Trivia

Wayne is a veteran of the United States Army.

Lifetime Achievement Award from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (2013).

Friends with John Coltrane.

Wayne is a practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism and a member of the Soka Gakkai International.

Billy Dee Williams painted a portrait of Wayne which was used as the cover artwork for Wayne's 1985 CD "Atlantis.".

Wayne had an older brother, Alan Shorter, who also graduated from NYU and was also a jazz composer and musician.

Wayne earned his bachelor's degree from NYU in 1956.

The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music appointed Wayne Shorter as a UCLA professor as part of the school's Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance. (2013).

Honorary Doctor of Music by the Berklee College of Music (1999).

Honorary Doctor of Music by New York University (2010).

National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master (1998).

Lifetime Achievement Grammy recipient (2014).

Honorary Doctor of Music by the Juilliard School (2016).

Received the Guggenheim Fellowship (2016).

Wayne's first wife Teruko later married Billy Dee Williams.

Doris Duke Foundation Grant recipient (2016).

Polar Music Prize Laureate (2017).

Rolf Schock Laureate (2017).

Kennedy Center Honoree (2018).

JazzTimes critics poll winner Best of All Wayne Shorter, Best Tenor Saxophonist, Best Soprano Saxophonist, Best Composer (2018).

JazzTimes readers poll winner Best Soprano Saxophonist (2016).

JazzTimes readers poll winner Best Soprano Saxophonist (2017).

DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame (2003).

Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts by Rutgers University (2019).

Jazz Journalists Association Musician of the Year (2014).

Jazz Journalists Association Musician of the Year (2019).

Jazz Journalists Association Composer of the Year (2019).

Jazz Journalists Association Lifetime Achievement in Jazz (2013).

Jazz Journalists Association Soprano Saxophonist of the Year (2013).

Friends with Lee Morgan, Ron Carter, and Herbie Hancock.

Honorary Doctor of Music, New England Conservatory (2007).

Honorary degree from CalArts (2022).

In 2018, Shorter retired from his near 70-year performing career due to health issues. He continued working as a composer, creating a "new operatic work" titled (Iphigenia), with Esperanza Spalding writing the libretto and architect Frank Gehry designing the sets, which premiered on November 12, 2021, at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.

In 2016, it was announced that Shorter, Carlos Santana, and Herbie Hancock would begin touring under the name Mega Nova. Also included within the supergroup was bassist Marcus Miller and drummer Cindy Blackman Santana. Their first show together was on August 24, 2016, at the Hollywood Bowl.

Singer and actress Tina Turner credits Shorter with saving her life. In Turner's 2020 spiritual memoir Happiness Becomes You, she states that Shorter and his wife Ana Maria provided Turner with critical refuge at their home for six months after Turner left her abusive husband, Ike Turner, in 1976.

He received commissions from the National, St. Louis, and Nashville symphony orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the La Jolla Music Society.

Shorter's works have been performed by the Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Lyon Symphony, National Polish Radio Symphonic Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Acclaimed artists and ensembles including Renée Fleming and the Imani Winds have also performed his works.

Parents are: Joseph Shorter, and Louise Page Shorter.

Father of Iska Shorter, Miyako Shorter, and Mariana Shorter.

Has one grandson.

Cousin of Rick Shorter.