In the 1940s, Mitchell and Godbolt started performing at local clubs and on the burlesque circuit calling themselves the Slyde Brothers. The act was such a hit, they received invitations to go on the road to perform with big band names of the time, including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Barry Harris. Their tapping was part of the bands' songs where they would create the music for many measures and then the band would come back in, and they would trade off back and forth like that the entire act. Slyde performed during the 1950s, at a time when rock and roll was emerging and diverting American interest away from big band music with tap acts. He attempted to find work in other cities including San Francisco, Chicago, and Hollywood on the burlesque and nightclub circuits as well as in movies, but work had dried up in America. He found a temporary job working as a choreographer for the tap dancers the Crosby Brothers in the 1960s, but in 1966 Slyde was invited to perform at the
Berlin Jazz Festival in Europe. He attended with Baby Laurence, James Buster Brown, and
Chuck Green, and the crowd received them with positive praise including regarding them as "Harlem's All-Star Dancers". which won the
1985 Emmy Award for
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program. In 1992, Slyde was a featured artist in "The Majesty of Tap" dance concert at the
Lincoln Center in New York. In the 1990s, Slyde started holding jam sessions every week at a jazz nightclub in New York called La Cave. This became an education-based practice where up-and-coming tappers would come and improvise, while older and experienced tappers would mentor them. Among the mentored included dancers such as
Savion Glover, Van Porter,
Ira Bernstein, and
Roxane Butterfly. ==Legacy and death==