14 Facts About Rudy Wiedoeft

Rudolph Cornelius Wiedoeft was an American saxophonist whose compositions and solos on recordings helped popularize the instrument.

Rudy Wiedoeft relocated to New York City and, after a series of successful clarinet recordings with his Frisco Jass Band, switched to saxophone, then still an unusual instrument.

Rudy Wiedoeft became known as a virtuoso saxophonist during the 1910s, made more than 300 recordings for many different record companies, and did much to popularize the saxophone as an instrument in both the US and overseas.

Rudy Wiedoeft played and recorded sometimes using E-flat alto and B-flat soprano saxophones as well.

Rudy Wiedoeft's style was noted for very rapid runs of well-articulated notes in between long legato phrases in a ragtime influenced style.

Rudy Wiedoeft was known for his style of vibrato, which was very wide during the later years of his playing.

Rudy Wiedoeft employed several other 'sound effects,' such as slap tonguing and "laughing" through his horn, and alongside his very distinguishable vibrato, became a part of his musical repertoire.

Rudy Wiedoeft remained a very popular entertainer into the 1920s and performed regularly by radio, but his style started to sound more and more dated to the public as his career continued into the 1930s.

Rudy Wiedoeft worked for a while in Rudy Vallee's band, then for a while in France.

Rudy and his wife Mary Wiedoeft had a difficult relationship partially due to difficulties of maintaining their rather flamboyant lifestyle and alcohol abuse.

The couple reconciled and during the same year, Rudy Wiedoeft made his last radio performance.

Rudy Wiedoeft died in Flushing, New York, on February 18,1940, from cirrhosis of the liver.

However, it is doubtful Rudy Wiedoeft actually performed with such instruments.

Several of Rudy Wiedoeft's siblings became professional musicians, the most famous being West coast bandleader Herb Rudy Wiedoeft.