Key takeaways:
- Member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis Quintet
- Co-founded ’70s fusion band Weather Report
- 11 Grammy Awards, NEA Jazz Master Award, Polar Music Prize, Kennedy Center Honors recipient
AP LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wayne Shorter, an influential jazz innovator who was a foundational member of two of the most seminal jazz groups, has died.
Shorter, a tenor saxophonist, made his debut in 1959 and was a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and the Miles Davis Quintet. Over the next eight decades, Shorter’s wide-spanning collaborations included co-founding the ’70s fusion band Weather Report, some 10 album appearances with Joni Mitchell and further explorations with Carlos Santana and Steely Dan.
Shorter released more than 25 albums, won 11 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 2012. He was also awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award in 1997 and the Polar Music Prize in 2017.
Jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter performed at the 5 Continents Jazz Festival in Marseille, southern France on July 23, 2013. He was also a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 2014.
Shorter died Thursday in Los Angeles, a representative for the musician said. He was 85.
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