Soon he was playing truant from school so he could hang out at the local movie house and play music. Once out of school, he moved to New York University to study music, but one senses his real education came from hanging out in clubs, watching bands such as Dizzy Gillespie’s and joining them for jam sessions afterwards.

People began to notice this intense young saxophonist with the lightning-fast fingers. “They called me the New Jersey Flash,” says Shorter, with a husky laugh. He endured 18 months in the US army, but even before he was discharged Shorter was being courted by jazz luminaries.

“My company commander gave me permission to play three gigs with Horace Silver, and the last time I played this lady came up to me and said, 'My husband wants to meet you.’ That’s how I met [John] Coltrane. He told me he was going to leave Miles Davis’s group, and I could have that spot if I wanted it.” Which is how Shorter came to play in Davis’s second great quintet for six years.