Maceo Parker and Prince have been semi-regular collaborators since the late 1990s. The longtime James Brown saxophonist contributed to Prince’s 1999 album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic and, soon after, joined Prince’s backing band, The New Power Generation. Parker has performed as a member of Prince’s band for much of the past decade, including 2004’s tour in support of Musicology and portions of 2007’s The Earth Tour. Prince also sat in with Maceo Parker’s band at both Brooklyn, NY’s Prospect Park and Las Vegas’ House of Blues in 2006 (the latter gig was a Vegoose late night show).

Though Maceo Parker is not part of Prince’s band on his current Welcome 2 America tour, the two musicians shared the stage this past Friday at East Rutherford, NJ’s IZOD Center. Parker opened the show and brought Prince out on guitar for “We Gon Make It Funky.” Prince later returned the favor and invited Parker out for “I Love U, But I Don’t Trust U Anymore” during his headlining set. The show’s other opening act, Cassandra Wilson, engaged in a similar sit in swap with Prince.

Roots drummer Questlove attended all three of Prince’s New York-area shows and reviewed them on Twitter . Last night, he also joined Prince at New York’s Madison Square Garden for “ A Love Bizarre.”