JAZZ legend Wayne Shorter has died at age 89 after an influential career that spanned more than half a century.

The iconic saxophonist died in a hospital in Los Angeles on Thursday, his publicist announced.

A cause of death was not immediately disclosed.

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Shorter was a trailblazer that helped shape the history of jazz in the 20th century.

He came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.

During the 1960s, he joined Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet band.

During his time with Davis, Shorter developed the jazz-rock fusion style, which led to the eventual creation of the Weather Reporter band.

Entering the 1970s, Shorter became an influential jazz leader, collaborating with rock music legends like Carlos Santana and Steely Dan.

He also had a long and successful partnership with Joni Mitchell, beginning in 1977 with her album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter.

The collaboration continued through nine more of Mitchell's albums.

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In the meantime, Weather Report continued to leave its mark on the genre and became one of the most renowned jazz-rock bands of the 1970s.

The band's 1979 album, 8:30, led to Shorter's first Grammy Award.

He believed his early days as a jazz player was an act of personal assertion and investment in one's inner being, saying in an interview: "Jazz for me, is, 'Do you have the guts to do it?'"

Shorter recorded over 20 albums as a bandleader and won 12 Grammys in total.

He's responsible for some of jazz's greatest singles, including Footprints by Miles Davis, Black Nile and Speak No Evil.

He received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2015.

Shorter is survived by his wife, Carolina Dos Santos, daughter Miyako, his stepdaughter he adopted, Mariana, and a grandson.

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