Gonzales was born in Newark, NJ. He was known to be an exponent of vocalese, an example of this would be his version of the Charlie Parker bop standard "Ornithology". From 1950 to 1953, Gonzales was road manager and vocalist for the James Moody band and later gigged and recorded with musicians such as Jimmy Smith, Benny Green, Lenny Hambro and Johnny Griffin. Sonny Rollins also made his recording debut with Gonzales. He was also a Beat poet.