Celebrating The 85th Birthday Of Legendary Saxophonist Wayne Shorter

Today marks the 85th birthday of the great Wayne Shorter. The jazz saxophonist has made a huge contribution to the world of jazz and improvisation, having played with jazz greats like Art Blakey and Miles Davis before striking out on his own to form seminal jazz fusion group Weather Report with Joe Zawinul. The impact of Weather Report was widespread, with Shorter recording over twenty records with the group as its band leader. Outside of being a standout saxophonist, Shorter is one of the jazz’s greatest composers, with many of his compositions now recognized as standards for the genre.

In honor of Wayne Shorter’s birthday, check out this video of him playing “Midnight Sun” with Weather Report in Offenbach, Germany in 1978, courtesy of YouTube user jnerrot.

Here’s Shorter and Weather Report crushing a version of “Birdland” from the same show, courtesy of YouTube user Palle016s kanal.

Happy Birthday, Wayne! Thank you for your continued musical excellence!