Wayne Shorter Cause Of Death: Wayne Shorter, a significant jazz innovator whose innovative saxophone performance and lyrical, refined jazz compositions influenced over fifty years of American music, has died. He was 89.
Shorter died away surrounded by his family on Thursday in Los Angeles, according to Alisse Kingsley, the Grammy-winning artist’s agent. The cause of death was not revealed.
“Wayne Shorter, a visionary composer, saxophone, visual artist, ardent Buddhist, loving husband, father, and grandpa, has left the earth as we know it in search of a wealth of fresh challenges and creative opportunities, according to a statement from Kingsley. It described him as having a kind spirit and being “always curious and continuously exploring.”
Shorter, a tenor saxophonist, made his professional début in 1959 and later became a founding member of two of the most influential jazz ensembles, the Miles Davis Quintet and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Shorter collaborated with a diversity of artists over the next eight decades, including Joni Mitchell, Carlos Santana, Steely Dan, and Weather Report, with whom he co-founded the 1970s fusion band Weather Report.
The complex and elliptical compositions of Shorter, such as “Speak No Evil,” “Black Nile,” “Footprints,” and “Nefertiti,” broadened the harmonic frontiers of jazz throughout some of its most rapidly developing periods.
In Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet, Herbie Hancock famously remarked of Shorter: “The master writer to me in that group was Wayne Shorter. Still a master, he is. One of the few that brought Miles music that wasn’t altered was Wayne.
MC Oluomo Death News: Is Musiliu Akinsanya Dead Or Alive?
Hancock commended Shorter for his musical prowess and for making a unique impact on his life.
Hancock stated in a statement, “Wayne Shorter, my dearest friend, left us with courage in his heart, love and compassion for everybody, and a yearning spirit for the eternal future. He was prepared to be born again. He was able to achieve the highest level of excellence as a saxophone, composer, orchestrator, and most recently, composer of the magnificent opera “…Iphigenia,” making him irreplaceable, as it is with every human being. I mourn him and his distinct Wayne-isms, but I will always keep his spirit in my heart.
Shorter has led his ensemble to the release of over 25 albums and the receipt of 12 Grammy Awards. In 2015, he received a Grammy for lifetime achievement. He and Leo Genovese won a Grammy for “Endangered Species” in the category of best improvised jazz solo last month.
Shorter’s works have been performed by the Chicago, Detroit, and Lyon symphonies, as well as the National Polish Radio Symphonic and Orpheus Chamber orchestras.
Shorter has composed more than 200 compositions throughout his career, and the Kennedy Center honoured him in 2018.
“Maestro Wayne Shorter was our hero, guru, and wonderful friend,’ said Don Was, CEO of Blue Note Records, the company where he recorded a number of recordings. “His music had a spirit that came from far, far beyond and changed the world for the better. Everyone who knew him benefited from his kindness and wisdom. Thankfully, the art he produced will always be available to us. Our thoughts are with Carolina and everyone who loved him”.