American saxophonist Wayne Shorter dies – Forever Young

The North American press revealed that North American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who is considered to be “Jazz Jazz”, passed away today at the age of 89 in Los Angeles, California.

Citing the agent, The New York Times wrote that Wayne Shorter, “the enigmatic and daring saxophonist who shaped the contours of modern jazz,” died in a hospital, the cause of which was not revealed.

With a career spanning more than 50 years, Wayne Shorter has left an “incalculable impact” as a saxophonist and a legacy that marks the history of jazz, wrote The New York Times.

Wayne Shorter began playing at the age of 16, after watching a show in Newark, where he was born, that brought together names such as Lester Young, Stan Kenton, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Russell Jacket.

As a teenager, he founded The Jazz Informers and immersed himself in the jazz scene in both Newark and Manhattan, when he entered New York University, says the biography on the All About Jazz portal.

In the late 1950s, Wayne Shorter began playing with John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins and later joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, with whom he played until the mid-1960s.

In 1964, Miles Davis invited him to tour with Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, and Ron Carter in a historic quintet that lasted several years.

Besides the Jazz Messengers and the Miles Davis quintet, Wayne Shorter was also part of a project considered central to his career, the fusion group Weather Report, with keyboardist and composer Joe Zawinul.

The New York Times asserts that, along with the “cohort of fans” he conquered in jazz, Wayne Shorter “formed an affinity for popular music,” for his collaborations, for example, with Joni Mitchell and Carlos Santana.

The newspaper also states that Wayne Shorter recorded the album “Native Dancer” in 1974 with Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento, at the suggestion of the saxophonist’s second wife, Ana Maria Shorter, who lived her childhood in Angola, which was still under Portuguese colonial rule.

Among the various albums released, 12-time Grammy Award winner Wayne Shorter recorded the song “1 + 1” (1997) with pianist Herbie Hancock, with whom he shares musical and spiritual connections in Buddhism.

In terms of partnerships, Wayne Shorter also produced Portuguese singer Pilar Homem de Melo’s debut album, “Pilar”, in 1989.

Among the latest discography, the triple album “Emanon” (2018) is highlighted, which included a comic strip, a “sci-fi dystopia” co-written by the saxophonist with Monica Slay, designed by Randy Duburc.

Wayne Shorter has performed several times in Portugal, namely at the Coliseu de Lisboa in 1991, at Estoril Jazz in 2003, at Guimarães Jazz in 2006, at the Casa da Música, Porto, in 2009, and at the Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon) , in 2014.