in september 1942, he replaced preston love as lead alto saxophonist in nat towles' band, before going on to spend two years with benny carter's band, playing in line-ups including willard brown, curly russell, max roach, oscar bradley, ulysses livingston, sonny white, teddy brannon, bumps myers, gene porter, alton moore, j.j. johnson, shorty haughton, claude dunson, snooky young, freddie webster, gerald wilson, and jake porter.