He worked with Tiny Bradshaw and Lionel Hampton in the 1940s before joining the Navy during World War II.
[3] While there he played in a band with Clark Terry, Willie Smith, and Gerald Wilson.
[3] After his service ended he returned to play with Hampton, then worked with Arnett Cobb (1947–1948), Erskine Hawkins (1948–1950), and Count Basie (1951).
[3] He spent a few years outside music, then played with Duke Ellington in 1959–1960 and again in 1963; he returned once more early in the 1970s.
[3] He again played with the Count Basie Orchestra from 1979 into the middle of the following decade.