Wiff Rudd, featured soloist

Wiff is a San Antonio, Texas native. He received Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music from Baylor University and the University of Northern Colorado, respectively. For seven years, Wiff served as Assistant Professor of Music at Oklahoma Baptist University. During this time, he was also an active freelance performer and a member of the Oklahoma Symphony, Lyric Theater Orchestra, and the Oklahoma City Jazz Orchestra. He toured with the Dallas Brass for eight years and is a founding member and booking manager of Rhythm & Brass.

Wiff's history with ASB dates back to the band's 1989 Midwest performance in Chicago. At that time, Wiff was a member of the Dallas Brass. Since then, Wiff has performed in Austin with the band, first as a member of the Dallas Brass, and in 1995 as a member of Rhythm and Brass, a professional brass quintet with percussion and piano that runs the gamut from classical to jazz, pop and rock. R&B performed last summer at the University of Texas band camp for high school students. They maintain an active worldwise touring schedule, and we highly recommend their live concerts and CDs!

Wiff was to have been our featured artist in 1994, but a close encounter between his horn, a door opened suddenly by a student, and his jaw kept him from performing at that concert (ironically, a Sousa concert). We hope that Rhythm and Brass' tour of Saudi Arabia immediately preceding his appearance in Austin will not put Wiff's chops or his ensemble in similar straits!