Pee Wee Hunt

Pee Wee Hunt ( born May 10, 1907 in Mount Healthy, Ohio as Walter Gerhardt Hunt, † June 22, 1979 in Plymouth, Massachusetts) was an American Dixieland jazz trombonist, vocalist and band leader.

History

Pee Wee Hunt's mother played banjo, his father violin. During adolescence Hunt appeared as banjo player in a local band when he attended college at Ohio State University; During this time he joined the trombone. In 1928 he was a member of Jean Gold Kettes orchestra. Pee Wee Hunt was finally in 1929 one of the founding members of the Casa Loma Orchestra and participated in their first LP recordings with; he left the group in 1943 to work in Hollywood as a radio disc jockey. During the Second World War he was a member of the merchant marine. After the war, he returned in 1946 back to the West Coast in September 1948 and had a number 1 hit with the " Twelfth Street Rag ". The title stayed 32 weeks in the top ten. He had further success in 1953 culminated with the number " Oh! ", The # 3 on the charts and was quoted 23 weeks in the Top Twenty. As Pee Wee Runt and his All- Flea Dixieland Band, he was parodied in Tex Avery's MGM cartoon Dixieland Droopy (1954). One of his later bands also belonged to the drummer Danny D' Imperio. Other titles of his orchestra, which usually grossed Hunt for Capitol, were " High Society ", " Please Do not Talk About Me When I'm Gone ", " Lullaby of Birdland " / " It's All Been Done Before ," " Wabash Blues " (1947 ) and " Basin Street Blues " ( Regent, 1948),

At the age of 72 years, Hunt died after a long illness in Plymouth (Massachusetts), where his partner from the Casa Loma Orchestra, Glen Gray lived. Hunt was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6838 Hollywood Blvd.