In the mid-1920s he took work as a musician on riverboats on the Mississippi River, then moved to New York City, playing with the Jim Dandies and Vaughn's Lucky Sambo Orchestra.
He then found work with Bill Brown and His Brownies (playing alongside Ovie Alston) and toured Europe as a member of Leon Abbey's orchestra.
In 1929 he married Ada "Bricktop" Smith and played in clubs she owned in the 1930s before they formally separated.
He played with Leon Abbey once again in 1934 while in the Netherlands, and also with Coleman Hawkins and Benny Peyton in Europe.
In 1939, as World War II erupted, DuConge came back to the United States.