 He played locally in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1931 and 1939, playing with Melvin Parks, Lionel Hampton, and Saunders King before moving to Los Angeles in 1940.There he found work playing with Cee Pee Johnson, Slam Stewart, and Slim Gaillard; he served in the military in 1942-43 playing in a band at Camp Lockett, near San Diego.After his discharge he played with Benny Carter, Fats Waller, Noble Sissle, Fletcher Henderson, Lionel Hampton (1945–46), Horace Henderson, Benny Goodman (briefly in 1947), and Mel Powell (1947).