Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter August 25 1933 March 2 2023 was an American jazz saxophonist composer and bandleader Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers for whom he eventually became the primary composer In 1964 he joined Miles Davis Second Great Quintet and then cofounded the jazz fusion band Weather Report in 1970 He recorded more than 20 albums as a bandleader Many Shorter compositions have become jazz standards His music earned worldwide recognition critical praise universal commendation and 12 Grammy Awards He was acclaimed for his mastery of the soprano saxophone since switching his focus from the tenor in the late 1960s and began an extended reign in 1970 as DownBeats annual pollwinner on that instrument winning the critics poll for 10 consecutive years and the readers for 18 The New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff described Shorter in 2008 as probably jazzs greatest living smallgroup composer and a contender for greatest living improviser In 2017 he was awarded the Polar Music Prize Description above from the Wikipedia article Wayne Shorter licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia