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Wayne Shorter
Born in Newark, New Jersey on August 25, 1933, Wayne Shorter had his first great jazz epiphany as a teenager: “I remember seeing Lester Young when I was 15 years old. It was a Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic show in Newark and he was late coming to the theater. Me and a couple of other guys were waiting out front of the Adams Theater and when he finally did show up, he had the pork pie hat and everything. So then we were trying to figure out how to get into the theater from the fire escape around the back. We eventually got into the mezzanine and saw that whole show — Stan Kenton and Dizzy Gillespie bands together on stage doing ‘Peanut Vendor,’ Charlie Parker with strings doing ‘Laura’ and stuff like that. And Russell Jacquet…Ilinois Jacquet. He was there doing his thing. That whole scene impressed me so much that I just decided, ‘Hey, man, let me get a clarinet.’ So I got one when I was 16, and that’s when I started music.
Switching to tenor saxophone, Shorter formed a teenage band in Newark called The Jazz Informers. While still in high school, Shorter participated in several cutting contests on Newark’s jazz scene, including one memorable encounter with sax great Sonny Stitt. He attended college at New York University while also soaking up the Manhattan jazz scene by frequenting popular nightspots like Birdland and Cafe Bohemia. Wayne worked his way through college by playing with the Nat Phipps orchestra. Upon graduating in 1956, he worked briefly with Johnny Eaton and his Princetonians, earning the nickname “The Newark Flash” for his speed and facility on the tenor saxophone.
Just as he was beginning making his mark, Shorter was drafted into the Army. “A week before I went into the Army I went to the Cafe Bohemia to hear music, I said, for the last time in my life. I was standing at the bar having a cognac and I had my draft notice in my back pocket. That’s when I met Max Roach. He said, ‘You’re the kid from Newark, huh? You’re The Flash.’ And he asked me to sit in. They were changing drummers throughout the night, so Max played drums, then Art Taylor, then Art Blakey. Oscar Pettiford was on cello. Jimmy Smith came in the door with his organ. He drove to the club with his organ in a hearse. And outside we heard that Miles was looking for somebody named Cannonball. And I’m saying to myself, ‘All this stuff is going on and I gotta go to the Army in about five days!’”
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Classic Meet Ups + Wayne Shorter Homages
by David Brown
Tonight, we are looking at classic and contemporary “meet ups" between two soloists, or a soloist and group. “Mulligan Meets Hodges," “Basie & Zoot," “Roy and Diz," “Hargrove meets Miller," and many more. The show continues with a set of tributes to and works by Wayne Shorter form Melissa Aldana, Steph Richards, Thumbscrew and Kris Dais. Welcome friends and neighbors to The Jazz Continuum. Old, new, in, out... wherever the music takes us. Each week, we will explore the elements ...
read moreAlan Shorter: Mephistopholes To Orgasm Revisited
by Chris May
It is often said of a musician, be they alive or no longer with us, that they deserve to be better known. This is emphatically true of the wayward trumpeter and composer Alan Shorter, who was overshadowed during his lifetime by his brother, Wayne Shorter, and who continues to be passed over today in 2024. Some responsibility for his obscurity lies with Alan Shorter himself. Known as Doc Strange to his teenage schoolmates in Newark, New Jersey, ...
read more1974 with Soft Machine, Passport, Flora Purim and Stanley Clarke
by Len Davis
1974 Part 2 -50 years ago with Volker Kriegel, Wayne Shorter, George Duke, Passport, Soft Machine, Flora Purim, Santana, Horace Arnold, Stanley Clarke and John Abercrombie. Playlist Volker Kriegel “Mild Maniac" from Mild Maniac (MPS) 00:00 Wayne Shorter “Beauty And The Beast" from Native Dancer (CBS) 06:29 George Duke “Psychomatic Dung" from Faces in Reflection (MPS) 12:56 Passport “Eternal Spiral" from Looking Thru (ATCO) 19:38 Soft Machine “Nettle Bed" from Seven (CBS) 26:08 Flora Purim “Silver Sword" from ...
read moreThe Electric Years Box Set
by Mike Jurkovic
In a year that has brought us a true bounty of previously unheard majesty including Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy (Impulse!), and Bill Evans; Treasures: Solo, Trio & Orchestra Recordings from Denmark (1965-1969), (Elemental Music) it is only fitting that Miles Davis get his due. And in a very, very big way. Seared into modern memory, modern art, the music presented on the gloriously massive, eleven LP set Miles Davis: The Electric Years ...
read moreImpressions of Zero Gravity
by AAJ Staff
We published Peter Jones's review of Zero Gravity the other week, but other staffers wanted to share their thoughts on the Wayne Shorter documentary, so we collected them and presented them here. Ellen Johnson Zero Gravity, the documentary chronicling the life and music of jazz icon Wayne Shorter, surpasses the boundaries of conventional biographical films. It explores the mystical and philosophical dimensions that shaped Shorter's extraordinary journey. His fusion of spiritual beliefs with an insatiable curiosity about the ...
