Laryngeal prominence
An example of male laryngeal prominence.
Front view of neck.
Latin	prominentia laryngea
Precursor	4th and 6th branchial arch

The Adam's apple—technically known as the laryngeal prominence—is a feature of the human neck. This lump, or protrusion, is formed by the angle of the thyroid cartilage surrounding the larynx. The term "Adam's Apple" is derived from the forbidden fruit in the Biblical account of the lives of Adam and Eve (although the name of the fruit is not mentioned in Genesis) and refers to the prominence of the lump in males (hence, Adam) more than females.^[1]

Sex differences[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The laryngeal prominence is usually more prominent in adult men than in women or prepubescent children. The growth of the larynx itself, and dropping of the vocal box during puberty is responsible for the vocal instability in teenage boys. The laryngeal prominence is merely the protrusion one sees of the thyroid cartilage making up the body of the larynx. The laryngeal prominence is usually more prominent in adult males because the thyroid cartilage elongates during puberty as the voice box becomes lodged in the throat, protruding out the front of the neck more noticeably. The result is that the two laminae (thin cartilage) of the thyroid cartilage that form the protrusion meet at an average angle of 90° in males, and 120° in females, so there is less cartilage protruding out in females.

Laryngeal prominence is commonly considered a male secondary sex characteristic, but women can also develop a masculine laryngeal prominence.

Surgery[link]

Cosmetic surgery to reduce the size of a laryngeal prominence is called chondrolaryngoplasty (thyroid chondroplasty).^[2] This surgery may change the patient's voice and can possibly cause permanent damage, and may leave a visible scar. Chondrolaryngoplasty may be performed in many types of gender reassignment surgery.

Additional Images[link]

• 

  Laryngeal prominence

• 

  Laryngeal prominence

• 

  Laryngeal prominence

References[link]

External links[link]

• laryngeal+prominence at eMedicine Dictionary
• lesson11 at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University)

v t e Human regional anatomy (TA A01.1) Head Forehead · Ear · Jaw · Face (Cheek, Eye, Nose, Mouth, Chin) · Occiput · Scalp · Temple Neck Throat · Adam's apple Trunk Chest (Breast) · Abdomen (Navel) · Back · Pelvis (Sex organs) Limbs Upper limb Shoulder · Axilla · Arm Elbow · Forearm Wrist · Hand · Finger (Thumb · Index · Middle · Ring · Little) Lower limb/ (see also leg) Hip · Buttocks · Thigh Knee · Calf · Crus Ankle · Heel · Foot · Toe (Hallux · Long  • Third  • Fourth  • Fifth) · Sole General anatomy: systems and organs, regional anatomy, planes and lines, superficial axial anatomy, superficial anatomy of limbs

Adam
Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam, a fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Adam is the figure on the left, and God the figure on the right.

Adam (Hebrew: אָדָם‎, Arabic: آدم‎, Syriac: ܐܵܕ݂ܵܡ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis, the Qur'an and the Kitáb-i-Íqán. According to the creation myth^[1] of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim ("Yahweh-God", the god of Israel), though the term "adam" can refer to both the first individual person, as well as to the general creation of humankind. Christian churches differ on how they view Adam's subsequent behavior (often called the Fall of man), and to the consequences that those actions had on the rest of humanity. Christian and Jewish teachings sometimes hold Adam and Eve (the first woman) to a different level of responsibility for the Fall, though Islamic teaching holds both equally responsible. In addition, Islam holds that Adam was eventually forgiven, while Christianity holds that redemption occurred only later through the sacrifice of God's son, Jesus Christ. Bahá'í Faith, Islam and some Christian denominations consider Adam to be the first Prophet.

