A project from Pegazz & L’Hélicon Company,  National Company for Jazz

Pégazz & L’Hélicon is a musical collective built around Ping Machine : this 15 musicians large ensemble is a creative laboratory standing at the crossroads of jazz and contemporary music initiated in 2005 by Frédéric Maurin. As a complement to his orchestral writing, the collective federates also many smaller and more flexible formations led either by Frédéric Maurin or by other musicians-composers in order to offer further paths of exploration. Ranging from Schwab Soro duo, the electric guitars trio Flamenco Punk, the unconventional quartet Big Four, to the visionnary and largely acclaimed large ensemble Ping Machine. All of them are inventing the music of tomorrow on the French jazz scene. Due to the high quality of its production, Pégazz & L’Hélicon have been awarded the prestigious label « compagnie nationale » (national artistic company) from French Ministry of Culture.

Ping Machine is a multi-awarded large ensemble led by composer Frédéric Maurin. It’s a live musical utopia that combines the virtues of jazz, rhythmic ductility, art of orchestration, and a sense of dialogue between written and improvised music with the resources of contemporary music, richness of writing and immoderate love of sound spectrum. Being influenced by numerous composers (Stravinsky, Messiaen, Ligeti, Grisey, Frank Zappa, Steve Coleman, Meshuggah), Frédéric Maurin leads a continuous exploration by transgressing rules, mixing up sounds in order to produce a mindblowing imaginarium.

The collective dimension, the energy and the generosity of the 15 musicians of the band allow a true musical offering. On stage, their music is nor a mental thing, nor a speech meant to be interpreted : it is a straight emotion for the listeners allowing them to perceive what hides down behind the sound. As a major leading French ensemble, Ping Machine has been awarded financial support from French Ministry of Culture, Sacem, Spedidam and Adami.

« Fred Maurin reminds us that music is not just about heartbeats or stomps. This is an art that is beyond us and arises admiration » Thierry Quénum Jazz Magazine, France

« A true music for today (and probably for tomorrow…) due to the freedom of his language and its distinctive will to break boundaries. » Xavier Prévost, DNJ, France

« Ping Machine’s music is among the most dashing and splendid that one can hear in 2016. “Ubik” is a beautiful open land. We feel alive. » Pierre Tenne, review of “UBIK”, DJAM, France

« One of the most interesting music in today’s jazz sphere » Laurent Cugny, Jazz Magazine, France

« When listening to “Easy Listening”, I feel at home. And I want to come home with growing excitement, grabbed by the orchestral colors and the polyphonic scenarios. » Franck Bergerot, Jazz Magazine, France

« The result is not the unsightly illustration of a mind that would be monopolized by the issue of writing technique. In short, let us be clear: it is just beautiful. » Gilles Gaujarengues, review of “UBIK”, Citizen Jazz, France

« Whether in the form of violent eruptions or languid mouldings, it is the richness of tones, their balance, the tightness of the execution, the shimmering colors that grab you. A striking success. A pure wonder. » Guy Sitruck, Jazz à Paris, France