Wayne Shorter
Country: USA
Wayne Shorter is the legendary American tenor and soprano saxophonist, composer and bandleader.
He is 10-time Grammy Award winner, including the award for outstanding contribution to the music development, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award 2015. He is one of the most influential and significant jazz tenors in the history. He is the author impressive solo discography and participant of the bands which changed the course of the musical history. According to many critics, he is the greatest living jazz musicians. He is the board member of the International Committee of Artists for Peace (ICAP).
Wayne Shorter was born on August 22, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey. He became interested in music when he was a teenager. He quickly switched from clarinet to tenor saxophone, which became his main instrument. Aside from collaboration with pianist Horace Silver, as well as trumpeter and band leader Maynard Ferguson, the first professional job for Wayne Shorter became the participation in the "forge of jazz staff», The Jazz Messengers of the famous drummer Art Blakey. In this band, Shorter has secured the reputation as one of the most progressive and exciting tenor saxophonist, has established itself as a great composer and demonstrated his organizational skills, because, among other things, and was a music director of The Jazz Messengers.
It was during that period that Miles Davis heard about him. By that time he was already one of the most influential jazz musicians in the world. The business of Shorter did not allow him to become a participant of Davis’ quintet in the early 60-s’ of the last century, but when it happened in 1964, one of the most influential small compositions of the decade was born, the importance and influence of which can be compared only with John Coltrane’s quartet. The so-called "second classic quintet of Miles Davis", in which the pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams also played, determined the direction in which the acoustic jazz will move for the decades to come. Moreover, the effect of this composition is significant even today. In addition to successful participation in the Miles Davis’ Quintet, Wayne Shorter simultaneously developed a non-less successful solo career. His albums recorded in different compositions on the cult label Blue Note are a real classic of post-bop. These records reflect all the progressive tendencies in the development of jazz music in those years (i.e., the album «Speak No Evil», «JuJu» and many others).
Unlike most jazz musicians, the 1970s and the era of fusion music did not caught Wayne Shorter off guard. In 1971, along with the keyboardist Joe Zawinul, Shorter created the famous Weather Report band, undoubtedly, one of the best fusion bands in the history of the genre. Its albums have defined an era not less than Blue Note discs of Shorter and Davis Quintet records at Columbia in the 1960s.
Wayne Shorter did not abandon in the solo career, playing very different music. For example, an album of 1974, «Native Dancer», was Brazilian-oriented. In the 1990s, a new impetus to the career of the legendary musician was given by a contract with Verve Music. It was on this label in 2003 that the album «Alegría» was released, at which the modern composition of the Shorter Quartet can be heard. The partners of the famous saxophonist here are pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade. On the account of this quartet there are many concerts around the world and two "live" albums of thw stunning improvisational music. Interestingly, the last of them, "Without a Net"(2013), marked the return of the saxophonist to the label of his youth, Blue Note. Wayne Shorter Quartet, in the opinion of many leading jazz critics, is the best modern acoustic jazz group. And this quartet will become one of the headliners of the 5th Alpha Jazz International Festival. Wayne Shorter will arrive in Ukraine for the first time.
