Child prodigy on the trumpet, performing in public from the age of five. Cornet soloist from 1916. Founder member in 1922 of the Original Memphis Five. Worked as a studio musician until forming a big band in 1938. Briefly with Jimmy Dorsey in 1943. Re-formed Memphis Five at Nick's in New York in 1949. Later led a succession of dixieland groups, eventually based at his own club, Napoleon's Retreat, in Miami Beach, Florida.
