1. Twelfth Street Rag
2. Fare Thee Well, Annabelle
3. Lookie, Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie
4. Rockin' Chair
5. One Dozen Roses
6. Muskrat Ramble
7. After You've Gone
8. Basin Street Blues
9. The Preacher And The Bear
10. On The Sunny Side Of The Street
11. Somebody Else, Not Me
12. Wabash Blues
13. Royal Garden Blues
14. High Society
15. Clarinet Marmalade
16. Bessie Couldn't Help It
17. Dill Pickles Rag
18. Milenberg Joys
19. The Charleston
20. Copenhagen
21. Darktown Strutters' Ball
22. Snag It
23. San
24. So Blue
25. South Rampart Street Parade
26. Original Dixieland One-Step
27. Fidgety Feet
28. Oh!
Trombonist
Walter "Pee Wee" Hunt is in danger
of being dismissed as a one-hit wonder, since
everyone of a certain age knows his Twelfth
Street Rag but probably none of his other
recordings. Yet he played for Jean Goldkette’s
band in the 1920s and then became a founder
member of the Casa Loma Orchestra, with which
he stayed from 1929 to 1943 - before forming
his own ensemble.
The
CD opens appropriately with Twelfth Street
Rag, which typifies much of Pee Wee Hunt’s
work. It’s brightly swinging Dixieland jazz,
with touches of humour which can also be heard
in other tracks on this disc. Pee Wee supplies
good-natured vocals to such songs as The
Preacher and the Bear and Lookie, Lookie,
Lookie, Here ComesCookie, and he plays
some effective trombone.
Although
most of the tracks are by Pee Wee’s own band,
there are four examples by the Casa Loma Orchestra,
including two featuring guest Louis Armstrong,
who duets with Pee Wee on Rockin’ Chair.
None of the music is particularly profound
but it is well played, and the tongue-in-cheek
approach to Dixieland classics adds to its
accessibility. With 28 tracks totalling more
than 76 minutes, this is a generous sample
of the work of a musician who was rather more
than a one-hit wonder.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Living Era
CD AJA 5607