read moreCelebrating Citizen Wayne Shorter And New Releases
by Bob Osborne
There are all new releases on this show, with a great compilation of Wayne Shorter's music from the Posi-Tone label. In addition there are new albums from Francisco Mela & Jonathan Reisin, Ivo Perelman & Nate Wooley, Todd Mosby, Hutchinson Andrew Trio, Itamar Borochov, Elina Duni with Rob Luft plus Matthieu Michel & Fred Thomas, Matt Rollings Trio, Nevaris, The Man From Atlantis, Sara Serpa & Andre Matos, Daniel Carter with Adriana Camacho & Federico Ughi, Camila Nebbia, Josh Cole, ...
read moreLeaving Planet Earth: Amazon's Wayne Shorter Documentary Zero Gravity
by Peter Jones
Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity Director: Dorsay Alavi 2023 Wayne Shorter was brought up in the belief that he could achieve anything he wanted to: there should be no barriers to his ambition. This three-part documentary--a true labor of love from director Dorsay Alavi--shows us that Shorter was far more than a musician. In the first part (or portal), we see Shorter and his brother Alan, portrayed in black and white by a pair of ...
read moreApril 18: New England Conservatory Jazz Orchestra Presents 'High Life: The Music Of Wayne Shorter'
Source:
Braithwaite & Katz Communications
Legendary jazz composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who passed away on March 2, 2023, left a monumental artistic legacy. The NEC Jazz Orchestra pays tribute to Shorter with High Life: The Music of Wayne Shorter, the orchestra’s final concert of the season, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 18 in NEC’s Jordan Hall, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston. Special guest Carl Atkins, founding director of NEC’s Afro-American Studies and Jazz Departments, and NEC Jazz Studies Co-Chair Ken Schaphorst lead the orchestra ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Wayne Shorter
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Wayne Shorter's birthday today!
Born in Newark, New Jersey on August 25, 1933, Wayne Shorter had his first great jazz epiphany as a teenager: “I remember seeing Lester Young when I was 15 years old. It was a Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic show in Newark and he was late coming to the theater. Me and a couple of other guys were waiting out front of the Adams Theater and when he finally did ...
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Manhattan's Smoke Jazz Club Announces May Line-Up Including Wayne Shorter Tribute Concert, George Coleman Jr, Album Release, And More
Source:
AMT Public Relations
Rated the #1 Jazz Club in New York City (Secret NYC), Smoke Jazz Club begins the month of May with a heartfelt homage to the great, intrepid saxophonist Wayne Shorter. For one-night only May 3, today’s top artists celebrate the music and legacy of Shorter “who shaped the color and contour of modern jazz as one of its most intensely admired composers (The New York Times). The month continues with two leading female vocalists leading their respective quintets: Paula West ...
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Wayne Shorter in Nine Video Clips
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Wayne Shorter (1933-2023), when paired with other great jazz artists, was a tonic. Whether it was with trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan or, later, Miles Davis, Shorter's saxophone added a dimension that was commanding and haunting. You felt you had a window into the artist's soul when Shorter played. Shorter was in three major groups that changed jazz. The first was Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, from 1959 to 1963, the most acclaimed hard-bop ensemble widely recognized and ...
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Backgrounder: Wayne Shorter's JuJu
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Wayne Shorter, a saxophonist and composer whose influence on post-war jazz and jazz musicians rivaled that of Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, died March 2. He was 89. My favorite Shorter album is JuJu. Recorded in 1964 for Blue Note and released in July 1965, the album featured all original songs by Shorter and included pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Elvin Jones—a rhythm section that had worked regularly with John Coltrane. The soul and power of Shorter's ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Wayne Shorter
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Wayne Shorter's birthday today!
Born in Newark, New Jersey on August 25, 1933, Wayne Shorter had his first great jazz epiphany as a teenager: “I remember seeing Lester Young when I was 15 years old. It was a Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic show in Newark and he was late coming to the theater. Me and a couple of other guys were waiting out front of the Adams Theater and when he finally did ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Wayne Shorter
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Wayne Shorter's birthday today!
Born in Newark, New Jersey on August 25, 1933, Wayne Shorter had his first great jazz epiphany as a teenager: “I remember seeing Lester Young when I was 15 years old. It was a Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic show in Newark and he was late coming to the theater. Me and a couple of other guys were waiting out front of the Adams Theater and when he finally did ...
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Wayne Shorter: Timeless Sound
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Wayne Shorter remains one of America's most fascinating living jazz legends. His sound on the tenor saxophone is muscular, hypnotic and so evocative of the 1960s. His original compositions remain relevant, with their yearning, political undertow and modal scales. So it's puzzling that there are so few YouTube clips of him live in the 1960s leading his own groups and playing his own songs. Part of this is a result of him spending most of his time in the Miles ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Wayne Shorter
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Wayne Shorter's birthday today!
Born in Newark, New Jersey on August 25, 1933, Wayne Shorter had his first great jazz epiphany as a teenager: “I remember seeing Lester Young when I was 15 years old. It was a Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic show in Newark and he was late coming to the theater. Me and a couple of other guys were waiting out front of the Adams Theater and when he finally did ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Wayne Shorter
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Wayne Shorter's birthday today!
Born in Newark, New Jersey on August 25, 1933, Wayne Shorter had his first great jazz epiphany as a teenager: “I remember seeing Lester Young when I was 15 years old. It was a Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic show in Newark and he was late coming to the theater. Me and a couple of other guys were waiting out front of the Adams Theater and when he finally did ...
read more