TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, I’m Mark Rapp, and this is Rapp on Jazz.
Wayne Shorter was a visionary saxophonist and composer who significantly shaped post-bop and fusion jazz. He joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and quickly became the primary composer. Known for his saxophone mastery, he transitioned from the tenor saxophone in the late 1960s.
Shorter was also a key member of Miles Davis’s groundbreaking Second Great Quintet and a founding member of the band Weather Report. His expressive playing and harmonic genius redefined the saxophone's role in jazz. With 12 Grammy Awards to his name, he expanded the horizons of jazz with iconic compositions like "Footprints" and "Birdland."
Shorter’s profound impact as a composer and performer solidified his status as one of the most celebrated legends in modern jazz history.
This has been Rapp on Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and SC Public Radio, made possible in part by Layman Poupard Publishers, producers of the Literary Criticism Series and the Dictionary of Literary Biography.