Fri, May 3 - 9pm - $17adv/$20door

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.Nearly two decades in, Mucca Pazza continues as a multi-disciplinary fantasy of original music, shouted dream poems and sweaty dance freak outs performed by a large-scale collective that exists due to the grace and love of its ever-changing roster.

 Chicago bassist/composer, Matt Ulery, is known for leading a diverse variety of bands in jazz and chamber music spectrums. With his freshest project, Ulery presents rousing new music with his modern-hot jazz brass band, Pollinator.Dustin Laurenzi / tenor saxophoneJames Davis / trumpetSteve Duncan / trombonePaul Bedal / pianoQuin Kirchner / drumsMatt Ulery / sousaphone