RUDY WIEDOEFT
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During
the period from 1900 to 1930 in America, there was a saxophone craze which
made the electric guitar phenomenon of the 1960's look like nothing in comparison.
The one person who best personifies this period is perhaps the biggest musical
star of the 1920's, Rudy Wiedoeft. The fact that Wiedoeft is almost forgotten
now takes nothing away from his essential role in establishing the saxophone
in the public mind. It has often been put forward that the popularity of the
Saxophone was a direct result of its use in Jazz music at the beginning of
the 20th century. When one examines the historical evidence, the opposite
appears to be true : the great popularity of the saxophone in the early 20th
century lead to its role in Jazz and other popular music. When one looks at
the facts, it seems quite evident that everything that happened after Wiedoeft
would have been much more difficult if he had not lived. In establishing Wiedoeft
as a figure of popular culture, one forgets that it was Wiedoeft who organized
the first concert in America devoted entirely to the classical saxophone in
the Aeolian hall in New York on April 17, 1926. The concert, which was also
broadcast to a million people on the radio featured classical transcriptions
by Bach and Tchaikovsky as well as original works composed for the occasion.
It is not entirely fair to dismiss Wiedoeft's musical career as that of a
vaudeville artist. Rudy Wiedoeft (1893-1940) was born in Detroit Michigan
to a large family of musicians, with whom he began his musical studies, playing
in the family orchestra which toured as a professional ensemble. He began
as a violinist, but had to switch to the clarinet after an injury to his bowing
arm. In 1908 Rudy decided he would make something of the saxophone in a green
sack he had noticed in a pawnbroker's shop. "I thought
there might be big money in the novelty. This revolutionary move on my part
was not greeted with favour by friends, relations and colleagues."
His initial attempts were, as with most of us, quite dismal. His mother insisted
on him practicing in the wood-shed! But, after giving up and selling the instrument,
he saved up and bought the best instrument money could buy at the time ($130)
and renewed his studies fervently with oboe methods and pieces - there were
very few specialist tutors published at the time. Born in Detroit on 3rd January
1893, Rudy was the youngest of four brothers - Herb (trumpet), Gerhardt "Guy"(tuba/double
bass),Adolph"Al"(trombone/drums) and when they moved to Los Angeles in 1903
The Wiedoeft Family Orchestra was formed with their father on violin, sister
on piano and the flaxen haired, serious-looking ten-year-old Rudy on clarinet.
They were moderately successful and appeared regularly at several local hotels
and cafes including the Imperial and the Biltmore. As the work was far from
lucrative Rudy toyed with other vocations for a while until he moved to San
Francisco where, by 1913, he had become first-chair clarinettist with Porter's
Catalina Island Band. The change-over to saxophone in the following year was
well-timed for Rudy and, after leaving for New York in 1916, he cut his first
solo disc, "Valse Erica". Appearing in the orchestra pit of the Morosco Theatre,
New York, for the show "Canary Cottage" in 1917, one critic wrote:
"Rudy's obbligatos ... were so thrilling that he
took more bows from the pit than the singer from the stage. His staccato was
so fast and smooth that it required close attention to ascertain whether he
was slurring or tonguing fast passages." In 1918 he was in the
pit orchestra of the musical "Canary Cottage" in New York where his playing
was very favorably recieved by both the public and the critics. At this time,
he began the long series of recordings with the Edison company which lead
to his world-wide fame. One of these recordings, Sax-o-phobia, written in
1918, became the largest selling solo in the history of the Saxophone. Most
of these recordings were composed of novelty solos which Wiedoeft wrote for
himself in the post-ragtime " Tin-Pan Alley " style of the 1920's (thus named
for the sound of all of the badly tuned pianos one heard on this street !).
These works, which were designed to display Wiedoeft's beautiful singing tone,
incredible technical brillance and strong musical sense, also frequently use
effects such as slap-tonguing, " Laughing " and chock tones, which Wiedoeft
uses to underline the humorous elements of the saxophone. These elements have
often be derided as evidence of Wiedoeft's lack of musicianship, probably
because of a certain attitude among classical saxophonists to gain " respectability
" for their instrument. A closer look will reveal that Wiedoeft's compositions,
in spite of formal convention, are extremely well concieved for the saxophone
and full of surprising harmonic freshness. The effects seen in this light
are simply embellishments which do not take away from the inherent compositional
strength. In my mind, such things as the reference to Mendelssohn in the coda
of " Sax-o-doodle " would seem to indicate an extremely knowledgeable musician
who was perhaps poking fun at the vocabulary of his own musical idiom. Wiedoeft
obviously had a strong sense of humour. Perhaps it might be more interesting
to look at these works not in the first degree, but as elaborate musical puns
? During his short life, Rudy Wiedoeft recorded over 300 record sides for
all the major labels - many being his own compositions - and influenced generations
of saxophonists after him. Famed pianist Oscar Levant once descibed Rudy as
"...the world's greatest saxophonist.."
