around 1954, mullins moved to los angeles, where he began playing with the tommy alexander band. the jazz musicians he performed with include dave wells, lanny morgan, bob hathaway, and don bagley. mullins played trumpet and arranged for four years with charlie barnet's big band. he also performed with anita o’day's sextet, woody herman, sy zentner, russ morgan, and freddy martin, with whom he worked a year on a tv show and two years at the coconut grove.