 Nicholas began playing professionally on clarinet, and continued occasionally doubling on it in later years after he had mostly switched to cornet.Nicholas knew Buddy Bolden and said Bolden was the main influence on his cornet style, but did not begin playing cornet until 1915 when he was playing clarinet with King Oliver and started playing around with Oliver's cornet while Oliver was on break.He lived nearly his entire life in New Orleans, and played in many brass bands and street ensembles in the city for decades, in addition to forming the Camelia Brass Band in 1918.