MUCCA PAZZA EPK

BIOGRAPHY

Mucca Pazza is an intrepid interdisciplinary instrumental music ensemble from Chicago, IL. Since 2004, they have made a name for themselves playing alarmingly danceable music composed and arranged especially for their implausible instrumentation by band members - original music which defies classification but has bloomed out of manifold influences, from surf to Stravinsky, from Bartok to Zappa, from Esquivel to Ellington. In addition to blaring trumpets, slithering saxophones, clarinets, trombones, and tubas, the band boasts a drumline that seems to share a single nervous system, an entire section of disparate instruments that don’t belong anywhere near a marching band (electric guitars, accordion, violin, and yes, a cello), and contains within its multitudes a cheer squad that performs absurdist cheers and asymmetrical, impressively low-to-the-ground pyramids. No-one has ever been completely certain of the exact number of people in Mucca Pazza. Everyone can be completely certain that this group of weirdos belongs together! Mucca Pazza: embracing the absurd! in solidarity with the improbable!

VIDEOS

Mr. Spider Goes Home to Spiderland

Rest on Muffin Street

Barbarous Relic

Boss Taurus

NPR's Tiny Desk

PRESS QUOTES

“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

“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

“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

“Wearing mismatched, thrift-shop marching-band getups and sporting a full range of brass, drums, violin, accordion and electric guitar — plus a gaggle of nerdy cheerleaders ("I Heart A Scientist," proclaimed one's T-shirt) — Mucca Pazza wreaks visual havoc onstage. But here's the surprise: It also puts on an incredibly tight performance, with music that's an irresistible blend of punk DIY aesthetics, a Balkan brass lilt and the irrepressible energy of good old-fashioned American high-school marching bands.” - NPR Music

“Infectious, chaotic fun.” - WNYC

“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

“Sophisticated weirdness” - Chicagoist

“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