Played with The Nighthawks, led by pianist Lottie E. Hightower in Chicago in the early 1920s, in mid-1920s in California, returning to Chicago to play with [a=Carroll Dickerson] 1927-1929. Best known for recordings made with Louis Armstrong 1928-1929. In the 1930s led own group and played with Jimmie Noone in 1939, then moved to Jersey City, New Jersey in 1940.