“Mucca Pazza’s compositions invoke a world of brass bands and marching bands, from American high-school style to zigzagging Balkan tunes to something akin to a Fellini soundtrack – fun in a relentless way.” – The New York Times
Mucca Pazza is a 30-odd-member rock ‘n roll marching band from Chicago, IL. Inspired by the subversive collaborations of Dada and Surrealism, Mucca Pazza seeks to attain the seemingly unattainable through an ever-evolving collective of artistic voices. Trumpets, trombones, saxes and sousaphones combine with guitar, mandolin, violin, cello and accordion, all on top of a rhythmic drumline — and all dressed in mismatched marching band uniforms. Add cheerleaders performing absurdist chants and you’ll quickly understand the band’s ethos: the bigger the better, the more the merrier, collectively jumping for joy.
Ever since the band assembled in 2004 in the distinctly Chicago parking lot of a steel mill, Mucca Pazza has melded original compositions with street-theater spectacle. Musical influences range from Béla Bartók to Balkan folk, Björk to Charles Mingus, Clara Schumann to Frank Zappa — they are as comfortable in a performance hall as they are in football stadium bleachers.
Press
“Mucca Pazza: Is it a New Orleans jazz ensemble, a gypsy street band, a P-Funk-style soul collective in disguise, or a little bit of all of the above? Don’t let the marching-band pedigree and costumes fool you — John Philip Sousa would not be amused. But the dancefloor will be filled as Mucca Pazza thunders across stylistic boundaries.” – Chicago Tribune
“Infectious, chaotic fun.” – WNYC
“Part instrumental daredevils, part rollicking performance artists (with well-worn school band uniforms, choreography and cheerleaders), the troupe is a natural favorite at festivals, despite which it has earned a reputation for serious musical chops, as at home in Stravinsky as in Sousa.” – New City
“Chicago’s Mucca Pazza splits the difference between Balkan gypsy brass bands and American football-game-style halftime marching bands with a brilliantly calculated mondo-bizarro dementia, and liberal amounts of humor.” – The Wall Street Journal
“One of the city’s most unique musical experiences.” – Time Out Chicago
What Mucca Pazza has done with its quirky style and high-energy performances is what band geeks like me used to consider impossible: They have made marching band cool.” – Vegas Seven
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