American saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter died on Thursday at the age of 89. This has been informed by his agent to international news agencies and The New York Times. Shorter composed well-known jazz pieces and his sound determined the genre in the 1960s. The musician performed for almost sixty years at home and abroad, including several times in the Netherlands.
Shorter’s career took off at the age of 26 when jazz drummer Art Blakey asked him to join his band Jazz Messengers. Later, Shorter was one of the musicians in Miles Davis’ quintet for eight years. He wrote some well-known songs for the group, such as ‘ESP’ and ‘Nefertiti’. Davis called him the band’s “idea person,” “the originator of many of our musical ideas.” Alongside the great saxophonists John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, Shorter was a defining sound in the 1960s, one that sounded softer and more dreamy by comparison.
His health deteriorated in 2019, although his agent has not disclosed what caused the musician’s death. Shorter died in a Los Angeles hospital.