In 1942, Pettiford joined the Charlie Barnet band and in 1943 gained wider public attention after recording with Coleman Hawkins on his "The Man I Love".

[1] After he moved to New York, he was one of the musicians (together with Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke) who in the early 1940s jammed at Minton's Playhouse, where the music style developed that was later called bebop.

[1] In 1945, Pettiford went with Hawkins to California, where he appeared in The Crimson Canary, a mystery movie known for its jazz soundtrack, which also featured Josh White.

Tuning it in fourths, like a double bass, but one octave higher, Pettiford found it possible to perform during his rehabilitation (during which time his arm was in a sling) and made his first recordings with the instrument in 1950.

Between 1954 and 1958, Pettiford also led sextets, big bands and jazz orchestras which played dates in Manhattan venues like Birdland, where he continued to explore unusual instrumental voicing including French horns and harp.

Pettiford's influence on bassists of ensuing generations is frequently noted; his composition "Tricotism" is a standard piece of jazz bass repertoire, and has been recorded by several generations of bassists, including Ray Brown, Milt Hinton, Rufus Reid, John Clayton, Bill Crow, Yasushi Nakamura, and others.