Wayne Shorter, influential jazz saxophonist. dead at 89

LOS ANGELES — Grammy Award-winner Wayne Shorter, an innovative jazz saxophonist and composer, died Thursday. He was 89.

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Shorter died at a Los Angeles hospital, his publicist, Alisse Kingsley, told The New York Times. No cause of death was given.

Shorter was nominated for 23 Grammy Awards beginning in 1973 and won 12 times, CNN reported. His most recent Grammy came in January for best improvised jazz solo performance for “Endangered Species,” according to the cable news network.

Shorter helped shape jazz over the past half-century. He was a member of the Miles Davis Quintet that broke new ground in jazz-rock fusion during the 1960s and co-founded Weather Report with pianist Joe Zawinul, The Washington Post reported.

Shorter also collaborated with singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, guitarist Carlos Santana and Steely Dan, the Times reported. Steely Dan’s 1977 song “Aja” included Shorter’s tenor sax solo.

Over the past 20 years, Shorter formed an acoustic quartet that included bassist John Patitucci, pianist Danilo Perez and drummer Brian Blade, the Post reported. The group showcased versions of Shorter compositions such as “Sanctuary,” “Footprints,” “Juju,” and “Chief Crazy Horse,” according to the newspaper.

Other hits included “Black Nile,” the Post reported.

Shorter was born in Newark, New Jersey, on Aug. 25, 1933, according to the Times.

Shorter began playing the clarinet when he was 16 but switched to tenor sax before entering New York University in 1952, CNN reported.

According to his biography on Bluenote.com, shorter graduated from NYU in 1956 and played with jazz pianist Horace Silver. Drafted into the Army, he served in the military for two years.

He worked brieftly with pianist Horace Silver in 1958, the Post reported.

“Wayne never struck me as an imitator,” fellow tenor sax player Sonny Rollins told author Michelle Mercer in “Footprints,” her 2004 biography. of the musician, according to the newspaper. “He liked Trane and maybe me a little, but Wayne was an innovative guy himself, and that would come out in the way he put things together.”

Shorter joined the second Miles Davis Quintet in 1964, the Times reported. He was a harmonious fit with pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and the drummer Tony Williams, according to the Post.

After joining Weather Report, the group reached its zenith with “Heavy Weather” in 1977, which included Zawinul’s song, “Birdland,” the Times reported.

Shorter toured with Santana in 1988 and contributed to the Rolling Stones’ 1997 album, “Bridges to Babylon,” CNN reported. In 1998 he was featured on Hancock’s “Gershwin World” album.

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