After World War II, Bushkin played with the NBC Orchestra and briefly with Goodman, and appeared in Garson Kanin's play The Rat Race as a bandleader. In the 1950s, he performed regularly at the Embers, a jazz club in midtown Manhattan, and led his own groups, recording for Columbia and Capitol. He came out of retirement in the mid 1970s to tour with Bing Crosby, and later played occasionally in New York.