Wayne Shorter confirmed for Wellington Jazz Festival

Jazz Giant Wayne Shorter confirmed for Wellington Jazz Festival in June

Experience the searing sax style of jazz giant Wayne Shorter when he headlines the Wellington Jazz Festival in a one-off show at the Opera House on 8 June.

Shorter’s admirers include jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, who on departing Wellington this week after three sell-out shows with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at the NZ Festival, described Shorter as “a genius not to be missed”.

Marsalis added that Shorter, along with Duke Ellington and Thelonius Monk, are the three most important men in Jazz composition: “Wayne Shorter’s music is tuneful, harmonically sophisticated, and wherever he has gone there have been major innovations and points of interest for the history of jazz,” Marsalis said.

Multi- Grammy Award-winning Shorter will perform with his quartet (Danilo Perez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade), who are widely regarded as jazz’s premier working ensemble, continuing to win fans and awards with dynamic compositions and electrifying improvisation.

From timeless jazz standards like Footprints through to 2013’s critically acclaimed Blue Note release Without a Net, Shorter continues to be one of the most eloquent and influential sax players ever. “To me jazz means: I dare you,” he has said.

The popular Wellington Jazz Festival runs 8-12 June 2016 and the full jazz festival line-up will be announced in April 12.

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