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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Jamie Roberts

Wayne Shorter dead: Grammy-winning Jazz legend dies as tributes pour in

Wayne Shorter has died at the aged of 89, his representative has confirmed.

The Grammy Award-winning saxophonist died on Thursday morning in a Los Angeles hospital. The cause of death is yet to be revealed.

The musician was best known for his work alongside jazz supergroup The Weather Reporter. He had also collaborated with big names such as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan, Carlos Santana and Joni Mitchell over his career which spanned eight decades.

He began his musical journey in 1959 when he released his debut album. His last production was his 2023 Grammy-winning Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival.

Throughout his career he was honoured with 12 Grammys - the first coming in 1979 for the Weather Report's 8:30 - and found his music fusing with all genres.

Wayne Shorter won 12 Grammy Awards (AFP via Getty Images)

He was one of the last living jazz legends of his era and was one of several recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2018 after being acknowledged for his contribution to the genre.

At the time he was labelled "a genius, a trailblazer, a visionary, and one of the world’s greatest composers".

Prior to the accolade, he has been awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2015, as well as an NEA Jazz Masters Award and the Polar Music Prize.

Following the sad news of his death, tributes poured in on social media.

He worked with a number of big hitters in the industry, such as Weather Reporter (Juan Herrero/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Fellow saxophonist Charles Lloyd took to Twitter to share an image of the two of them and penned: "It has been a deeply sad morning to learn that my brother and fellow explorer of the Inner and Outer Universe @Wayne_Shorter has left town.

"The Maestro was a visionary, a great composer, and a friend with whom I shared a love for the Eternal Now. Barche Lamsel"

SiriusXM radio host Nicole Sweeney also wrote: "Sigh. Some legends...you really hope will live forever."

And guitarist Vernon Reid said: "Wayne Shorter is such a Great Loss. Words fail. Indescribable. So O r I g I n a l. As a composer. Collaborator. Improvisor. SciFi enthusiast.

"He took the horn to places other saxophonists weren’t even imagining it COULD go. Wayne liberated it from the shadows of Bird & Trane. Ornette, Ayler , & Dolphy upended the saxophone. Wayne Shorter rethought it."

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