American saxophonist Wayne Shorter has died Thursday at a Los Angeles hospital. The composer was also 89 years old, and goes down in musical history for being an excellent musician who knew how to cross stylistic borders and end up twinning jazz with bop or fusion.
Born on August 25, 1933 in Newark (New Jersey), his name and his extraordinary quality as a musician began to stand out when he became a member at the end of the fifties of the last century, and later also the main composer, of the mythical Jazz Messengers by drummer Art Blakey. They were, among other merits, the parents of what ended up becoming a style like hard bop.
His dimension on the jazz scene gained a definitive boost when Miles Davis took him with him as a member of his second magnificent Quintet, which was characterized above all by its plunge into electric sounds.
His fame received wider support when he co-founded the Weather Report band in 1970, a benchmark for jazz without borders and close to a wide following. Along with these experiences, the saxophonist had already developed a parallel solo career since 1959, with peaks like the one he starred in in 1964 when he published the albums Speak no evil, Night dreamer and JuJu.
A solo career, which from very early on was characterized by its increasingly free and atonal sound, perfectly consistent with the wide range of collaborations he has offered throughout his long career.
Among these, the one he established with the Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell stands out first, to the point of appearing on a dozen of her albums (beginning with Don Juan’s reckless daughter, dated 1977). And he didn’t disdain to delve into rock and pop-rock either, with joint ventures with Steely Dan, guitarist Carlos Santana or Don Henley of the Eagles. In this regard, also mention his participation in the album Bridges to Babylon that the Rolling Stones released in 1997.
However, it is obligatory to remember his participation in that second quintet of the trumpeter Miles Davis. Its lineup was a true dream team, with Herbie Hancock on keyboards, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums. And not only that, but the non-hierarchical philosophy of the band and the free flow of ideas helped make masterpieces flow, such as Filles de Kilimanjaro, Sorcerer, Miles Smiles or Nefertiti and ESP, where he contributed his pieces.
It was after this substantial experience with Davis that Shorter dove headfirst into the Weather Report project. Co-led by keyboardist Joe Zawinul, throughout the 16 years of the group’s life other huge musicians have passed through it, such as bassists Miroslav Vitous or the incredible Jaco Pastorius.
The main musical contribution of this formation was its formidable ability to combine jazz with funk and r’n’b, giving rise to a very attractive sound where the more melodic tone of Shorter’s sax had significant weight. The result was the indisputable success of the proposal, to the point that his Heavy Weather album entered the US Top 30.
After an also very intense collaboration with his keyboardist Herbie Hancock, his partner on his Milesdavisian journey, his schedule was never well nourished. He either resumed that collaboration with Santana in 1988 to later form the supergroup Mega Nova, or participated in a private party for President Barack Obama’s 50th birthday. Or years later with musicians from younger generations like Terri Lyne Carrington or Brad Mehldau.
In 2000, the long-awaited musician formed his first stable acoustic group, which was completed by pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade. It was a fruitful proposal as can be seen in the four albums they released, all of them recorded live. He formally retired from the live scene due to health problems, but at the end of his eighties he composed the opera Iphigenia, with a libretto by the American bassist Esperanza Spalding. He was the holder of a dozen Grammy Awards, including one for his entire career.
At the other end of his existence, a couple of painful milestones in his life: the death in 1985 of a daughter he had with his second wife Ana María Patricio, and her death in a plane that exploded when taking off from New York. in 1996.
In short, the Barcelona fan of jazz and good and heartfelt music in general will surely miss him a lot, since his visits and performances in the city were numerous and always comforting.