Herb Wiedoeft

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Herb Wiedoeft
Herb Wiedoeft Band
Herb Wiedoeft Band
Background information
Born22 November 1886
Germany
Died12 May 1928(1928-05-12) (aged 41)
Medford, Oregon, United States
GenresBig band

Herbert Arthur Wiedoeft (22 November 1886 – 12 May 1928) was a German-American band leader in California in the 1920s.

Career

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Wiedoeft was born in Germany and came to the United States with his parents as a child.[1] Wiedoeft came from a family of gifted musicians and was encouraged by his father. His brothers Gerhardt and Adolph (nicknamed "Gay" and "Ad" respectively) played as sidemen in his band, Gerhardt on string bass and Adolph on percussion and xylophone. Another brother, Rudy Wiedoeft was a saxophone player during the late ragtime and early jazz era.[2][3] Their sister, Erica, was a pianist.[4][5] Herbert himself played the trumpet.[6]

Wiedoeft started his first orchestra before 1915.[1] His band played for several years at the Cinderella Roof Ballroom at Sixth and Olive in downtown Los Angeles. The band's theme song "Cinderella Blues" came from the name of this venue.[3] The band recorded four songs for the Nordskog label in 1922.[7] The band gained a recording contract with Brunswick Records, toured in Chicago and New York and earned a national reputation. Their first record for Brunswick was "Cinderella Blues"/ "Shine",[3][8] the latter being the first recording of the song that had Lew Brown's revised lyrics.[8] Clyde Lucas, who went on to form his own popular band in the 1930s and 1940s, started out as a singer and trombonist in the Herb Wiedoeft orchestra.[9]

Wiedoeft died in a car accident in Medford, Oregon, on 12 May 1928, when his car skidded off the Medford-Klamath Falls highway.[2] The trombonist Jesse Stafford took over the band, and released another 13 sides on Brunswick records under the name of the Jesse Stafford Orchestra.[2][10]

Discography

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A partial list of Brunswick recordings:[10]

Title Composers Recording Serial
Date Location
Beale Street Blues W.C. Handy 5-20-1924 Los Angeles, California 2795-A
Beside A Sunny Stream Moret / Black 5-1925 Los Angeles, California 2893-A
Cinderella Blues Norman Spencer / Herb Wiedoeft 8-14-1923 San Francisco, California 2542-A
Chimes Blues Gene Rose / Johnson / Jesse Stafford 5-11-1924 Los Angeles, California 2647-B
Clementine Brown 10-21-1924 Los Angeles, California 2730-B
Deep Elm Willard Robison / Clay 10-14-1925 Chicago, Illinois 2982-B
Everything Is Hotsy Totsy Now (Vocal chorus by Clyde Lucas) Jimmy McHugh / Irving Mills 5-1925 Los Angeles, California 2916-A
From Day To Day Thompson / Wiedoeft / Rose 10-21-1924 Los Angeles, California 2730-A
Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine 5-7-1924 Los Angeles, California 2660
Hard Hearted Hannah Yellen / Bigelow / Bates 10-21-1924 St. Louis, Missouri 2751-B
He's Just A Horn-Tootin' Fool Lou Davis / Henry Busse / Ross Gorman 5-1925 Los Angeles, California 2916-B
Hoodoo Man Brown 8-8-1924 Los Angeles, California 2627-A
Hot Stuff Jackson / Herb Wiedoeft / Gene Rose / Jesse Stafford 10-21-1924 St. Louis, Missouri 2781-B
If It Wasn't For You Berg / Fields / Herb Wiedoeft / Gene Rose 10-21-1924 Los Angeles, California 2781-A
I Want You All For Me Fisher / Miller / Cohen 10-14-1925 Los Angeles, California 2982-A
Maple Leaf Rag Scott Joplin 10-21-1924 St. Louis, Missouri 2795-B
Monte Carlo Moon 10-21-1924 St. Louis, Missouri 2751-A
Moonlight Memories Rose / Terriss 5-11-1924 Los Angeles, California 2647-A
Oh, Peter! You're So Nice Herb Wiedoeft / Gene Rose / Jesse Stafford 8-8-1924 Los Angeles, California 2627-B
Promenade Walk Grey / Goodman / Rubens / Coots 10-12-1925 Los Angeles, California 2976
Roamin' Around Herb Wiedoeft / Sonny Clay / Jesse Stafford 5-1925 Los Angeles, California 2893-B
Shine arranged by Herb Wiedoeft 8-14-1923 San Francisco, California 2542-B
Stack O'Lee Blues Ray Lopez / Lew Coswell 5-14-1924 Los Angeles, California 2660

Works

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  • Herbert Wiedoeft (1926). "The Development of Jazz". Metronome. 4 (73).

References

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  1. ^ a b "The Herb Wiedoeft/Jesse Stafford Orchestra 1922-1930". DialSpace. Archived from the original on 2011-06-22. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  2. ^ a b c Gracyk & Hoffmann 2000, pp. 380
  3. ^ a b c "Dismuke's Hit of the Week!". Dismuke. May 26, 2005. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  4. ^ Smith 1989, pp. 57
  5. ^ Pool 2008, pp. 32
  6. ^ "Herb Wiedoeft | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Herb Wiedoeft: BIOGRAPHY". Solid!. Archived from the original on 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  8. ^ a b Brooks & Spottswood 2004, pp. 397, 408
  9. ^ "Clyde Lucas and his California Dons". Big Bands Database Plus. Archived from the original on June 4, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
  10. ^ a b "Herb Wiedoeft's Cinderella Roof Orchestra". Red Hot Jazz. 6 December 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-06.

Bibliography for references

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Herb Wiedoeft's Cinderella Roof Orchestra at the Red Hot Jazz Archive

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