Many years ago, while listening to CDs in the music library of WIU, I came across a recording of a piece called Saxophobia. It was written by Rudy Weideoft, an American saxophonist from the turn of the century. As much as I wanted to play that piece, it's probably good that I didn't find music for it until later. While it isn't technically too difficult, stylistically, it's a bear. Like most of his other pieces.
Weidoeft, (pronounced weed-oft) was known for his virtuosic style, using double tongue, slap tongue, and his ability to make the saxophone "laugh" by pitch bending. When he started playing the saxophone, in the early 1900s, the saxophone was still a bit of a novelty instrument. His playing style isn't really jazz, but more along the ragtime/fox trot style. Which would place Weidoeft a more of a pre-jazz sax player. He did a lot to promote the saxophone as a legitimate instrument, at a time when it was still regarded with some disdain.
Some other of his hits include Sax-O-Phun, Sax-A-Doodle, Valse Vanite, and Saxema. His main horn was the C melody saxophone, which isn't seen much today, but was a popular choice at that time. The C melody is bigger than an alto, but smaller than a tenor, and its voice sits right between them. A bit too throaty for an alto, but lighter in quality than the heavier tenor saxophone.
Weidoeft had some personal troubles, with his wife stabbing him and nearly killing him in 1937, and problems with alcohol abuse. He died in 1940 from cirrhosis of the liver. But his music lives on, for better or for worse, as a novelty sound and an example of how far the saxophone has come.
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