Sting, Wayne Shorter win 2017 Polar Music Prize

Reuters: British rock star Sting and American jazz musician Wayne Shorter have been awarded Sweden’s Polar Music Prize, committee officials said on Tuesday.

The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by ABBA manager Stig Anderson and the winners each receive one million Swedish crowns ($113,000).

“As a composer, Sting has combined classic pop with virtuoso musicianship and an openness to all genres and sounds from around the world,” the committee said in a statement.

“Sting is a true citizen of the world, who has also been indefatigable in using his position as an arena-filling artist to promote human rights.”

The committee said saxophonist and composer Shorter had “constantly sought out untravelled paths” in a career that included work in groups such as Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet and Weather Report.

“As a solo artist he has been making albums for six decades, and he has written a number of the most enduring compositions in the history of jazz,” the committee said.