 While in Paris he recorded with guitarist Django Reinhardt and made several freelance sessions under his own name.In late 1936 he traveled to Bombay, India, playing with Leon Abbey's Orchestra, then back to Paris in April 1937, joining the band led by American-born saxophonist William T. Lewis (the band known as Willie Lewis and his Entertainers).After a sojourn to Cairo, Egypt, Coleman returned to the U.S. in March 1940, and worked throughout the 1940s with a variety of top groups including bands led by Benny Carter (1940), Teddy Wilson (1940–41), Andy Kirk (1941–42), Ellis Larkins (1943), Mary Lou Williams (1944), John Kirby (1945), Sy Oliver (1946–47), and Billy Kyle (1947–48).