He was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad in 1910. He was brought up in Venezuela and went to a military college when he was 18. He learned to play the saxophone, euphonium and the drums. He played with the Venezuelan State Opera, and then won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London. He studied to be a conductor at the college in 1937. To earn extra money he played on recordings by other people, including Fats Waller, before starting his own band.