Wayne Shorter

On Tour

543,064 plays (88,818 listeners)

jazz, saxophone, fusion, hard bop, bebop… see all

Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz composer and saxophonist. Shorter has recorded dozens of albums as a leader, and appeared on dozens more with others. Many of his compositions have become standards.

Shorter was born in Newark, New Jersey, and attended Newark Arts High School. He was encouraged by his father to take up the saxophone as a teenager (his brother Alan became a trumpeter). After graduating from New York University in 1956 Shorter spent two years in the US Army, during which time he played briefly with Horace Silver, and after his discharge from the army with Maynard Ferguson.

In 1959 Shorter joined Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. He stayed with Blakey for five years, and eventually became musical director for the group. In 1964, Miles Davis persuaded Shorter to leave Blakey and join the Miles Davis Quintet alongside Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. Davis had been searching for a saxophonist to replace John Coltrane for some time, and the new quintet is considered by many to have been Davis’s strongest working group. Shorter composed extensively for Davis (“Prince of Darkness”, “ESP”, “Footprints”, “Sanctuary”, and many others; on some albums he provided half of the compositions).

Herbie Hancock had this to say of Shorter’s tenure in the group: “The master writer to me, in that group, was Wayne Shorter. He still is a master. Wayne was one of the few people who brought music to Miles that didn’t get changed.” Davis said: “Wayne is a real composer. He writes scores, write the parts for everybody just as he wants them to sound. He also brought in a kind of curiosity about working with musical rules.

1	Witch Hunt	384
2	Infant Eyes full track	270
3	Dance Cadaverous	259
4	Speak No Evil full track	243
5	Wild Flower	211
6	Footprints full track	207
7	Adam's Apple full track	119
8	Mahjong	108
9	Black Nile	106
10	Yes or No	102
11	Juju full track	98
12	Twelve More Bars to Go	84
13	502 Blues (Drinkin' and Drivin') full track	83
14	Night Dreamer	82
15	Virgo full track	80

Top Albums

Classic
Wayne Shorter
Buy
- Amazon
- eBay
Download
Speak No Evil
Wayne Shorter
Buy
- Amazon
- eBay
Download
Juju
Wayne Shorter
Buy
- Amazon
- eBay
Download
Night Dreamer
Wayne Shorter
Buy
- Amazon
- eBay
Download

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).

PaGoO wrote:
Wednesday morning

Un des plus grand!

View Profile | Leave PaGoO a shout
Parisblues wrote:
June 2008

"ponte de areia" in -this is jazz #19-alb * L *

View Profile | Leave Parisblues a shout
Parisblues wrote:
June 2008

"ponte de areia" - Love *

View Profile | Leave Parisblues a shout
Konkapa wrote:
June 2008

http://www.last.fm/group/Dual+Mr.+Anthony+Tillmon+Williams+Process

View Profile | Leave Konkapa a shout
Chilou wrote:
June 2008

did anyone notice how juju bears a strong ressemblance to summertime by Coltrane ??

View Profile | Leave Chilou a shout
silesianstork wrote:
April 2008

juju <3

View Profile | Leave silesianstork a shout
bluesbomb wrote:
April 2008

Great

View Profile | Leave bluesbomb a shout
Justin1983 wrote:
April 2008

One of the best jazz composers ever.

View Profile | Leave Justin1983 a shout
intrix wrote:
February 2008

http://www.last.fm/group/Wayne+Shorter

View Profile | Leave intrix a shout
dthemanx wrote:
December 2007

maybe the best composer among great saaxophonists

View Profile | Leave dthemanx a shout
kandylongs wrote:
November 2007

thats great !

View Profile | Leave kandylongs a shout
toshlines wrote:
October 2007

one of the greatest ever to do it

View Profile | Leave toshlines a shout
Jojobi wrote:
September 2007

anders-banders, indeed.

View Profile | Leave Jojobi a shout
Rcooke wrote:
August 2007

happy birthday!

View Profile | Leave Rcooke a shout
paulkward wrote:
July 2007

Love Wayne. A true master. Great tone, great ideas, as fresh today as ever.

View Profile | Leave paulkward a shout
rakshasa07 wrote:
July 2007

cool stuff

View Profile | Leave rakshasa07 a shout
anders-banders wrote:
July 2007

beyond the sound barrier = GREAT

View Profile | Leave anders-banders a shout
PaGoO wrote:
April 2007

Shorter is amazing!

View Profile | Leave PaGoO a shout
8thlight wrote:
March 2007

http://www.last.fm/group/The+Juice+Box+Crew

View Profile | Leave 8thlight a shout
BlindWilliam wrote:
January 2007

The perfesser, the confesser, makes more from lesser. Deepsoulsound.

View Profile | Leave BlindWilliam a shout

12 Next

Listeners

nancy_2
Listening now
to 502 Blues (Drinkin' and…
Adagio777
Listening now
to Witch Hunt
hgascon
Top Listener
chakrassan
Top Listener
shigeyuki_hirai
Top Listener
koolpaw
Top Listener

Events

Sep 27 Wayne Shorter Hill Auditorium, Detroit, United States
Add shout | 2 attendees
Dec 10 Wayne Shorter Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, United States
Add shout | 3 attendees

Add event | See more

Recent Activity

alvinz, andrew_ryan6, Christoph2310 and 27 other people added Wayne Shorter to their libraries. Friday afternoon
Furngully tagged Wayne Shorter with ‘jazz’. Wednesday evening
odelrio, m1n1m4x, thallestadeu and 5 other people added Wayne Shorter to their libraries. Wednesday evening
PaGoO created the French wiki page for Wayne Shorter. Wednesday morning
felon182, bdub79, lucascbrandao and 10 other people added Wayne Shorter to their libraries. Wednesday morning
figbatera tagged Wayne Shorter with ‘jazz’. last month
oo0Thomas0oo, orgel_d, nelsoned and 9 other people added Wayne Shorter to their libraries. last month
MrPatless tagged Wayne Shorter with ‘sax jazz’. last month
mcrainerwohnzim, crueltobekind7, SoundandFury5 and 1 other person added Wayne Shorter to their libraries. last month
xbountyhunterx tagged Wayne Shorter with ‘jazz’. last month