Pee Wee Hunt (May 10, 1907, Mt. Healthy, Ohio – June 22,
1979 in Plymouth, Massachusetts), born Walter Gerhardt Hunt, was a jazz
trombonist, vocalist and band leader.
Pee Wee came from a musical family, his father played violin
and his mother played banjo. Hunt started playing banjo in his teen years and
went to Ohio State for collage. During this time Pee Wee started playing with
local bands and started playing the trombone. The trombone became his passion,
and he started playing with Jean Goldkette's Orchestra in 1928. A year later he
joined Glen Gray's Orange Blossoms, a Detroit band that eventually became known
as the Casa Loma Orchestra.
Pee Wee was a heavily featured member of that band for many
years, providing not only a solid line in trombone choruses but also a large
portion of likeable vocals. Hunt eventually left the Casa Loma in 1943, and
became a Hollywood radio disc jockey for a while before spending the closing
period of the war as a member of the Merchant Marine.
In 1946 he returned to the west coast music scene, forming
his own Dixieland outfit and playing the Hollywood Palladium, where audience
reaction to his pure hokum version of "Twelfth Street Rag" was so
enthusiastic that Hunt decided to record the number at one of the band's
Capitol Records sessions. The result was a hit that topped the US charts for
eight weeks in 1948.
Five years later, Hunt was in the charts again with a corn
ball version of "Oh!", an evergreen song from 1919. Like
"Twelfth Street Rag" it became a million-seller and charted for
nearly six months. This proved to be Hunt's last major record and the
trombonist dropped from the limelight, but still continued playing his happy
music.
At age 72, Hunt died after a long illness in Plymouth,
Massachusetts, where his Casa Loma partner Glen Gray also lived. (Info edited mainly
from Wikipedia)
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1. Twelfth Street Rag Pee Wee Hunt 2:52
2. South Rampart Street Parade Pee Wee Hunt 2:58
3. Fare Thee Well, Annabelle Pee Wee Hunt 3:00
4. Lookie Lookie Lookie Here Comes Cookie Pee Wee Hunt 2:34
5. One Dozen Roses Pee Wee Hunt 2:32
6. Royal Garden Blues Pee Wee Hunt 2:47
7. Muskrat Ramble Pee Wee Hunt 2:42
8. Basin Street Blues Pee Wee Hunt 2:41
9. The Preacher and the Bear Pee Wee Hunt 2:55
10. After You've Gone Pee Wee Hunt 3:17
11. High Society Pee Wee Hunt 2:41
12. On the Sunny Side of the Street Pee Wee Hunt 2:47
13. Somebody Else, Not Me Pee Wee Hunt 3:03
14. Wabash Blues Pee Wee Hunt 2:36
15. Bessie Couldnt Help It Pee Wee Hunt 3:13
16. Milenberg Joys Pee Wee Hunt 2:56
17. The Charleston Pee Wee Hunt 2:21
18. Snag It Pee Wee Hunt 3:00
19. Copenhagen Pee Wee Hunt 2:02
20. Clarinet Marmalade Pee Wee Hunt 3:05
21. Fidgety Feet Pee Wee Hunt 2:10
22. Dill Pickles Rag Pee Wee Hunt 2:34
23. Darktown Strutters Ball Pee Wee Hunt 2:45
24. San Pee Wee Hunt 2:15
25. So Blue Pee Wee Hunt 2:20
26. Original Dixieland One Step Pee Wee Hunt 2:24
27. Oh! Pee Wee Hunt 2:39
28. Rockin' Chair Pee Wee Hunt & Louis Armstrong 3:14