Born in New York City, Creston was self-taught as a composer. His work tends to be fairly conservative in style, firmly tonal (as opposed to atonal) in style, and with a strong rhythmic element. His pieces include six symphonies, a number of concerti, including two for violin, one for marimba, one for accordion and one for alto saxophone, and a fantasia for trombone and orchestra. Several of his works were inspired by the poetry of Walt Whitman.
Creston was also a notable teacher, with the composer John Corigliano and the jazz musicians Rusty Dedrick and Charlie Queener among his pupils. He wrote the theoretical books Principles of Rhythm (1964) and Rational Metric Notation (1979).