Alkyl aryl ketones are important structures with applications in many areas of chemistry. Hence, efficient procedures for their production are particularly attractive. In this communication, a general and efficient carbonylative cross-coupling of aryl iodides and unactivated alkyl bromides is presented. By using a simple palladium catalyst, a series of alkyl aryl ketones were synthesized in moderate to excellent yields from readily available alkyl and aryl halides in an In-Ex tube with formic acid as the CO source. In this study both primary and secondary alkyl bromides/iodides were suitable coupling partners. Additionally, this method can also be employed for the late-stage functionalization of complex natural products and polyfunctionalized molecules.