Pee Wee In Hollywood

JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH

Pee Wee Erwin (1913-81) was a solid swing trumpeter who was a bit overshadowed during his long career. While he worked with the Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras, in both cases he succeeded the much more famous Bunny Berigan. Erwin also worked with Joe Haymes and Ray Noble, had his own little-known big band in 1941-42, often played Dixieland from the 1950s on, and taught at a trumpet school that he ran with Chris Griffin.

The LP Pee Wee In Hollywood was one of Erwin’s last and one of his best. Recorded during May 26-27, 1980, Erwin is teamed with an impressive group of all-stars (trombonist Bob Havens, clarinetist Kenny Davern, tenor-saxophonist Eddie Miller, pianist Dick Cary, bassist Ray Leatherwood, and drummer Nick Fatool), jamming such numbers as “Farewell Blues,” “There’ll Be Some Changes Made,” “Rose Room,” and “Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me.” Each musician plays up to their usual level and “A Monday Date” is a fine duet that Erwin performs with Cary.

In addition, two duets with pianist Dick Hyman that date from Dec. 1980 are included on the album. “Shreveport Stomp” is this set’s highpoint. Normally a feature for clarinet (as it was when Jelly Roll Morton originally recorded it with Omer Simeon), this version has Pee Wee Erwin effortlessly gliding through the complicated melody, taking a hot solo, and matching wits with the virtuosic Hyman who purposely sounds here like Morton. To use a cliché, this little-known performance, which is one of the highpoints of Pee Wee Erwin’s career, is worth the price of the album alone.

Pee Wee In Hollywood
Qualtro Music QM-102

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings. Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.