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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 201-225 of 282 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Decca 68124 10-in. 9/18/1940 We three Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68125 10-in. 9/18/1940 Our love affair Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68126 10-in. 9/18/1940 When you awake Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68127 10-in. 9/18/1940 The world is waiting for the sunrise Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68142 10-in. 9/25/1940 Margie Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68143 10-in. 9/25/1940 I'd love to live in Loveland Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68144 10-in. 9/25/1940 Bye-bye blues Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68145 10-in. 9/25/1940 Moon over Burma Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68195 10-in. 10/2/1940 Head on my pillow Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68196 10-in. 10/2/1940 Cottonwood corners Glen Gray Orchestra vocalist, instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68197 10-in. 10/2/1940 Blow the smoke away Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68198 10-in. 10/2/1940 I'd rather dream Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68437 10-in. 12/4/1940 You say the sweetest things Glen Gray Orchestra vocalist, instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68438 10-in. 12/4/1940 Not so long ago Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68439 10-in. 12/4/1940 Magic mountain Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 68440 10-in. 12/4/1940 I do, do you ? Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 69760 10-in. 9/21/1941 I'll never be the same Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 69761 10-in. 9/21/1941 Just friends Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 69762 10-in. 9/21/1941 Memory lane Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 69763 10-in. 9/21/1941 Don't blame me Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 69838 10-in. 10/19/1941 City called heaven Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 69839 10-in. 10/19/1941 I found you in the rain Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 69840 10-in. 10/19/1941 The bells of San Raquel Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 69841 10-in. 10/19/1941 I'm through with love Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 69967 10-in. 11/23/1941 Rose Marie Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
(Results 201-225 of 282 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Hunt, Pee Wee," accessed November 22, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/106359.

Hunt, Pee Wee. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 22, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/106359.

"Hunt, Pee Wee." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 22 November 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/106359

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