Wayne Shorter in Nine Video Clips

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 celebrated around the world, from Asia to Europe and Africa. The second was the second Miles Davis Quintet, from 1964 to 1970, where his heavy-sounding horn offset Davis's taut, airy sound and helped set the course for fusion. And the third was Weather Report, from 1971 to 1986, an electric supergroup.

This weekend, in tribute to Shorter, let's take a look at his performances in the Jazz Messengers and in Davis's second great quintet. First, three from the Jazz Messengers:

Here's Shorter in Paris with the Jazz Messengers in November 1959 playing Duke Jordan's No Problem...



Here's Shorter with the Messengers playing The Summit in Tokyo in 1961...



Here's Shorter at the San Remo Jazz Festival in Italy with the Jazz Messengers in March 1963...



And three with Miles Davis:

Here's Shorter with the quintet in October 1964 in Milan, Italy, with Davis, Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums)... .



Here's Shorter with the quintet in Stockholm, Sweden, in October 1967...



Here's Shorter with the quintet in Rome in 1969, with Chick Corea (piano), Dave Holland (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums)..



Bonus: Here are two clips of Shorter with other artists and one by a spectacular singer:

Here's Wayne Shorter's solo on Steely Dan's Aja, from the album of the same name:



Shorter played on 10 of Joni Mitchell's albums. Here he is on soprano saxophone with Joni on her Both Sides Now (2000) album that included Herbie Hancock and other jazz and orchestral artists...



And here's Jean Carn singing Shorter's Infant Eyes, in 1971, a fitting farewell...