Saxophone legend Wayne Shorter dies at 89

Shorter was considered one of the most influential musicians in jazz history. Over the course of his long career he has played with the likes of Miles Davis, Art Blakey and Herbie Hancock, as well as in the jazz fusion formation Weather Report (“Birdland”).

Shorter was born on August 25, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey. He first played the clarinet and then the saxophone. After studying music at New York University, he spent two years in the US Army, where he played with the well-known jazz pianist Horace Silver. Shorter later joined jazz drummer Art Blakey’s hard bop band Jazz Messengers before becoming part of trumpeter Miles Davis’ famous second quintet in 1964. There he was also active as a composer and created jazz classics such as “ESP” and “Footprints”.

In 1970 Shorter was one of the co-founders of Weather Report, together with keyboarder Joe Zawinul from Vienna, a style-defining band for their time. The group’s biggest hits include “Birdland” and “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.”