Hazel performed with several bandleaders in and around New Orleans in the 1920s, among them Abbie Brunies, Tony Parenti, Jules Bauduc, and Johnny Wiggs.
Early on Monk played drums with Emmett Hardy, who gave him his first cornet, and then with Stalebread Lacombe.
In the 1920s, Hazel worked with many bands including those led by Abbie Brunies (the Halfway House Orchestra), Tony Parenti (with whom he recorded in 1928)[1] and Johnny Wiggs.
From the late 1920s to the early 1930s, Hazel led his own Bienville Roof Orchestra[1] (which played atop the Bienville Hotel at Lee Circle, and made recordings in 1928) and then spent time in New York playing with Johnny Wiggs, Jack Pettis and with his own group (1929–31).
Hazel was in Hollywood for a period (working with Gene Austin) but eventually came back to New Orleans, performing with Joe Caprano (1937) and the Lloyd Danton Quintet.