le Sacre du Tympan

Le Sacre du Tympan, a French jazz orchestra founded by Fred Pallem and featuring some of the world's finest soloists, has been interpreting original and film themes in its own humorous style since 1998. Born in Houilles (Yvelines) on February 1, 1973, rock-influenced bassist Fred Pallem trained at the jazz and improvised music department of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he learned to compose and arrange for orchestra and met the future members of his big band. Fred Pallem & Friendz included Rémi Sciuto, Christophe Monniot and Fred Gastard (saxophones), Médéric Collignon (flugelhorn, cornet), Frédéric Martinez (trumpet), Matthieu Donarier (clarinet, saxophones), Vincent Taeger (drums), Aude Challeat (flute) and Ludovic Bruni (guitar). The twenty-odd-strong band made a name for itself at the La Défense jazz festival, where it won first prize for orchestral work in 2000. 2002 saw the release of Le Sacre du Tympan, the title of which became the band's name, alluding to Igor Stravinsky's composition Le Sacre du printemps. After a second album, Le Retour! (2005), which won the Victoires de la musique revelation award, Le Sacre du Tympan turned to free interpretations of themes by Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, André Popp and Michel Magne in La Grande Ouverture (2008), nominated for a Victoires du jazz award. The album Soundtrax (2010) features cinematic themes, and subsequent releases on the orchestra's label, Train Fantôme, have the same thematic scope, while the personnel evolves: Présentent François de Roubaix (2015) with contributions from Barbara Carlotti, Katerine and Alice Lewis; Soul Cinema! (2017) and Cartoons (2018) are followed by L'Odyssée (2018), L'Odyssée Remix (2019), Racontent les Fables de La Fontaine (2020) and X (2022), which ranks #15 in the SNEP jazz survey (France).