The Saxophone Craze - Homage to Rudy Wiedoeft

Jonathan Radford saxophone 

Ashley Fripp piano

Champs Hill Records, album release date April 8th 2022

Winner of the 2018 ROSL Annual Music Competition Gold Medal, saxophonist Jonathan Radford returns to ROSL to celebrate the launch of his debut album The Saxophone Craze with pianist and 2011 Annual Music Competition Keyboard Winner Ashley Fripp. 

The conception of this album began during the Covid-19 pandemic when the world suddenly came to a standstill. An album exploring the music of the Roaring Twenties felt particularly timely, as we all yearned for a renaissance of this incredible period 100 years on.

A central figure of this programme is saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft – a hugely virtuosic and prolific musician known as ‘The Kreisler of the Saxophone’. He was responsible for the Saxophone Craze, a cultural phenomenon that would secure the future of the saxophone. The rise in popularity of the saxophone inspired many major composers of the period to write for this ‘new and novel’ instrument. Although his impact as a musician in the 1920s and 30s was astronomical, his music is sadly mostly forgotten.

Jonathan Radford and Ashley Fripp will perform works from the new album by Wiedoeft, Schulhoff and Weill to pay homage to an important icon from the Roaring Twenties, whilst celebrating the diverse nature of the saxophone across genres.

Free admission, but please register via Eventbrite below.