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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 151-175 of 282 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Decca 65263 10-in. 3/24/1939 You grow sweeter as the years go by Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 65264 10-in. 3/24/1939 If I had my way Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 65265 10-in. 3/24/1939 Tears from my inkwell Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66076 10-in. 8/13/1939 Prelude in C sharp minor (Rachmaninoff) Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66077 10-in. 8/13/1939 Beautiful love Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66078 10-in. 8/13/1939 Tumbling tumbleweeds Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66079 10-in. 8/13/1939 Love grows on the white-oak tree Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66080 10-in. 8/13/1939 Through (How can you say we're through?) Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66081 10-in. 8/13/1939 Shadows Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66683 10-in. 9/28/1939 My wild Irish rose Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66684 10-in. 9/28/1939 When Irish eyes are smiling Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66685 10-in. 9/28/1939 Come and get it Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66686 10-in. 9/28/1939 Under a blanket of blue Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66747 10-in. 10/10/1939 Blue rain Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66748 10-in. 10/10/1939 Shine on harvest moon Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66749 10-in. 10/10/1939 Out of space Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66750 10-in. 10/10/1939 Midnight lullaby Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 66753 10-in. 10/11/1939 Bless you (for being an angel) Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 67139 10-in. 2/2/1940 Watching the clock Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 67140 10-in. 2/2/1940 I concentrate on you Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 67141 10-in. 2/2/1940 Last night's gardenias Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 67142 10-in. 2/2/1940 Would'st could I but kiss Thy hand, oh babe Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone, vocalist  
Decca 67235 10-in. 2/27/1940 Yours is my heart alone Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 67236 10-in. 2/27/1940 You've got me out on a limb Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
Decca 67237 10-in. 2/27/1940 Castle of dreams Glen Gray Orchestra instrumentalist, trombone  
(Results 151-175 of 282 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Hunt, Pee Wee," accessed April 26, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/106359.

Hunt, Pee Wee. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/106359.

"Hunt, Pee Wee." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 26 April 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

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

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