"What is music for? What is anything for?" Jazz saxophone legend Wayne Shorter explains that his music is crated out of the desire to tell stories, inspire hopes and celebrate life. After an exceptional 30-year career in music, Shorter is still in the music-making business for the right reasons and going strong. "No song is ever really finished. I aim to have some surprise and to go for the unexpected - I don't want to make the storytelling predictable and dull," said Shorter. "We play to inspire curiosity in people's lives and of course to have some good, old fashioned fun."

This Thursday, the University Musical Society presents the debut of the all-acoustic Wayne Shorter Quartet. Shorter will be joined by pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, all accomplished musicians in their own right.

Shorter is both known as saxophone improviser as well as composer. In the later '50s, after a short two-year stint in the army, Shorter became good friends with John Coltrane. Through this friendship they both learned to cultivate their own unique and ingenious talents. In 1959, at the age of 26, Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, placing him among top musicians. In 1964 Miles Davis asked Shorter to join his band with John McLaughlin, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. Shorter stayed with Davis for six years until 1970, when he formed his own fusion jazz/rock group called Weather Report.

Over the past 30 years, Shorter has helped to define new styles of music incorporating rock, classical, electronic and jazz. He has recorded with artists such as Joni Mitchell and Brazilian vocalist Milton Nascimento. Recently Shorter teamed up with old friend and band member Herbie Hancock. They appeared together at the Michigan Theater in 2000 after releasing their successful and critically-acclaimed album, 1+1.

Hancock once called Shorter "the master writer." This is true not only for Shorter's days working with smaller ensembles, but for larger ones as well. In 2000, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra commissioned Shorter to write a piece scored for large orchestra, jazz quartet and Latin percussion.

Shorter said that Miles Davis told him, "It takes 20 year before you run into a wave of people you want to work with." The band that Shorter has put together is fresh and exciting in its variety. Panamanian pianist and composer Danilo Perez combines Latin rhythms with jazz, earning him commissions from all over the world including the Chicago Jazz Festival to the renowned Concorso Internazionale di Composizione in Bologna, Italy. Bassist John Patitucci spent the decade of 1985 to 1995 touring with Chick Corea. Innovative drummer Brian Blade has recorded with a wide range of artists ranging from Joshua Redman and Kenny Garrett, to Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois and Joni Mitchell.

In putting together his quartet Shorter said, "I imagined them playing together and then inserted myself."