[1] He's first professional work was with Jiver Hutchinson in 1947, before going on to join the bands of Kenny Graham, Teddy Foster, and Leon Roy.
In September 1952 he recorded with the Ronnie Scott Quintet, which also included Dill Jones, Lennie Bush, and Tony Crombie.
While playing with the bands Scott formed in the latter half of the 1950s, King was also a member of Jack Parnell's band,[1] and shortly afterwards, together with other musicians left to form Scott's nine-piece orchestra featuring Scott and King on tenor saxes and other leading jazz musicians including Derek Humble (as), Jimmy Deuchar (tp), Ken Wray (tb), Benny Green (bs), Lennie Bush (b), and Tony Crombie (d).
As a direct result of the deal, the Tubby Hayes Quartet performed at the Half Note Club in New York and Zoot Sims was booked for a month-long residency at Ronnie's in November 1961.
The success of the agreement led to leading saxophonists, including Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz, Johnny Griffin, Roland Kirk, Al Cohn, Ben Webster and Benny Golson, following suit.