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.
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.
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)