Pee Wee Erwin

An excellent trumpeter who spent most of his career on the fringe of fame, Pee Wee Erwin made many fine records during his career. He began playing trumpet when he was four. Stints with territory bands were followed by gigs with Joe Haymes (1931-1933) and Isham Jones (1933-1934). Erwin then moved to New York and became a busy studio musician, working often on radio, including with Benny Goodman during 1934-1935. After playing with Ray Noble in 1935, he succeeded Bunny Berigan in both the Benny Goodman (1936) and Tommy Dorsey (1937-1939) orchestras. Erwin put together an unsuccessful big band in 1941-1942 and tried again with little luck in 1946. He worked steadily playing Dixieland at Nick's during the 1950s, ran a trumpet school with Chris Griffin in the 1960s (Warren Vache was one of his students), and played steadily until the end of his life. Pee Wee Erwin led sessions on an occasional basis in the 1950s (including a couple for United Artists) and made six albums during 1980-1981, including three for Qualtro and one for Jazzology, still sounding quite good that late in his career.