In the late 1950s–early 1960s, Satterfield, Charles Handy on trumpet, and Don Myrick on alto saxophone formed The Jazzmen, a student jazz trio at Crane Junior College in Chicago, Illinois.

They were backed by Fred Humphrey on piano, Ernest McCarthy on bass guitar, and Maurice White on drums.

Satterfield as a session bassist, White, and Handy were studio musicians at Chess Records in Chicago.

The Jazzmen collaborations and live concerts with Philip Cohran and the Artistic Heritage Ensemble at the Affro Arts Theater on the south side of Chicago went on to form The Pharaohs.

[4] After leaving an early incarnation of the Pharaohs to play in the Ramsey Lewis Trio, White went on to start the band Earth, Wind & Fire.

At first the horn section included Satterfield and his bandmate from The Pharaohs, saxophonist Don Myrick along with lead trumpet player Michael Harris.

Myrick was shot to death by a Santa Monica Police Department officer in the doorway of his home in 1993.