In 1924 he moved to Detroit to join Jean Goldkette's band, and began playing with the Book Cadillac Hotel Orchestra, one of Goldkette's dance bands. It was here that he made his first recordings with Goldkette's big band. By mid-1925, he had moved to Atlantic City briefly to play with Bert Estlow's band before settling in New York. Here, he once again encountered Massaro, who had changed his name to Eddie Lang. Lang had also switched instruments from the violin to the guitar. The two friends struck up a professional partnership which was to last until Lang's death in 1933. They began playing with Roger Wolfe Kahn's dance orchestras in addition to playing in Broadway pit orchestras to support themselves.