In his youth, the jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter was awarded the nickname “Mr Gone”, in recognition of his distant, otherworldly air. As he rose to prominence with the bands of Art Blakey and Miles Davis, with the fusion outfit Weather Report, with the singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, alongside the guitarist Carlos Santana and with his own groups, that sense of cool detachment helped him to create a musical microclimate that was unique and immediately identifiable.
Eventually Shorter, who has died aged 89, succeeded to the title of jazz’s greatest living improviser: a musician universally admired for his originality and breadth of vision.