Etymology[link]

"Adam" (Hebrew אָדָם comes from the trilateral root אָדַם ( 'ADM ), meaning "red", "fair", "handsome".^[2] In the Book of Genesis, Adam occurs as a proper name in chapters 2-5. As a masculine noun, 'adam ^[3] means "man", "mankind" usually in a collective context as in humankind,^[2] and may also refer to the individual human.^[4] The noun 'adam is also the masculine form of the word adamah which means "ground" or "earth". It is related to the words: adom (red), admoni (ruddy), and dam (blood).^[5]

Genesis narrative[link]

In the first five chapters of Genesis the word אָדָם ( 'adam ) is used in all of its senses: collectively ("mankind"),^[1:27] individually (a "man"),^[2:7] gender nonspecific, ("man and woman")^[5:1,2] and male.^[2:23-24][6]

In Genesis 1:27 "adam" is used in the collective sense, whereby not only the individual Adam, but all humans, are created on the sixth day. The interplay between the individual "Adam" and the collective “humankind” is a main literary component to the events that occur in the Garden of Eden, the ambiguous meanings embedded throughout the moral, sexual, and spiritual terms of the narrative reflecting the complexity of the human condition.^[7] Genesis 2:7 is the first verse where "Adam" takes on the sense of an individual man (the first man): the context of sex and gender, prior to these verses, is absent. The gender distinction of "adam" is then reiterated in Genesis 5:1-2 by defining "male and female".^[8]

A recurring literary motif that occurs in Gen. 1-8, is the bond between Adam and the earth ("adamah"). Adam is made from the earth, and it is from this "adamah" that Adam gets his name. God's cursing of Adam also results in the earth being cursed,^[3:17] and Adam returns to the earth from which he was taken.^[3:19] This “earthly” aspect is a component of Adam’s identity, and Adam’s curse of estrangement from the earth seems to render humankind’s divided identity of being earthly yet separated from nature.^[8:21][9]

Creation[link]

And Elohim Created Adam
William Blake.

According to Genesis 1, God (Elohim) created human beings. "Male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam..." (Genesis 5:2). Here "Adam" is a general term for "mankind" and refers to the whole of humankind. God blesses "mankind" to "be fruitful and multiply" and ordains that they should have "dominion" (but the exact meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain and disputed) "over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis 1.26-27).

In Genesis 2 God forms "Adam" (this time meaning a single male human) out of "the dust of the ground" and then "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life", causing him to "become a living soul" (Genesis 2:7). God then placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, giving him the commandment that "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17).

God then noted that "It is not good that the man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18). He then brought every "beast of the field and every fowl of the air" (Genesis 2:19) before Adam and had Adam name all the animals. However, among all the animals, there was not found "a helper suitable for" Adam (Genesis 2:20), so God caused "a deep sleep to fall upon Adam" and took one of his ribs, and from that rib, formed a woman (Genesis 2:21-22), subsequently named Eve.

Fall of Man[link]

Adam and Eve were subsequently expelled from the Garden of Eden, were ceremonially separated from God, and lost their innocence after they broke God's law about not eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This occurred after the serpent (understood to be Satan in many Christian traditions) told Eve that eating of the tree would result not in death, but in Adam and Eve's eyes being opened, resulting in their being "as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3.4-5). Convinced by the serpent's argument, Eve eats of the tree and has Adam do likewise (Gen. 3.6).

As a result, both immediately become aware of the fact that they are naked, and thus cover themselves with garments made of fig leaves (Gen. 3.7). Then, finding God walking in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve hide themselves from God's presence (Gen. 3.8). God calls to Adam "Where art thou?" (Gen. 3.9, KJV) and Adam responds "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself" (Gen. 3.10, KJV). When God then asks Adam if he had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam responds that his wife had told him to (Gen. 3.11-12).

As a result of their breaking God's law, the couple were removed from the garden (Gen. 3.23) (the Fall of Man according to Christian doctrine) and both receive a curse. Adam's curse is contained in Gen. 3.17-19: "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (KJV).

Post-expulsion[link]

After his expulsion from Eden, Adam was forced to work hard for his food for the first time. According to the Book of Genesis, he had three male children with Eve named Cain, Abel, and Seth. The Book of Jubilees, a second century BC text which is not considered canonical by most Abrahamic faiths, states that Adam also had two daughters, Azura and Awan, who married Seth and Cain, respectively, in incestuous unions.

According to the Genealogies of Genesis, Adam died at the age of 930. With such numbers, calculations such as those of Archbishop Ussher would suggest that Adam would have died only about 127 years before the birth of Noah, nine generations after Adam. In other words, Adam's lifespan would have overlapped that of Lamech (father of Noah), at least fifty years. Ussher and a group of theologians and scholars in 1630 performed calculations and created a study that reported the creation of Adam on October 23, 4004 BC at 9:00 am and lived until 3074 BC. There was controversy over the fact that Ussher believed the whole creation process occurred on that day.

Religious views[link]

Jewish traditions[link]

In rabbinic writings and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Adam is a perfect human before his exile from Eden, but is diminished in stature when exiled.^[9] A traditional Jewish belief is that after Adam died, he was buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. The Book of Joshua mentions a "City of Adam" at the time that the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on entering Canaan, but doesn't suggest any relationship between this city and the "first man" of Genesis.

According to some Jewish mystical traditions, the original glory of Adam can be regained through mystical contemplation of God.^[9]

In Jewish folklore, Lilith is the name of Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same earth as Adam. She left Adam after she refused to become subservient to Adam and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel Samael.^[10] Her story was greatly developed, during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadic midrashim, the Zohar and Jewish mysticism.^[11] The resulting Lilith legend is still commonly used as source material in modern culture, literature, occultism, fantasy and horror.

Christian traditions[link]

Early Christian views[link]

In Augustine’s reinterpretation of Pauline theology, Adam’s sin is transmitted by sexual relations (specifically by semen) to each descending generation. This contrasts with Christ who was conceived without sin by immaculate conception.^[9]

Jehovah's Witnesses[link]

Jehovah's Witnesses view Adam and Eve as the ones who brought sin, and thus death, into the world by committing the original sin, by disobeying Jehovah's clear command not to eat of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil.

Eve's sin is counted as deliberate disobedience, as she did know that Jehovah had commanded them not to eat, but she is held to have been deceived by the Serpent. (She was deceived only about the effect of their disobedience, not about the will of God on the matter.) Adam's sin is considered even more reproachable, as he had not been deceived. Rather, when confronted with his sin, he attempted to blame both his wife Eve, and Jehovah himself. Genesis 3:12 NWT - "The woman who you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree and so I ate.".^[12] By his sin, he forfeited human perfection and was therefore unable to pass it on to his offspring.

Latter Day Saints[link]

The Latter Day Saint movement holds that Adam and Michael the archangel are the same individual.^[13] Michael the archangel fought against and cast out Lucifer (who became Satan) and his followers at the conclusion of the War of Heaven during the pre-mortal existence (see Book of Revelation 12:7-9). Michael was born into this mortal existence as the man "Adam, the father of all, the prince of all, the Ancient of Days" (see Doctrine and Covenants 27:11 and 107:54). Mormons also consider Adam to be the first among all the prophets on earth. Brigham Young and other early leaders spoke favorably about the Adam–God theory, the idea that Adam and God the Father were the same person, but it did not become church doctrine and has since been repudiated by the church.

The Latter Day Saints hold the belief that the "Fall" was not a tragedy, but a necessary part of God's plan. They believe that Adam and Eve had to partake of the forbidden fruit in order to fulfill God's will, and that it is good that they did so.^[14]

Seventh-day Adventists[link]

Seventh-day Adventist believe that the importance of the literal creation time-line is pivotal to the story of humanity, their relationship to God, and the plan of salvation and atonement for Adam and Eve’s transgression (fall), by which all their descendants are under subjugation. The Bible states, “Since by man (Adam) came death, by man (Jesus the Christ) came also the resurrection... (I Cor. 15:21).” To disavow a literal creation and our first parents (Adam and Eve) nearly 6,000 years ago negates a fundamental, orthodox doctrine and the supremacy of the Holy Bible that the sovereign, triune God --“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth,” (Genesis 1:26 NASB)—according to His own purpose and counsel and for His own glory, created humanity in the Biblical/Torah account.^[15]

Islamic view[link]

In Islam, Adam (Adem; Arabic: آدم) is believed to have been the first human being and the first prophet. Adam's role as the father of the human race is looked upon by Muslims with reverence, who also venerate his wife, Eve, as the "mother of mankind".^[16] Muslims see Adam as the first Muslim, as the Qur'an promulgates that all the prophets preached the same faith of submission to God.^[17] According to Hadith, Abu Huraira reports Muhammad as having said, "God created Adam, making him 60 cubits tall" and, "Any person who will enter Paradise will resemble Adam (in appearance and figure). People have been decreasing in stature since Adam's creation."^[18]

Bahá'í view[link]

In the Bahá'í view, Adam was the first Manifestation of God in recorded history.^[19] He is believed by Bahá'ís to have started the Adamic cycle 6000 years ago, which has culminated with Bahá'u'lláh.^[20][21] The Biblical story of Adam and Eve, according to Bahá'í belief, is allegorical and is explained by `Abdu'l-Bahá in Some Answered Questions.^[21]

Druze belief[link]

In the Druze religion, Adam and Eve are seen as dualistic cosmic forces and are complementary to one another. Adam represents the universal mind and Eve, the universal soul.^[22]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Adam

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Adam

• Adam and Eve
• Adam Kadmon
• Banu (Arabic)
• Paradise Lost
• Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions
• Y-chromosomal Adam
• Mahabad (prophet)

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Bahá'u'lláh (1862). Kitáb-i-Íqán: The Book of Certitude. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 1-931847-08-8. http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/KI/. 

• Hendel, Ronald S (2000). "Adam". In David Noel Freedman. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Eerdmans. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=eerdmans+dictionary+of+the+bible&hl=en&ei=Hu28TuaZA87nmAX22Z3MBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Adam&f=false. 

• Oxford annotated NRSV, editors, Michael D. Coogan, editor ; Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Pheme Perkins, associate (2007). The new Oxford annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books : New Revised Standard Version (Augm. 3rd ed. ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-528880-3. 
• Barker, Kenneth (Editor); John H. Stek, Mark L. Strauss, & Ronald F. Youngblood (2008). The NIV Study Bible. Genesus: Zondervan Publishing House. pp. 7. ISBN 978-0-310-93896-5. 

vep:Adam

Wayne Shorter
Convocation Hall, Toronto, Nov. 27, 1977. Photo courtesy of Jean-Luc Ourlin
Background information
Born	(1933-08-25) August 25, 1933 (age 78) Newark, New Jersey, United States
Genres	Modal jazz, crossover jazz, post-bop, hard bop, jazz fusion, Third Stream
Occupations	Musician, composer
Instruments	Saxophone
Years active	1958–present
Labels	Blue Note, Columbia, Verve
Associated acts	Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Weather Report

Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.

He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer,^[1] and many of his compositions have become standards. Shorter's output has earned worldwide recognition, critical praise and various commendations, including multiple Grammy Awards.^[2]

Shorter first came to wide prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he went on to join Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, and from there he co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report. He has recorded over 20 albums as a bandleader.

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Shorter was born in Newark, New Jersey, and attended Newark Arts High School^[3] from which he graduated in 1952. He loved music, being encouraged by his father to take up the saxophone as a teenager (his brother Alan became a trumpeter). After graduating from New York University in 1956, Shorter spent two years in the U.S. Army, during which time he played briefly with Horace Silver. After his discharge from the army, he played with Maynard Ferguson. It was in his youth that Shorter was given the nickname '"Mr. Gone", which would later become an album title for Weather Report.^[4]

In 1959, Shorter joined Art Blakey. He stayed with Blakey for five years, and eventually became musical director for his group.

With Miles Davis (1964–1970)[link]

When John Coltrane finally left Miles Davis' band in 1960 to pursue his own group (after previously trying to leave in 1959), Coltrane proposed Wayne Shorter as a replacement but Shorter was unavailable and Davis went with Sonny Stitt on tenor followed by a revolving door of Hank Mobley, George Coleman, and Sam Rivers. In 1964, Miles Davis persuaded Shorter to leave Blakey and join his quintet alongside Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams.

Miles's so-called Second Great Quintet (to distinguish it from the quintet with Coltrane) that included Hancock and Shorter has frequently been cited by musicians and critics as one of the most influential groups in the history of jazz, and Shorter's compositions are a primary reason. He composed extensively for Miles Davis (e.g. "Prince of Darkness", "E.S.P.", "Footprints", "Sanctuary", "Nefertiti", and many others); on some albums, he provided half of the compositions, typically hard-bop workouts with spaced-out long melody lines above the beat.

