Wayne Shorter at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Legendary saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter performed with his quartet at the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Art After 5 series on Friday, April 23, 2010, to a crowd of almost 4,000 people. In 2009, the museum received support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage to commission Shorter for a new work for its highly regarded series. The resulting performance featured the debut of Lotus, followed by a program of Shorter's past works, and broke all previous Art After 5 attendance records. Preceding the concert, Shorter and his quartet, composed of pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade, discussed their influences and creative process in a live panel discussion with music journalist Tom Moon, curated and made possible through the Center.

Shorter is a seminal figure in American music, a six-time Grammy Award winner and the recipient of a 1998 Jazz Master Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has collaborated and performed with a host of jazz greats and music legends, including Miles Davis, Art Blakey, and Herbie Hancock, and his playing and composing over the last 50 years have helped to shape a range of jazz idioms, from hard bop to cool jazz, free jazz, fusion, and beyond. Shorter is a practicing Buddhist and took inspiration for his new piece from the museum's East Asian Art collection; the resulting work was a unique addition to his extraordinary body of musical compositions. His collaboration with the Philadelphia Museum of Art served as a reminder of Philadelphia's historical and contemporary relevance as a jazz center.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art's Art After 5 series features international music on the first Friday of every month and recognized and emerging jazz artists on all other Fridays, combining live performance with a cabaret and lounge setting inside the museum's Great Stair Hall.