Next on the agenda was a reunion with his little brother in the context of a group Roy Eldridge was leading in Chicago. In the final years of the decade this group hustled off to New York City. A large bite of the Joe Eldridge discographical pizza consists of performances with his younger brother's band. For the early '40s, however, the saxophonist was back freelancing on his own, collaborating with fellow saxophonist Budd Johnson and the trumpeter and bandleader Hot Lips Page. The latter artist recorded the hilarious They Raided the Joint, co-written by the Eldridge brothers among others.
Several years with drummer Zutty Singleton in New York prompted a decision to follow that bandleader to the west coast. In the mid '40s Joe Eldridge returned to his brother's band, this time sporting a fat sound on tenor saxophone. He also continued working with Page. Joe Eldridge lived in Canada during the late '40s, including a stint in Quebec with a group led by Raymond Vin, whose last name must have insured popularity in the wine-guzzling French society. Finally in 1950 Eldridge returned to New York, spending what would be the last years of his life teaching. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi