Ezell was noted by the music journalist Bruce Eder as "a technically brilliant pianist, showing the strong influence of jazz as well as blues in his work".
[4] Two of Ezell's more notable solo recordings, "Heifer Dust" and "Barrel House Woman" (both 1929), have been noted for containing "elements of both blues and barrelhouse boogie-woogie in their form".
Ezell found loose employment as a barrelhouse pianist and, by 1917, had relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana, according to his draft record, and was working as a self-employed musician.
He continued his itinerant work, finding employment at riverside sawmill camps in Louisiana and East Texas.
[6] Around 1925, Ezell moved to Chicago, Illinois, and made friends with Blind Blake and Charlie Spand.
Paramount Records was rapidly declining as the effects of the Great Depression began to be felt, and later that year Ezell was back to playing in Louisiana, accompanying Clarence Hall.
He worked at their Crane Technical School, operated as part of the New Deal laws, although whether he was employed as an instructor or a maintenance worker is not certain.