Wayne Shorter, saxophonist and composer: Born in Newark, NJ in 1933; took clarinet lessons at age 16 then soon started playing saxophone before enrolling at NYU in 1952; acquired a degree in Music Education, then played in the US Army for 2 years; played with Maynard Ferguson after he was discharged, then joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1959 where he was an important member for 4 years, being Art’s musical director and composed for the group; then joined Miles Davis’s Quintet (Second Great Quintet) in 1964 where he was a prominent contributor of compositions and great saxophone solos ((Herbie Hancock is known to say Wayne was the master writer of the group-(the little black book story); at the same time he was with Miles, he recorded a number of albums for Blue Note as a leader and a sideman; then Shorter formed the fusion group Weather Report in 1970 with co-leader Joe Zawinul and they lasted until 1985; also played with likes of Carlos Santana, Don Henley, Wallace Roney, Terri Lyne Carrington until his next big endeavor with his own Quartet which he formed in 2000, which featured Brian Blade, John Patitucci, & Danilo Perez; in 2018, he retired from playing but still composed and was relatively active until his death on March 2, 2023 - A couple of interesting personal life things to note: He was married a few times, and his 2nd wife Ana Maria died in a plane crash in 1986, TWA Flight 800 where it exploded in mid-air and went down in the water (the 2nd deadliest aircraft accident in the US at the time) - Also, there is a Tina Turner connection; Apparently, according to Tina’s memoir titled Happiness Becomes You, right after Tina left Ike Turner to escape the abuse, she moved in with Wayne and Ana Shorter for 6 months and used their home as a safe place of refuge to get on her feet.