THE WASHINGTON POST
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FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2022EZ
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songs. Tips came flowing in, and so did requests
to play gigs elsewhere.
“From there,” says Gossett, “we just kept it
going.”
As the band added guitarist “Turn Up” DeAnte
Haggerty-Willis, keyboardist Peter “Mannyfan-
tom” Roberts and drummer Stan “Da Man”
Banks (plus new trumpeter “Cousin” Chris Alli-
son and trombonist Matt “Fuzzy Da Plug”
Thompson, as Bailey and Wilson moved to
double the vocals and keys, respectively), its
stylistic sweep grew as well. Contemporary
hip-hop and R&B infused with the jazz and funk,
with occasional flashes of just about every genre
imaginable. Each member of the band contribut-
ed original compositions and arrangements.
They made three recordings — “Halftime,”
“Eclectic Soul” and “Music Education” — which
hit streaming platforms and created fans outside
the D.C. area, including the five cities on their
tour.
Gossett says DuPont Brass’s first tour, origi-
nally planned for 2020, finds them at the top of
their game. “This is one of our best musical
presentations to date,” he says. “It’s next level for
sure.”Saturday at 7 p.m. at Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW.
unionstage.com. $20. Proof of coronavirus vaccination
is required for attendance.KYLE GUSTAFSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Texan rapper Maxo Kream performs at the 2018 Trillectro Music
Festival. He’ll bring his act to Union Stage on Saturday.... in pursuit of music unique to its
moment of creation,” the pair later
noted about their 2019 album,
“The Transito ry Poems.” True to its
title, the live album collects fleet-
ing moments of spontaneous vir-
tuosity that were inspired by and
in tribute to influences as varied as
free jazz pioneer Cecil Taylor and
painter-sculptor Jack Whitten.
This intimate concert is sold out,
but the experience can still be
streamed from home. Sunday at 4
p.m. at the Phillips Collection,
16 00 21st St. NW. phillipscollec-
SEE ROUND UP ON 7Music
BY CHRIS KELLY
Maxo Kream
As a r apper, Maxo Kream is
both a j ournali st and a j ournaler,
chronicling his trials and tribula-
tions and those of his family and
community. After a p articularly
rough couple of years — his grand-
mother was hospitalized for covid-
19, and he lo st his brother to gun
violence and a c ousin to suicide —
the 32-year-old Houston talent
had plenty of reasons to put pen to
paper to pacify pain on his latest
album, “Weight of the World.” As
always, Maxo’s syrup-thick voice
and consonance-heavy flow detail
the wheeling and dealing of a life
on the street, with an introspec-
tive approach most save for thera-
py. When he raps, “I’ve been
splurgin’ on my mama and that’s
the ... problem, it don’t help her
with trauma,” it sounds like a
breakthrough. Saturday at 10
p.m. at Union Stage, 740 Water St.
SW. unionstage.com. $25-$40.Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn
Twenty years ago, Vijay Iyer and
Craig Taborn came together as
part of avant-garde saxophonist
Roscoe Mitchell ’s Note Factory en-
semble, in which the pianist-com-
poser-bandleaders had to balance
the complexities of composition
and improvisation. “Our duo
formed in the crucible of that band4 concerts to catch, from
reggaeton spinoff to rap
BILL DOUTHART
Pianist Craig Taborn was once
part of the Note Factory group.BY MICHAEL J. WEST
DuPont Brass has made the rounds in its 11
years on the scene: It’s gone from Metro stations,
to clubs and theaters, to U Street’s annual Funk
Parade. But this time when the omnivorous
10-piece band hits D.C.’s Union Stage, those
rounds will cover a lot more ground. The
Saturday concert is the capstone of a five-city
tour.
“Our very first tour,” says Brent Gossett —
a.k.a. Bass Heavy Slim, the band’s sousaphone
player and manager. “We start in Atlanta, which
is one place the band has been really wanting to
go. Then we ’re stopping in Raleigh and Rich-
mond, heading up to Baltimore, and then com-
ing back down to D.C. on the 2nd. It’s pretty cool.”
It’s also a big step for what began as a
street-busking brass quintet, playing for com-
muters in hopes of paying for their Howard
University educations.
The original five — Gossett, trumpeters An-
thony “Aye Ant” Daniel Jr. and Jared “MK Zulu”
Bailey, and trombonists Joe “Jeauxsmeaux” Wil-
son and Isaac “Deacon Izzy” Bell IV — played
together in various school ensembles. They first
gathered as a unit in December 2011 to play
Christmas carols on the streets of Georgetown (a
Howard tradition).
“Georg etown wasn’t showing us any love” that
year, Gossett recalls. “But Anthony says, ‘Hey,
one of my friends told me that they really like
music over in Dupont Circle. We should try it.’ ”
They were an instant hit. They set up a regular
perch near the Dupont Circle south Metro
entrance, even naming themselves for it (al-
though they appeared at several other stations as
well), and built a repertoire of jazz, funk and popDuPont Brass takes
big step with first tour
ERICA L. BLAKE
DuPont Brass, which became a hit performing
at the Dupont Circle and other Metro stations,
will cap a five-city tour with a concert at D.C.’s
Union Stage on Saturday. The g roup, which
has made three recordings, blends jazz and
funk with contemporary hip-hop and R&B,
along with flashes of other genres.