Was introduced to jazz by future acting great Paul Robeson.
Longstreet's semi-autobiographical novel, "The Sisters Liked Them Handsome", served as the basis for the 1948 hit Broadway musical "High Button Shoes". Directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, the play starred Nanette Fabray and Phil Silvers, and Longstreet was played by child actor Johnny Stewart.
Studied in Paris and at Rutgers and Harvard Universities, graduating from the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (Parsons) in 1929.
Writer, cartoonist, and painter. He published over 100 novels and five books on jazz, illustrated with his own drawings and watercolors.