“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.