Pee Wee Hunt was an American jazz trombonist, vocalist, and bandleader who was born as Walter Gerhardt Hunt in Mount Healthy, Ohio, in 1907. He achieved early professional recognition in 1928 after joining Jean Goldkette’s Orchestra and is famous for being a co-founder of the Casa Loma Orchestra and for his Number 1 hit single “Twelfth Street Rag” (1948). Hunt developed a musical interest as a teenager playing banjo in a local band while attending Ohio State University, but he transitioned to the trombone before graduating from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. In 1929, he became a founding member and featured soloist for the Casa Loma Orchestra, performing with the group until 1943. After working as a radio disc jockey and serving in the Merchant Marine during World War II, Hunt returned to the West Coast music scene in 1946. His discography includes the recording “Twelfth Street Rag”, which sold over three million copies and topped the charts for eight weeks, and the single “Oh!” (1953), which reached number 3 on the Billboard chart. In 1954, he was satirized as the character “Pee Wee Runt” in the animated film Dixieland Droopy. Hunt, who was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, died in 1979.
