Tadd Dameron began his musical career in Cleveland, Ohio, as a pianist, but by the time he was 21 he had begun writing and arranging. He wrote for the Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie bands and for Sarah Vaughan. No doubt Dameron brought the tune with him when he joined the Basie band, and Basie is usually credited as co-composer. The earliest recording of Good Bait by the Counts band is from a live performance at the Royal Roost in 1948, the same year that Damerons own group with Fats Navarro on trumpet recorded the tune. The Miles Davis/Tadd Dameron Quintet recorded it in Paris in 1949.