He mother was a music teacher, and his brother, Ed Carry, was a Chicago-based bandleader and guitarist in the 1920s and 1930s.
He started on horn at age eight, later studying at the Chicago Musical College and the University of Iowa.
[3] Carry worked with Cassino Simpson, the Midnight Revellers, and Boyd Atkins's Firecrackers in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
At the end of the decade he worked briefly with Darnell Howard before joining Earl Hines's band in 1940.
Carry remained in Hines's employ until 1946, working with him in both large and small ensemble settings.