Herbie Hancock said of Shorter's tenure in the group, "The master writer to me, in that group, was Wayne Shorter. He still is a master. Wayne was one of the few people who brought music to Miles that didn't get changed."^{[citation needed]} Davis said, "Wayne is a real composer. He writes scores, write the parts for everybody just as he wants them to sound... Wayne also brought in a kind of curiosity about working with musical rules. If they didn't work, then he broke them, but with musical sense; he understood that freedom in music was the ability to know the rules in order to bend them to your own satisfaction and taste."^[5]

Shorter remained in Davis's band after the breakup of the quintet in 1968, playing on early jazz fusion recordings including In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew (both 1969). His last live dates and studio recordings with Davis were in 1970.

Until 1968, he played tenor saxophone exclusively. The final album on which he played tenor in the regular sequence of Davis albums was Filles de Kilimanjaro. In 1969, he played the soprano saxophone on the Davis album In a Silent Way and on his own Super Nova (recorded with then-current Davis sidemen Chick Corea and John McLaughlin). When performing live with Miles Davis, and on recordings from summer 1969 to early spring 1970, he played both soprano and tenor saxophones; by the early 1970s, however, he chiefly played soprano.

Solo Blue Note recordings[link]

Simultaneous with his time in the Miles Davis quintet, Shorter recorded several albums for Blue Note Records, featuring almost exclusively his own compositions, with a variety of line-ups, quartets and larger groups including Blue Note favourites such as Freddie Hubbard. His first Blue Note album (of nine in total) was Night Dreamer, recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in 1964 with Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman and Elvin Jones.

JuJu and Speak No Evil are well known recordings from this era. Shorter's compositions on these albums are notable for their use of^{[original research?]}:

• pentatonic melodies harmonised with pedal points and complex harmonic relationships;
• structured solos that reflect the composition's melody as much as its harmony;
• long rests as an integral part of the music, in contrast with other, more effusive, players of the time such as John Coltrane.

The later album The All Seeing Eye was a free-jazz workout with a larger group, while Adam's Apple of 1966 was back to carefully constructed melodies by Shorter leading a quartet. Then a sextet again in the following year for Schizophrenia with his Miles Davis band mates Hancock and Carter plus trombonist Curtis Fuller, alto saxophonist/flautist James Spaulding and strong rhythms by drummer Joe Chambers. These albums have recently been remastered by Rudy Van Gelder.

Shorter also recorded occasionally as a sideman (again, mainly for Blue Note) with Donald Byrd, McCoy Tyner, Grachan Moncur III, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, and bandmates Hancock and Williams.

Weather Report (1971–1985)[link]

Shorter with Weather Report in Amsterdam, in 1980

Following the release of Odyssey of Iska in 1970, Shorter formed the fusion group Weather Report with Miles Davis veteran keyboardist Joe Zawinul. The other original members were bassist Miroslav Vitous, percussionist Airto Moreira, and drummer Alphonse Mouzon. After Vitous' departure in 1973, Shorter and Zawinul co-led the group until the band's break-up in late 1985. A variety of excellent musicians that would make up Weather Report alumni over the years (most notably the revolutionary bassist Jaco Pastorius) helped the band produce many high quality recordings in diverse styles through the years, with funk, bebop, Latin jazz, ethnic music, and futurism being the most prevalent denominators.

Solo[link]

Shorter also recorded critically acclaimed albums as a bandleader, notably Native Dancer, which featured his Miles Davis band-mate Herbie Hancock and Brazilian composer and vocalist Milton Nascimento. Shorter was to work with both of these musicians again later.

On the title track of Steely Dan's 1977 album Aja, he played a solo that moved the critic writing the album's liner notes to call it "suitable for framing". Concurrently, in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, he toured in the V.S.O.P. quintet. This group was a revival of the 1960s Miles Davis quintet, except that Freddie Hubbard filled the trumpet chair instead of Miles. Shorter appeared with the same former Davis bandmates on the Carlos Santana double LP The Swing of Delight, for which he also composed a number of pieces.

From 1977 through 2002, he appeared on ten Joni Mitchell studio albums, gaining him a wider audience.

