Roswell Hopkins Rudd Jr. was born November 17, 1935, in Sharon, Connecticut, and attended Yale University, where he joined a boisterous trad-jazz band nicknamed Eli's Chosen Six. A onetime Dixieland trombonist, Rudd went on to become arguably the instrument's first major practitioner within the avant-garde jazz movement. After moving to New York City, he fell into the city's burgeoning free-jazz scene, eventually recording with bassist Buell Neidlinger, pianist Cecil Taylor, whose own career is covered in full in his JazzProfiles.com profile, saxophonist Steve Lacy, whose own career is covered in full in his JazzProfiles.com profile, drummer Dennis Charles, and saxophonist Archie Shepp.

In 1964 he joined saxophonist John Tchicai, bassist Lewis Worrell, and drummer Milford Graves to form the New York Art Quartet. Across a 60-year career, Rudd followed his musical curiosity wherever it led, moving through funk, blues, Latin music, straight-ahead jazz, and world music, including collaborations with Malian and Mongolian ensembles. His catalog includes the 1961 Candid album New York City R&B, recordings with Archie Shepp for Impulse! Records, and the 2013 box set Call It Art on Triple Point Records, documenting his early work with Steve Lacy.

Rudd died December 21, 2017, in Kerhonkson, New York, of prostate cancer, at age 82.

Rudd's move from Dixieland trombone into the New York free-jazz avant-garde made him one of the instrument's most consequential modernizers, and his subsequent decades of genre-crossing collaborations, spanning funk, world music, and Malian and Mongolian ensembles, marked him as one of jazz's most restlessly curious musical explorers.