from the university.

[1] Shortly thereafter, Eastman settled in New York City, where he initially straddled the divide between the conventionally bifurcated "uptown" and downtown music scenes.

[3] Eastman said Northwestern University faculty regarded his "'Nigger' series" titles as derogatory, to which he replied that he "eschew[ed the] superficial or ... elegant", referring to the historical accomplishments of black people and to the enduring effects of slavery in the United States.

He played in and conducted the Brooklyn Philharmonia's CETA Orchestra (funded by the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act under the administration of the Cultural Council Foundation).

By 1980, he was regularly touring across the United States and internationally; a recording of a performance from that year at Northwestern University was released on the posthumous compilation Unjust Malaise (2005).

His life fell apart; many of his scores were impounded by the New York City Sheriff's Office following an eviction in the early 1980s, further impeding his professional development.

[6] Revival of Eastman's music has been a difficult task and has depended on people who worked with him because his notational methods were loose and open to interpretation.

[10] In June 2006, the New York-based group Ne(x)tworks presented their score realization (by Cornelius Dufallo and Chris McIntyre) of Eastman's Stay On It at the ISSUE Project Room silo space on Carroll Street in Brooklyn.

Eastman's piece Crazy Nigger was performed March 15, 2008, during the 7th Edition Dag in de Branding Festival, The Hague, the Netherlands.

The event also included Chessa's DJ live set of NY house music recordings featuring Eastman and his collaborators.

The album includes performances of Evil Nigger and Gay Guerilla by David Friend and Emily Manzo that have been manipulated and re-arranged by Clayton.

In October 2015, Bowerbird, a Philadelphia-based non-profit, presented Eastman's Crazy Nigger as the first event in a multi-year survey of the composer's work.

[16] In September 2017, contemporary music festival Sacrum Profanum in Krakow, presented four concerts with nine Julius Eastman's compositions in total.

Extensive research of the curator Krzysztof Pietraszewski, assisted by Mary Jane Leach, Petr Kotik and Michał Mendyk resulted in wide and diverse composer's picture - Eastman was one of two main figures of 2017 edition of the festival (among Moondog).

Ensemble prepared interpretations of Joy Boy, Our Father, Piano 2, and Macle, Anton Lukoszevieze and Apartment House performed Buddha, Femenine [sic], Stay On It, and Hail Mary and Arditti Quartet performed a three-string quartet version (commissioned from Tomasz Jakub Opałka by Sacrum Profanum festival) of Evil Nigger.

On November 20 Chessa conducted the orchestra of the Mannes School of Music in the premiere of Eastman II at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in NYC to a considerable acclaim.

[20] In 2020, SAVVY Contemporary published a collection of essays, librettos, lyrics, memories, photos, personal anecdotes called We Have Delivered Ourselves from the Tonal — Of, Towards, On, For Julius Eastman with contributors like George E. Lewis, Kodwo Eshun, Mary Jane Leach, and many others.

[22][23] In 2018, visual artist Michael Anthony Garcia and composer Russell Reed performed Femenine [sic] with the Austin Chamber Music Festival.

In September 2019, festival Musica in Strasbourg (France) presented the composer's three pieces for four pianos performed by Melaine Dalibert, Stéphane Ginsburgh, Nicolas Horvath and Wilhem Latchoumia.

[25] In October 2019, the Sacrum Profanum festival in Krakow presented The Holy Presence of Joan D'Arc with Prelude and premiered another commissioned version of Evil Nigger, this time arranged by Piotr Peszat for four accordions, performed by Rafał Łuc and Maciej Frąckiewicz.

[27] In the summer of 2021, Davóne Tines and ten cellists recorded Eastman’s The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc at Looking Glass Arts, in West Fulton, New York.