Biography by Richard S. Ginell
Wayne
Shorter was one of jazz's leading figures in the late 20th and early
21st centuries as both a composer and saxophonist. Though indebted to
John Coltrane, with whom he practiced in the mid-'50s, Shorter developed
his own voice and style on the tenor horn, retaining the tough tone
quality and intensity and, in later years, adding elements of funk. On
soprano, Shorter was almost another player entirely, his lovely tone
attuned more to lyrical thoughts, his choice of notes more spare. As a
composer, he wrote complex, long-limbed tunes, many of which are now
standards. On his '60s albums for Blue Note, most notably Juju and Night
Dreamer, the composer and the saxophone stylist meet. He co-founded
Weather Report in 1970 and through 1986 released Grammy-winning albums.
He issued jazz-funk recordings for Columbia and Verve in the late '80s
and early '90s, including Joy Ryder and High Life. On 2002's Footprints
Live!, and 2003's Alegria, Shorter showcased a new acoustic quartet
dedicated to performing his compositions. As he entered his eighties,
Shorter focused on impressively complex projects, including 2018's
Emanon, a graphic novel combined with four-part studio suite and 2021's
opera based on Greek myths titled Iphigenia.
Shorter started
playing the clarinet at 16 but switched to tenor sax before entering New
York University in 1952. After graduating with a BME in 1956, he played
with Horace Silver for a short time until he was drafted into the Army
for two years. Once out of the service, he joined Maynard Ferguson's
band, meeting Ferguson's pianist Joe Zawinul in the process. The
following year (1959), Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers,
where he remained until 1963, eventually becoming the band's music
director. During the Blakey period, Shorter also made his debut on
record as a leader, cutting several albums for Chicago's Vee-Jay label.
After a few prior attempts to hire him away from Blakey, Miles Davis
finally convinced Shorter to join his quintet in September 1964.
Staying
with Davis until 1970, Shorter became one of the band's most prolific
composer, contributing tunes like "E.S.P.," "Pinocchio," "Nefertiti,"
"Sanctuary," "Footprints," "Fall," and the signature description of
Davis, "Prince of Darkness." While playing through Davis' transition
from loose, post-bop acoustic jazz into electronic jazz-rock, Shorter
also took up the soprano in late 1968, an instrument that turned out to
be more suited to riding above the new electronic timbres than the
tenor. As a prolific solo artist for Blue Note during this period,
Shorter expanded his palette from hard bop almost into the atonal
avant-garde, with fascinating excursions into jazz-rock territory toward
the turn of the decade.
In November 1970, Shorter teamed up with
old cohort Joe Zawinul and Miroslav Vitous to form Weather Report
where, after a fierce start, Shorter's playing grew mellower and more
consciously melodic in order to fit into Zawinul's concepts. By now he
was playing mostly on soprano, though the tenor would re-emerge toward
the end of the group's run. Shorter's solo career was mostly put on hold
during the Weather Report days, though 1975's Native Dancer was an
attractive side trip into Brazilian-American tropicalismo made in tandem
with Milton Nascimento. Shorter also revisited the past in the late
'70s by touring with Freddie Hubbard and ex-Davis sidemen Herbie
Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams as V.S.O.P.
Shorter
finally left Weather Report in 1985. Still committed to electronics and
fusion, his recorded compositions from the period feature welcoming
rhythms and harmonically complex arrangements. After three Columbia
albums between 1986 and 1988 -- Atlantis, Phantom Navigator, and Joy
Ryder -- and a tour with Santana (represented by the 2005 album Montreux
1988), he lapsed into silence, emerging again in 1992 with Wallace
Roney and the V.S.O.P. rhythm section in the "A Tribute to Miles" band.
In 1994, now on Verve, Shorter released High Life, an engaging electric
collaboration with keyboardist Rachel Z.
He continued playing
concerts with a wide range of groups and appeared on a number of
recordings as a guest including the Rolling Stones' Bridges to Babylon
in 1997 and Herbie Hancock's Gershwin's World in 1998. In 2001, he was
back with Hancock for Future 2 Future and on Marcus Miller's M².
Footprints Live! was released in 2002 under his own name with a new band
that included pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer
Brian Blade, followed by Alegria in 2003 and Beyond the Sound Barrier
in 2005.
Though absent from recording, Shorter continued to tour
regularly with the same quartet after 2005. They re-emerged to record
again in February of 2013 with a live outing from their 2011 tour.
Without a Net, his first recording for Blue Note in 43 years, was issued
in February of 2013 as a precursor to his 80th birthday. Just after
that release, the Wayne Shorter Quartet performed four of the leader's
compositions with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New
York City. Shorter immediately brought the quartet and orchestra into
the studio to record those same four pieces: "Pegasus," "Prometheus
Unbound," "Lotus," and "The Three Marias," as a unified suite. The title
of this four-composition orchestral suite is also Shorter’s title
character for the graphic novel Emanon, or "no name" spelled backward.
Each of the four movements has a corresponding theme in a graphic novel
penned by Shorter and Monica Sly and illustrated by Randy DeBurke. It
draws inspiration from the concept of a multiverse (where numerous
universes co-exist simultaneously) and features a character named
Emanon, an action-hero proxy of Shorter, a comic book aficionado since
he was a boy. The story alludes to dystopian oppression and was clearly
informed by the saxophonist's Buddhist studies. All told, the music --
performed by the quartet with and without the chamber orchestra -- was
recorded live in London as well as in the studio, creating a triple
album accompanied by the 84-page graphic novel. Emanon was issued in
September of 2018, just after Shorter's 85th birthday. His next project
proved just as ambitious, writing an opera based around the myth of
Iphigenia, a Greek princess. Shorter co-created the work with librettist
esperanza spalding and set designer Frank Gehry. The work merged jazz
and classical themes and premiered in New York at the end of 2021. The
following year Candid released Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival.
