[1] Beginning in 1941, Palmer took a job at Scullin Steel, where he joined the company's 45-piece big band, which performed for the employees in the cafeteria during the daily lunch hour.
[2] Toward the end of the 1940s, Palmer began to get higher-profile performing and recording opportunities, including with Clark Terry in 1947 and Jimmy Forrest in 1948.
Additionally, he played bass on record with blues musicians such as Big Joe Williams and Sonny Boy Williamson.
Palmer led this Dixieland jazz ensemble in jam sessions at the Universal Dance Hall on the DeBaliviere Strip, an entertainment street on the west side of St. Louis.
[2] Palmer became a source for jazz historians late in his life, offering oral history testimonies of his early years in the music industry.