Wayne Shorter performs on stage at the 2014 International Jazz Day Global Concert on April 30, 2014 in Osaka, Japan. Keith Tsuji/Getty Images for Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz
Speaking with Wayne Shorter, whose prolific career has placed him solidly in jazz's canon, is nothing if not amusing. Legendary for his compositions and and compatriots alike (he's played with everyone from Miles Davis to Santana to the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra), Shorter approaches life (and conversation) with a unique blend of his adopted Buddhism and his passion for arts and culture. Over the course of our talk he alluded to Mo'nique, astrophysics, the NBA playoffs (he's pulling for the Warriors), Jurassic Park, and Kanye West (among other things).
It's been 50 years since Shorter started playing with Miles Davis' now-classic Second Great Quintet -- Shorter and Davis alongside Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams -- yet he remembers his time with Miles like it was yesterday. "I used to talk to Miles all the time," he tells Billboard. "A lot of it was about health. 'You know my left leg, there's something wrong with it.' " (It's important to note that every quote comes with an accompanying impression -- his Miles voice is spot-on.) If the questions and answers seem unrelated, it's because Shorter is about 50 steps ahead of the rest of us at any given time, somehow embracing philosophical discussion and laughter equally. "I'm drilling for wisdom," he says. "That's the challenge. I have to play wisdom and make it fun -- not intellectual.
read more: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6568518/wayne-shorter-miles-davis-kanye-west-the-music-of-the-future
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