Wayne Shorter, a virtuoso saxophonist and principal architect of modern jazz music, died Thursday, his publicist confirmed. He was 89.
Shorter died surrounded by family in Los Angeles, his publicist said.
Shorter won a dozen Grammy awards in his lifetime – but no amount of statuettes or accolades could ever adequately illustrate his impact on 20th Century jazz music. He came to prominence in the 1950s, playing with Art Blakey, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard in the Jazz Messengers, eventually becoming the jazz supergroup’s musical director.
But Miles Davis recruited Shorter in the mid-1960s, finally convincing him to join the iconic trumpeter’s quintet.