He began playing professionally in many jazz groups, performing in several 52nd Street clubs with Coleman Hawkins and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. In 1945, he went into a recording studio for the first time, as a member of the group of Herbie Fields. In 1946 he made his first recording as a bandleader, with a group called "Miles Davis Sextet plus Earl Coleman and Ann Hathaway". He did not make many recordings as a bandleader at this time.