A few New Orleans musicians were in for a treat when Dave Chappelle and T.I. teamed up with them for an impromptu jam session in the courtyard at Rare Form on Frenchmen Street.
As first reported by NOLA.com, the pair rocked out with the Matt Galloway Band—Galloway, Aaron Walker, Anthony Coleman, Phil Morin, Dave Masucci and Elmo Price—on Wednesday night. Snarky Puppy keyboardist Shaun Martin, Stevie Wonder/Janet Jackson drummer John Roberts and Stevie Wonder/Prince harmonica player Frederic Yonnet also joined the fray, as did Danny Danny Abel, Eric “Benny” Bloom and Khris Royal.
A video of the jam was posted on Instagram by Yonnet, who captured some footage of T.I. rapping before Chappelle yelled into the camera (fellow comedian Hannibal Buress can also be seen hanging out at the gathering). Apparently Chappelle caught the Matt Galloway Band’s performance at the same club on Sunday night and resolved to return when he heard they would be back for their weekly gig on Wednesday. According to Price, Chappelle gave the group a new name during last night’s extravaganza: Champion Swag.
Chappelle is in New Orleans for a four-night run of sold out stand-up shows at the Saenger Theatre with Chris Tucker, the first of which went down last night. However, it looks like those won’t be the comedy icon’s only performances in town. According to another Instagram post from Yonnet, Chappelle will host one of his mysterious “Juke Joint” parties at an undisclosed location this Friday, February 17. The event will feature Chappelle, along with Yonnet & The Band With No Name, DJ D-Nice and DJ Trauma.
The rare Juke Joint pop up shows are put on by Chapelle from time to time, and if past editions are any indication it seems like just about anything could happen (Usher, Bradley Cooper, Ed Sheeran, Q-Tip and John Legend are among the guest who have appeared at parties) . It’s tough to know exactly what goes down, of course, since attendees are forced to give up their phones. A limited number of tickets to the Juke Joint were on sale for $75, but it appears that they have already sold out.