Recorded at the 2017 event, it featured Shorter in a one-off quartet
setting that included drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, bassist/vocalist
esperanza spalding, and Argentine pianist Leo Genovese. It proved to be
the last music issued during his lifetime, as he passed away in March of
2023 at the age of 89.
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Biografía de Richard S. Ginell
Wayne
Shorter fue una de las figuras más destacadas del jazz de finales del
siglo XX y principios del XXI como compositor y saxofonista. Aunque
deudor de John Coltrane, con quien practicó a mediados de los años 50,
Shorter desarrolló su propia voz y estilo en la trompa tenor,
conservando la calidad e intensidad del tono duro y, en años
posteriores, añadiendo elementos de funk. En la soprano, Shorter era
casi otro intérprete, con un timbre encantador más acorde con los
pensamientos líricos y una elección de notas más sobria. Como
compositor, escribía melodías complejas y de largo aliento, muchas de
las cuales se han convertido en estándares. En sus álbumes de los años
60 para Blue Note, entre los que destacan Juju y Night Dreamer, el
compositor y el saxofonista se encuentran. Fue cofundador de Weather
Report en 1970 y hasta 1986 publicó álbumes ganadores del Grammy.
Publicó grabaciones de jazz-funk para Columbia y Verve a finales de los
80 y principios de los 90, entre ellas Joy Ryder y High Life. En
Footprints Live!, de 2002, y Alegria, de 2003, Shorter presentó un nuevo
cuarteto acústico dedicado a interpretar sus composiciones. Al entrar
en la década de los ochenta, Shorter se centró en proyectos
impresionantemente complejos, como Emanon, de 2018, una novela gráfica
combinada con una suite de estudio en cuatro partes, y la ópera de 2021
basada en los mitos griegos titulada Ifigenia.
Shorter empezó a
tocar el clarinete a los 16 años, pero cambió al saxo tenor antes de
ingresar en la Universidad de Nueva York en 1952. Tras licenciarse en
1956, tocó con Horace Silver durante un breve periodo hasta que fue
reclutado por el ejército durante dos años. Una vez fuera del servicio,
se unió a la banda de Maynard Ferguson, conociendo en el proceso al
pianista de Ferguson, Joe Zawinul. Al año siguiente (1959), Shorter se
unió a los Jazz Messengers de Art Blakey, donde permaneció hasta 1963,
llegando a convertirse en el director musical de la banda. Durante el
periodo de Blakey, Shorter también debutó en el mundo discográfico como
líder, grabando varios álbumes para el sello Vee-Jay de Chicago. Tras
varios intentos previos de contratarle lejos de Blakey, Miles Davis
convenció finalmente a Shorter para que se uniera a su quinteto en
septiembre de 1964.
Permaneciendo con Davis hasta 1970, Shorter
se convirtió en uno de los compositores más prolíficos de la banda,
contribuyendo con temas como "E.S.P.", "Pinocchio", "Nefertiti",
"Sanctuary", "Footprints", "Fall" y la descripción característica de
Davis, "Prince of Darkness". Durante la transición de Davis del jazz
acústico post-bop al jazz-rock electrónico, Shorter también tocó la
soprano a finales de 1968, un instrumento que resultó ser más adecuado
que el tenor para navegar por encima de los nuevos timbres electrónicos.
Como prolífico solista para Blue Note durante este periodo, Shorter
amplió su paleta desde el hard bop casi hasta la vanguardia atonal, con
fascinantes incursiones en el territorio del jazz-rock hacia el final de
la década.
En noviembre de 1970, Shorter se unió a su viejo
amigo Joe Zawinul y a Miroslav Vitous para formar Weather Report, donde,
tras un feroz comienzo, la forma de tocar de Shorter se hizo más suave y
más conscientemente melódica para encajar en los conceptos de Zawinul.
Para entonces tocaba sobre todo como soprano, aunque el tenor resurgiría
hacia el final de la carrera del grupo. La carrera en solitario de
Shorter quedó en suspenso durante la época de Weather Report, aunque
Native Dancer, de 1975, fue un atractivo viaje paralelo al tropicalismo
brasileño-estadounidense realizado en colaboración con Milton
Nascimento. Shorter también revisitó el pasado a finales de los 70
haciendo giras con Freddie Hubbard y los ex-compañeros de Davis Herbie
Hancock, Ron Carter y Tony Williams como V.S.O.P.
Shorter
abandonó finalmente Weather Report en 1985. Aún comprometido con la
electrónica y la fusión, sus composiciones grabadas de la época
presentan ritmos acogedores y arreglos armónicamente complejos. Después
de tres álbumes de Columbia entre 1986 y 1988 -- Atlantis, Phantom
Navigator y Joy Ryder -- y una gira con Santana (representada por el
álbum de 2005 Montreux 1988), se sumió en el silencio, emergiendo de
nuevo en 1992 con Wallace Roney y la sección rítmica de V.S.O.P. en la
banda "A Tribute to Miles". En 1994, ahora en Verve, Shorter publicó
High Life, una atractiva colaboración eléctrica con la teclista Rachel
Z.
Siguió dando conciertos con una amplia gama de grupos y
apareció en varias grabaciones como invitado, entre ellas Bridges to
Babylon, de los Rolling Stones, en 1997, y Gershwin's World, de Herbie
Hancock, en 1998. En 2001, volvió con Hancock para Future 2 Future y en
M² de Marcus Miller. Footprints Live! se publicó en 2002 bajo su propio
nombre con una nueva banda que incluía al pianista Danilo Pérez, el
bajista John Patitucci y el batería Brian Blade, seguido de Alegria en
2003 y Beyond the Sound Barrier en 2005.