! Apart from writing and arranging his own solos, he joined forces on several
occasions to write songs with Al Bernard, the eminent comedian/blues singer
who sometimes appeared with the Fenton band. 
The
Californians' work load was so hectic and its output so prolific that Rudy
found no time left to promote his own solo career, so, after only a year,
he handed over the leadership to his brother, Herb. By
all accounts Rudy had a natural flair for showmanship and enjoyed the wealth
and fame bestowed on him over a very short period of time. He became very
busy commuting between recording studios; and appeared on the stage, where
he often wore a cowboy outfit, jigged in time to his saxophone playing and
filled the halls to capacity, with his audiences sometimes dancing in the
aisles! In 1926 Rudy embarked on a tour to Europe with his famous accompanist
Oscar Levant.They debuted in London cabaret on 28th June at the New Princes'
Restaurant, Piccadilly, and a month later recorded at the British Columbia
studios, which had been equipped with new electrical equipment the previous
year. He seems to have enjoyed the tour, writing several articles in "The
Melody Maker" magazine praising the British musicians he had met and heard:
they, of course, were all enamoured of his talent and friendly disposition.
He went on to appear in Paris and was heard by the instrument maker Henri
Selmer, who said: "I have never heard a saxophonist
to equal Wiedoeft, and I doubt if there will be any to excel him, his staccato
is so rapid, his execution so brilliant." His fame came about,
albeit inadvertently, through his formidable rendering of the comic sounding
technical tricks that he had developed - slap-tonguing, flutter-tonguing,
Always close to the Selmer Company, his association with that firm became
exceptionally close after his European tour of 1926, where he was invited
by the Selmer's to spend a weekend in the Swiss Alps. Wiedoeft and his wife
enjoyed the affluent lifestyle which his sucess allowed them to pursue. It
was this affluent lifestyle and especially his prominent hipflask which was
to lead to his early death.
On
12th May 1928 Rudy's brother, Herb, met with a fatal motor-car accident, and
when the tragic news reached Rudy it must have been an ominous sign.This seems
to mark the beginning of the end of the life to which he had become accustomed.
Herb Wiedoeft's Orchestra, which had started life as Rudy Wiedoeft's Californians
and then The Cinderella Roof Orchestra in Los Angeles, carried on under the
direction of the trombonist Jesse Stafford until the mid `30s, but it is not
known if Rudy returned to play with them. One can only guess that he waited
for a new opportunity in his solo career, which unfortunately never came.
Apparently, he declined sessions in the 10 recording and radio studios as
a side-man, where most musicians were making a lucrative business, knowing
fully well that he would not be suited to that environment. After the Stock
Market crash of 1929 made his happy-go-lucky style seem rather inappropriate
to the hard times of the Depression in America, he moved to Paris for a year
where he toured the European capitals where his music was still highly appreciated
by the public. Following his time in Europe, Wiedoeft decided to invest what
money that he had left from his great success in the 1920's in a Gold Mine
in Death Valley, California. While the idea was indeed romantic (and completely
in charactor for Wiedoeft who loved to dress as a cowboy, complete with ten
gallon hat and boots), the mine proved to be empty and Wiedoeft had to let
his men go and continue working alone. Even after moving back East, he continued
to return to continue his search for gold. As his fortune disappeared, his
relationship with his wife, Mary Murphy Wiedoeft, also suffered. This relationship,
which had always been rocky, came to what appeared to be a violent end on
March 24, 1937 when Mrs. Wiedoeft stabbed her husband with a butcher knife
in a domestic dispute about money. Wiedoeft recovered, however and the couple
were reconciled. Wiedoeft, except for one brief appearance on the Phil Spitalney
Radio Show, never performed in public again. One of his pupils and close friend,
Hubert Prior Vallee, renamed himself Rudy in homage to his great idol as he
himself rose to fame as a band leader and actor, R. W's last years of decline
were spasmodically spent sheltering under his pupil's roof. By the time he
was 46 he had contracted cirrhosis of the liver, from which he died on 18th
February 1940 at his home in Flushing, New York.. Nothing is known of the
history of his widow, Mae. Rudy Wiedoeft's legacy to the musical world was
not just a collection of compelling compositions and recordings, but the distinction
of having introduced the saxophone as a serious voice in a truely innovative
way and gaining for it a tremendous following. He actually laid down the foundations
of jazz saxophone technique, without getting personally involved with the
idiom. It is said that neither his records nor the way his music was printed
reflected the exciting and spontaneous aspect of his live performances and
sometimes bore no resemblance to them at all! He had many followers and imitators
throughout the world, but none approached both his virtuosity and highly imaginative
style. Those musicians who were influenced by his example included such names
as FrankieTrumbauer, Jimmy Dorsey, Lester Young, Charlie Parker and Freddy
Gardner - all of whom went on to develop their own styles and reputations.
Even non-saxophone playing musicians were inspired, amongst whom was the great
English bassoonist Gwyddion Brooke, whose recitals have often included "Valse
Vanite° as a favorite encore.