Wayne Shorter Saxophone, composer Born August 25, 1933 in Newark, NJ
Photo courtesy of International Music Network

Information for Presenters

Available for:
Concert performance, artist-in-residence.

Bands and instrumentation:
Wayne Shorter Quartet (piano, bass, drums, saxophone).

Available as a soloist or to work with a local resident band or rhythm section?
No.

Availability:
Fall 2005; Spring 2006.

Contact information:
Scott Southard c/o David Lloyd
International Music Network
278 Main Street
Gloucester, MA 01930
978/283-2883
david@imnworld.com
scott@imnworld.com

Biography

Equally renowned for his compositions as for his saxophone playing, Wayne Shorter has contributed many songs to the jazz canon while participating in some of the major changes in jazz music over the last 35 years, and has received six Grammy Awards for his recordings .

Shorter's musical pursuits started on the clarinet, at age 16, evolving to the tenor saxophone soon thereafter. Shorter majored in music education at New York University from 1956-58, working for a short while with Horace Silver in 1956. After serving in the Army, he joined Maynard Ferguson's band for a couple of months in 1959, followed by one of his most fruitful jobs: playing with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He remained in the Messengers until 1964, establishing himself as both composer and saxophonist, and began making his own records, first for Vee Jay, then for the Blue Note label. His three releases for Blue Note in 1964, Night Dreamer, Juju, and Speak No Evil, are considered the quintessential Blue Note sound: sophisticated structures and rhythms, strong melodies, exceptional playing.

He left Blakey in 1964 to assume another productive affiliation with the Miles Davis Quintet, where he remained until 1970. While with Davis, he further solidified his position as one of the most intriguing composers of his time, contributing tunes such as "Nefertiti," "Fall," "ESP," "Paraphernalia," and "Sanctuary." He also developed his sound, a mixture of technique and emotion, able to find the appropriate mood in his playing to fit the song. During the latter stages of his Davis tenure, he took up the soprano saxophone, which thereafter often became his principle horn.

In 1971 he and pianist Joe Zawinul, who also had been part of Davis' recording sessions in the late-1960s to early- 1970s, formed one of the pioneering jazz fusion bands, Weather Report. The band stayed together for 15 years through several different permutations, engaging electronics and numerous ethnic influences and furthering Shorter's reputation as a composer. The band scored a major hit, "Birdland," in 1977 on their bestselling record, Heavy Weather.

After the breakup of Weather Report he made occasional recordings and tours, continuing to mine the influences he felt from other musical cultures and continuing to write intriguing music. He is a major influence on the generations of musicians who have entered the scene since the 1970s. In 2001, he began touring and releasing recordings with a new quartet comprising Danilo Perez on piano, John Patitucci on bass, and Brian Blade on drums. Shorter, who originally studied as a visual artist, continues to pursue the visual arts as well as music.

Mr. Shorter was named an NEA Jazz Master in 1998.

Selected Discography
Wayne Speak No Evil, Blue Note, 1964
Miles Davis, Miles Smiles, Columbia, 1966
Weather Report, Live in Tokyo, Columbia, 1972
Herbie Hancock/Wayne Shorter, 1+1, Verve, 1997
Alegría, Verve, 2003

Biography from NEA Jazz Masters (NEA, 2006). Copies can be ordered free of charge through our Publications section.

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