They have played at festivals including Lollapalooza, made appearances on shows including “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and had their music featured on TV series such as Golden Globe-winning “Transparent.”
Mucca Pazza brings its eccentric ensemble to Freedom Hall on Oct. 20 when it helps the Park Forest venue open its 2017-18 season. The two-act performance includes “Sitting in Chairs” and “A Little Marching Band.”
“This is our new national show that we’re bringing to the audiences,” said Rick Kubes, a percussionist for Mucca Pazza.
Talking via phone from a downtown Chicago school where he is studying massage therapy, Kubes said, “This is our take on the big band show so we have mismatched big band uniforms. We use pot holders as epaulets. We have the official stage setup of the big band risers and theatrical physical setup. We have our members come out and conduct. Our band found a way to open up for our other band.”
After intermission, Mucca Pazza hit the stage on its feet and in mismatched homemade marching band and cheerleading uniforms.
“It’s our two-setter, which has got both of our bands, sitting and standing. You really get the full spectrum of Mucca Pazza at this show,” Kubes said.
“Our music selection goes anywhere from gypsy funk to rock fusion. We found a place where there was just so much joy and energy and fire amongst us as musicians.”
Kubes, who got his musical start in the performance arts troupe Jellyeye Drum Theatre, has been with Mucca Pazza since its formation in 2004 when founding members, many of whom met while working with the now-defunct Redmoon Theater in Chicago, started collaborating at the Hideout.
“It was probably seven or eight of us innocently just reading some music a couple times here and there. It just seemed like even though we were starting the band, nobody had any idea where it was going to head,” he said.
“We didn’t really know how it was going to affect the audience. It really just took one Hideout show to stamp its face in history. The minute we started playing, it was just some crazy dancing going on. What started out as seven, a couple months later was 13.
“The next thing you know we had dang nearly 30 people. It was just a steamroll effect. We had such an effect on everyone we played for.”
Kubes said Mucca Pazza headlining the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2013 was unforgettable.
“It was our first international trip. It’s just absolutely considered one of the greatest jazz festivals on the planet. Just the sprawling geography of it and the music itself was just unbelievable,” he said.
“It was the heaviest hitters of jazz and we got invited with our goofy schtick. As excited as we were, we were also so nervous. It was one of our greatest playing experiences. What a visual. What a feeling. It’s just something I’ll cherish forever.”
Freedom Hall’s main series continues with Toronzo Cannon on Nov. 10, Masters of Soul on Dec. 1, “Unforgettable: Falling in Love with Nat King Cole” starring Evan Tyrone Martin on Feb. 2 and Mokoomba on March 16. Shows are at 7:30 p.m.
Gatlin Brothers (Oct. 17), “Michael Ingersoll: Try a Little Tenderness” (Nov. 7), “A Carpenters Christmas” (Dec. 5), “Laughing Matters: the Life and Laughs of Carol Burnett” (Feb. 13), Cherish the Ladies (March 13) and Travis LeDoyt’s “A Tribute to the King” (April 10) are presented at 11 a.m. for the matinee series.
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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Mucca Pazza
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20
Where: Freedom Hall, 410 Lakewood Blvd., Park Forest
Tickets: $35
Information: 708-747-0580; freedomhall.org