Pee Wee Hunt
Walter Gerhardt "Pee Wee" Hunt (May 10, 1907 – June 22, 1979) was an American jazz trombonist, vocalist, and bandleader. Hunt was born in Mount Healthy, Ohio. He developed a musical interest at an early age, as his mother, Sadie, played the banjo and his father, Edgar C., played violin. He had a younger sister, Marian, and younger brother, Raymond. The teenage Hunt was a banjoist with a local band while he was attending college at Ohio State University, where he majored in Electrical Engineering, and during his college years he switched from banjo to trombone. He graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He joined Jean Goldkette's Orchestra in 1928. Hunt was the co-founder and featured trombonist with the Casa Loma Orchestra, but he left the group in 1943 to work as a Hollywood radio disc jockey, before joining the Merchant Marine near the end of World War II. He returned to the West Coast music scene in 1946. His "Twelfth Street Rag" was a three million-selling, number one hit in September 1948. He was satirized as Pee Wee Runt and his All-Flea Dixieland Band in Tex Avery's animated MGM cartoon Dixieland Droopy (1954). His second major hit was "Oh!" (1953), his second million-selling disc, which reached number three in the Billboard chart. At age 72, Hunt died after a long illness in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Hunt and his wife, Ruth, had a daughter, Holly, and a son, Lawrence. |
Birth and Death Data: Born May 10, 1907 (Mount Healthy), Died June 22, 1979 (Plymouth)
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1930 - 1943
Roles Represented in DAHR: trombone, vocalist
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 1-25 of 282 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OKeh | W404568 | 10-in. | 12/6/1930 | Alexander's ragtime band | Casa Loma Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | vocalist | |
OKeh | W404571 | 10-in. | 12/6/1930 | Put on your old grey bonnet | Casa Loma Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | vocalist | |
Brunswick | E36437 | 10-in. | 4/1/1931 | I’m crazy ‘bout my baby (And my baby’s crazy ‘bout me) | Casa Loma Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | vocalist | |
Brunswick | E36497 | 10-in. | 3/23/1931 | When I take my sugar to tea | Casa Loma Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | vocalist | |
Brunswick | E36499 | 10-in. | 3/23/1931 | Put on your old grey bonnet | Casa Loma Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | vocalist | |
Brunswick | E36699 | 10-in. | 5/18/1931 | Just a blue-eyed blonde | Casa Loma Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | vocalist | |
Brunswick | E36907 | 10-in. | 7/6/1931 | Take it from me (I’m takin’ to you) | Casa Loma Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | vocalist | |
Brunswick | E36908 | 10-in. | 7/6/1931 | It’s the girl | Casa Loma Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal trio | vocalist | |
Brunswick | E37242 | 10-in. | 10/6/1931 | If I didn’t have you | Casa Loma Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | vocalist | |
Decca | 38676 | 10-in. | 9/17/1934 | When will I know? | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38677 | 10-in. | 9/17/1934 | Chinatown, my Chinatown | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38678 | 10-in. | 9/17/1934 | Nagasaki | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38715 | 10-in. | 9/24/1934 | A new moon is over my shoulder | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38716 | 10-in. | 9/24/1934 | I'm in love | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38717 | 10-in. | 9/24/1934 | You're a builder-upper | Glen Gray Orchestra | vocalist, instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38718 | 10-in. | 9/24/1934 | Judy | Glen Gray Orchestra | vocalist, instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38726 | 10-in. | 9/24/1934 | Stompin' around | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38727 | 10-in. | 9/24/1934 | P. S. I love you | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38929 | 10-in. | 10/31/1934 | Irresistible | Glen Gray Orchestra | vocalist, instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38930 | 10-in. | 10/31/1934 | I've got an invitation to a dance | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38931 | 10-in. | 10/31/1934 | Maybe I'm wrong again | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 38932 | 10-in. | 10/31/1934 | You took advantage of me | Glen Gray Orchestra | vocalist, instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 39130 | 10-in. | 11/16/1934 | Where there's smoke there's fire | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 39131 | 10-in. | 11/16/1934 | Two in a dream | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone | ||
Decca | 39132 | 10-in. | 11/16/1934 | Blue moon | Glen Gray Orchestra | instrumentalist, trombone |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Hunt, Pee Wee," accessed November 7, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/106359.
Hunt, Pee Wee. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 7, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/106359.
"Hunt, Pee Wee." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 7 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Pee Wee Hunt
Discogs: Pee Wee Hunt
Allmusic: Pee Wee Hunt
Grove: Pee Wee Hunt
IMDb: Pee Wee Hunt
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Hunt, Pee Wee - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n91084054
Wikidata: Pee Wee Hunt - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2066931
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/42025528
MusicBrainz: Pee Wee Hunt - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/ee7eb94a-f9cf-4016-8d0a-cea5e220181a
ISNI: 0000 0001 1984 9205 - http://www.isni.org/isni/0000000119849205
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