On May 30th, Trombone Shorty performed at the 16th annual Sesame Workshop gala in New York City. The event, which benefits the nonprofit organization behind the beloved children’s program Sesame Street, was a high-profile affair, hosted by TV personality and host Katie Couric and, of course, a bunch of muppets including Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, and many others. In addition to honors given out across the night, the gala primarily celebrated the launch of Sesame Workshop’s newly established Joan Ganz Cooney Fund for Vulnerable Children.

However, given that this is a music site, most importantly, the gala gave us a series of amazing photos of Trombone Shorty partying with a bunch of muppets, including Elmo, Count von Count, and Zoe. Furthermore, to commemorate the famed New Orleans-bred musician and bandleader’s musical contributions to the evening, Sesame Street crafted a custom Trombone Shorty muppet. You can check out Trombone Shorty’s Twitter post about his muppet doppelgänger below, plus check out more pictures of Trombone Shorty, Katie Couric, and other muppets at the gala here.

The Trombone Shorty muppet is the second TV-stylized version of the Orleans Avenue bandleader we’ve seen this year. In March, a cartoon version of him appeared on The Simpsons during a special episode about New Orleans.