Jazz at the Bechtler | 8:15 PM

French-born urban jazz harmonicist Frédéric Yonnet crushes every preconceived notion you’ve had about the harmonica. With each performance, stereotypical walls come tumbling down as Yonnet presents the harmonica in a refreshing and modern context that is boldly stylish, enchantingly cool, and absorbingly brilliant. Just listen to his sound. It funks. It rocks. It hips and hops. It grooves. It sways. It testifies. It prays. It has a reverence for gospel, blues, and jazz while appealing to a generation bred on pop, rock, and hip hop.

Yonnet’s musical skill and impressive stage presence landed him on tour with the late Prince, and he can frequently be seen dueling on stage with music legend Stevie Wonder. His collaboration with Dave Chappelle, aptly called Dave Chappelle’s Juke Joint featuring Frederic Yonnet and the Band with No Name, showcases his harmonica chops, improvisational skills, and music-directing prowess. The show, which takes partygoers on a musical journey reminiscent of the Juke Joints of the South, segues into a band vs. DJ battle with hip hop legend Derrick “DJ D-Nice” Jones. Conceived by Chappelle and Yonnet, it’s part concert, part comedy, and all-out unpredictable when their famous friends stop by to jam.

Yonnet has toured and recorded with some of the heaviest hitters in the music business, including legends Stevie Wonder, Prince, and David Foster. Yonnet has performed with John Mayer and R&B artist Erykah Badu, India.Arie, Anthony Hamilton, John Legend, The Roots, Usher, Anderson Paak, Robert Glasper, Mint Condition, and hip hop ciphers Talib Kweli, Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def), De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest.

Yonnet’s harmonica is the haunting instrumental sound you hear in Martin Scorsese’s Netflix film The Irishman (2019) and is the telling tune that evokes emotion in the director’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).

At the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Yonnet and his band, inspired by DJ D-Nice, quickly pivoted to perform live from a gutted-out property he had just started to renovate. Yonnet invited the neighbors to “eavesdrop” as they practiced from their socially distanced studio, complete with plastic curtains fabricated as walls to create a “Breaking Bad meets Dexter”-inspired space. They opened windows for air and the sound traveled, extending invitations to people in the neighborhood and on social media. Yonnet’s band was one of the first and only bands to perform together consistently throughout the quarantine with a live, in-person audience. As a result, print and broadcast media from around the world covered the story, including CNN, BBC, AFP, TF1, France 24, and France 2.