Jazz legend Wayne Shorter has died.

Wayne Shorter, one of the legends of jazz, passed away this Thursday at the age of 89 in a hospital in Los Angeles, United States of America. The death of the saxophonist was confirmed by his agent, the reasons have not yet been established, the North American newspaper notes. New York Times.

Quoting an agent, The New York Times writes that Wayne Shorter is “an enigmatic and fearless saxophonist who has shaped the contours of modern jazz.”

According to the New York Times, over a career spanning more than 50 years, Wayne Shorter has left an “incalculable impact” as a saxophonist and has left a mark on jazz history.

Wayne Shorter started acting at 16 after seeing a performance in Newark, where he was born, that included such names as Lester Young, Stan Kenton, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Russell Jacquet.

He formed The Jazz Informers as a teenager and immersed himself in the jazz scene in both Newark and Manhattan when he enrolled at New York University, according to a biography on All About Jazz.

In the late 1950s, Wayne Shorter began playing with John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, and later joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, with whom he played until the mid-1960s.

In 1964 he was invited by Miles Davis to tour with Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams and Ron Carter in a historic quintet that lasted several years.

Along with the Jazz Messengers and the Miles Davis Quintet, Wayne Shorter was also part of what is considered the centerpiece of his career, the fusion band Weather Report with keyboardist/composer Joe Zawinul.

The New York Times emphasizes that, along with the “legion of fans” he won in jazz, Wayne Shorter “forged a connection with popular music, collaborating with, for example, Joni Mitchell and Carlos Santana.

The newspaper also notes that Wayne Shorter recorded the album “Native Dancer” in 1974 with Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento at the suggestion of the saxophonist’s second wife, Ana Maria Shorter, who grew up in Angola, still under Portuguese colonial rule.

Among various edited albums, Wayne Shorter, winner of 12 Grammy Awards, recorded “1+1” (1997) with pianist Herbie Hancock, with whom he shared musical and spiritual ties in Buddhism.

As for the partnership, Wayne Shorter also produced the first album of the Portuguese singer Pilar Homem de Melo “Pilar” in 1989.

Of the latest discography, the highlight is the triple album “Emanon” (2018), which included a comic book, “sci-fi dystopia” co-written by the saxophonist with Monica Sly, drawn by Randy Duberk.

Wayne Shorter has performed several times in Portugal, namely the Coliseu de Lisboa in 1991, the Estoril Jazz in 2003, the Guimarães Jazz in 2006, the Casa da Música in Porto in 2009 and the Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon) . in 2014.