Wayne Shorter Biography

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Wayne Shorter
Biography

Wayne Shorter was born on August 25 1933, Newark, New Jersey. Shorter first played clarinet, taking up the tenor saxophone during his late teens. He studied music at New York University during the mid-50s before serving in the US army for two years. During his student days he had played with various bands, including that led by Horace Silver and on his discharge encountered John Coltrane, with whom he developed many theoretical views on music. He was also briefly with Maynard Ferguson.

In 1959 he became a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, remaining with the band until 1963. The following year he joined Miles Davis, staying with him until 1970. Late that year he teamed up with Joe Zawinul, whom he had first met in the Ferguson band, to form Weather Report. During his stints with Blakey and Davis, Shorter had written extensively and his compositions had also formed the basis of several increasingly experimental record sessions under his own name for Blue Note. He continued to write for the new band and also for further dates under his own name and with V.S.O.P., with whom he worked in the mid- and late 70s.

In the mid-80s he was leading his own band and also recording and touring with other musicians, thus reducing his activities with Weather Report.

As a player, Shorter developed through his period with Blakey into a leading proponent of hard bop. His fiery, tough-toned and dramatically angular playing was well suited to the aggressive nature of the Blakey band. During his time with Davis, another side to his musical personality emerged, in which a more tender approach greatly enhanced his playing. This side had made its appearance earlier, on Wayning Moments, but was given greater scope with Davis. On Davis' Bitches Brew, Shorter also played soprano saxophone: two weeks later he employed this instrument throughout on his own Super Nova, playing with exotic enthusiasm.

The years with Zawinul broadened his range still further, highlighting his appreciation of freer forms and giving rein to his delight in musical exotica. Although laying ground rules for many later fusion bands, Weather Report's distinction lay in the way the group allowed the two principals to retain their powerful musical personalities. Later Shorter's exploratory nature found greater scope in the bands he formed away from Weather Report.

As a composer, Shorter was responsible for some of the best work of the Blakey band of his era and also for many of Davis' stronger pieces of the late 60s. A major innovator and influence on hard boppers and fusionists alike, Shorter remains one of the most imaginative musicians in jazz, constantly seeking new horizons but - thanks to his broad musical knowledge - retaining identifiable links with the past.

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