On January 18, 2026, Ralph Towner died aged 85. He was musician (guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion, trumpet, and French horn), composer, arranger and bandleader. He was member of the bands Paul Winter Consort, Atmosphere, but was best known as founding member of Oregon. Towner has performed and recorded with Azimuth, Bill Bruford, Salvatore Bonafede, Horace Arnold, Jerry Granelli, Vince Mendoza, Maria Pia De Vito, Gary Burton, Larry Coryell, Pino Daniele, Cyrus Faryar, Robben Ford, David Friesen, Jan Garbarek, Charlie Haden, Egberto Gismonti, Gerri Granger, Trilok Gurtu, Tim Hardin, Keith Jarrett, Maria Joao, Joseph LoDuca, Andy Middleton, Duke Pearson, Terry Plumeri, Michael Portal, Kenny Wheeler and Weather Report. As leader he released 27 albums.
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Wayne Shorter
On March 2, 2023, Wayne Shorter died aged 89. He was musician (saxophone) and composer. He was member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet, and then co-founded the band Weather Report. Many of the Shorter’s compositions have become jazz standards and his work earned critical praise worldwide. In 1970, he won “Down Beat’s” annual poll-winner, winning the critics’ poll for 10 consecutive years and the readers’ poll for 18 consecutive years. Shorter recorded and performed with Donald Byrd, Billy Childs, Pino Daniele, Lou Donaldson, Benny Golson, Gil Evans, Toninho Horta, Norah Jones, J. J. Johnson, Don Henley, Wynton Kelly, Michael Landau, Lionel Loueke, Grachan Moncur III, Milton Nascimento, Michel Petrucciani, The Rolling Stones, Masahiko Satoh, John Scofield, Esperanza Spalding, Steely Dan, Bobby Timmons, Kazumi Watanabe, Buster Williams, Herbie Hacock, Tony Williams, Joe Zawinul, Freddie Hubbard, Joni Mitchell, Lee Morgan, Jaco Pastorius, Carlos Santana and McCoy Tyner. In 2008, “The New York Times” described Shorter as “probably jazz’s greatest living small-group composer and a contender for greatest living improviser”. In 2017, he was awarded the “Polar Music Prize”. As leader, Shorter released 28 albums.