Gushee was twice a Guggenheim Fellow, once in Europe to study sources of medieval music (particularly 14th century French music), and once relating to research into early jazz. In his jazz research he studied the role of the Freddie Keppard's band's tours of the vaudeville circuit in the diffusion of jazz between 1914 and 1918, before he settled in Chicago.
Gushee also played traditional jazz and ragtime, performing as a clarinetist in the New Golden Rule Orchestra.