Starting in 1926 he led his own band, for decades based in the New Orleans suburb of Algiers, Louisiana.
Kid Thomas had perhaps the city's longest lasting old-style traditional jazz dance band.
Unlike many other musicians, Thomas was unaffected by the influence of Louis Armstrong and later developments of jazz, continuing to play in his distinctive hot, bluesy, sometimes percussive style.
His style was that which is characterized often as, "New Orleans Jazz", in order to differentiate it from the influences that arose from other parts of the country through the years.
In the mid 1980s, as Kid Thomas's strength started to wane, Preservation Hall management brought in Wendell Brunious, at first as second trumpet.