Wayne Shorter’s compositions have become jazz standards, and his music has earned worldwide recognition, critical praise and various commendations. He has also received acclaim for his mastery of the soprano saxophone after switching his focus from the tenor in the late 1960s beginning an extended reign in 1970 as Down Beat’s annual poll-winner on that instrument, winning the critics’ poll for 10 consecutive years and the readers’ for 18. The New York Times described Shorter in 2008 as “probably jazz’s greatest living small-group composer and a contender for greatest living improviser”.