Eddie Rector was a great show man much like Bill Robinson, if any one was going to put on a show and needed a head liner it was usually a choice between Rector and Robinson. Robinson was always the favourite due to his wider recognition than to his dancing ability. Rector once said he could do all of Robinson's steps and more.

There was one incident where Bill Robinson pulled out of a show and Rector took his place and was asked to reproduce Robinson's stair dance. Robinson is supposed to have been furious at this and sent a telegram saying DO MY STAIR DANCE AND DIE!. This made a long running feud between the two dancers, years later in a film, Robinson reproduced a routine Rector used to perform, where he Tap danced on drums as kind of pay back.

His style of dancing differed very much to Robinson's, Rector did more of the soft shoe steps and added body movement similar to that of Cab Callaway and to some extent Fred Astair, who was probably influenced by him to a certain extent. One of his great specialities was the "Waltz Clog", this was basically Tap Dancing to music set in ¾ time, and he is said to have performed it with great style and grace unequalled.

He was said to be the greatest soloist and was a major influence on some of the class acts that were born around that time and later years. Not only could he dance and sing but he was also an instrumentalist and could play the trumpet, this possibly gave him the ability and experience to also be an accomplished band leader.