Shorter performing. Photo by Tom Beetz.

Recent career[link]

After leaving Weather Report, Shorter continued to record and lead groups in jazz fusion styles, including touring in 1988 with guitarist Carlos Santana, who appeared on This is This!, the last Weather Report disc. In 1989, he contributed to a hit on the rock charts, playing the sax solo on Don Henley's song "The End of the Innocence" and also produced the album Pilar by the Portuguese singer-songwriter Pilar Homem de Melo. He has also maintained an occasional working relationship with Herbie Hancock, including a tribute album recorded shortly after Davis's death with Hancock, Carter, Williams and Wallace Roney. He continued to appear on Joni Mitchell's records in the 1990s. Shorter's distinctive sound is also apparent in the soundtrack for the Harrison Ford film The Fugitive, released in 1993.

In 1995, Shorter released the album High Life, his first solo recording for seven years. It was also his debut as a leader for Verve Records. Shorter composed all the compositions on the album and co-produced it with the bassist Marcus Miller. High Life received the Grammy Award for best Contemporary Jazz Album in 1997.

Shorter worked with Hancock once again in 1997, on the much acclaimed and heralded album 1+1. The song "Aung San Suu Kyi" (named for the Burmese pro-democracy activist) won both Hancock and Shorter a Grammy Award.

In 2009, he was announced as one of the headline acts at the Gnaoua World Music Festival in Essaouira, Morocco.

Quartet[link]

The Wayne Shorter Quartet at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi, Milan, 2010

Shorter formed his current band in 2000, the first permanent acoustic group under his leadership, a quartet with young musicians, pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade, playing his own complex compositions, many of them reworkings of tunes from his substantial portfolio going back to the 1960s. Two albums of live recordings featuring this quartet have been released, Footprints Live! (2002) and Beyond the Sound Barrier (2005). The quartet has received great acclaim from fans and critics, especially for the strength of Shorter's tenor saxophone playing. The Shorter biography Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter by journalist Michelle Mercer contains an insight into the working life of these musicians as well as insight into Shorter's life, thoughts and Buddhist beliefs.^[6] Beyond the Sound Barrier received the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album.

Shorter's 2003 album Alegría (his first studio album for ten years, since High Life) received the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album; it features the quartet with a host of other musicians, including pianist Brad Mehldau, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and former Weather Report percussionist Alex Acuña. Shorter's compositions, some new, some reworked from his Miles Davis period, feature the complex Latin rhythms that Shorter specialised in during his Weather Report days.

Personal life[link]

Shorter married Teruka (Irene) Nakagami, in the 1960s; they met in 1961 and later had a child, Miyako.^[7] Some of his compositions are copyrighted as "Miyako Music". Shorter dedicated some pieces to his daughter: "Miyako" and "Infant Eyes". The couple separated in 1964.^[8]

Shorter met Ana Maria in 1964 and they were married in 1970.^[8] In 1986, their daughter Iska died of a grand mal seizure at age 14.^[1] Ana Maria and the couple's niece Dalila were both killed in 1996 on TWA Flight 800 while en route to see him in Italy. Dalila was also the daughter of the jazz vocalist Jon Lucien who was married to Shorter's sister.^[8] Shorter married Carolina Dos Santos, a close friend of Ana Maria, in 1999. He is a Nichiren Buddhist and a member of Sōka Gakkai.^[8]

Discography[link]

Awards[link]

• Down Beat Poll Winner New Star Saxophonist (1962)
• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance for Weather Report's 8:30 (1979)
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for Dexter Gordon's Call Sheet Blues (1987)
• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group for A Tribute to Miles (1994)
• Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for High Life (1996)
• Miles Davis Award Wayne Shorter was granted the Miles Davis Award by the Montreal International Jazz Festival. (1996)
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for Aung San Suu Kyi (1997)
• NEA Jazz Masters (1998)
• Honorary Doctorate of Music (1999; Berklee College of Music)
• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo for In Walked Wayne (1999)
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for Sacajawea (2003)
• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group for Alegría (2003)
• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group for Beyond The Sound Barrier (2005)
• Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Award Small Ensemble Group of the Year to Wayne Shorter Quartet (2006)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wayne Shorter