By Selena Stevens

Clarinetist Wayne Shorter has played with many major jazz figures, including Maynard Ferguson, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock.

Feb. 4, 2002 (Lexington, Ky.) -- The University of Kentucky 2001-02 Spotlight Jazz Series continues this spring with performance by the Wayne Shorter Quartet at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, at the UK Singletary Center for the Arts. Wayne Shorter began his foray into jazz at age 16, when he took up the clarinet, which he later traded for the tenor saxophone.

In 1956, he earned a degree in music education from New York University and, after two years in the U.S. Army, began a professional jazz career in 1959 with the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra. He became close friends with John Coltrane, who would become a musical mentor of sorts to him.

In 1959, Shorter made his breakthrough by joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Lee Morgan.

In 1964, he joined the Miles Davis Quintet, working and performing alongside Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams.

During the 1960s, he also recorded under his own name under the Blue Note label and wrote and played for many other Blue Note recording sessions. In the late '60s, Shorter and Joe Zawinul founded the fusion band Weather Report, which they co-led until 1985.

The Wayne Shorter Quartet will take the stage at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, at the UK Singletary Center for the Arts, located at the corner of Rose Street and Euclid Avenue.

The next event in the Spotlight Jazz Series will be a performance by the John Scofield Band at 8 p.m., Saturday, April 6, at the Lexington Opera House, 401 W. Short St., Lexington. Tickets for the Spotlight Jazz events are sold through the UK Student Center Ticket Office at (859) 257-8427 and Ticketmaster outlets.

 Ticket prices for the Wayne Shorter event are $17 for students and $25 for the public.

Spotlight Jazz is one of the oldest series of its kind at a university. It is sponsored by UK African-American Student Affairs and the UK Student Activities Board.