Michel Graillier (18 October 1946, Lens, Pas-de-Calais, France – 11 February 2003, Paris) was a French jazz pianist.
Biography
From the ages of four to eighteen, Graillier studied classical piano in Lens, France. During adolescence, he worked as a drummer with the amateur yéyé group, Les Chaps ("The Guys").
After some preparatory classes, he enrolled in the engineering school at the
ISEN
Isen may refer to:
*Isen, Bavaria, a town in Germany
*Isen, Kagoshima, a town in Japan
* Isen (river) in Bavaria, Germany
*The fictitious River Isen in Tolkien's literature
* ISEN, a group of three French higher education establishments
*Nissae Is ...
in
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...
, where he met the bassist
Didier Levallet
Didier Levallet (born 19 July 1944, in Arcy-sur-Cure, France) is a French jazz double bassist, composer, arranger and leader.
A self-taught bassist, Levallet made his professional debut in Paris in 1969, working with such artists as Ted Curson, ...
through whom he discovered jazz. In 1968, with a diploma in electrical engineering, he moved to Paris. He played in clubs, most notably at the Caméléon, in a trio with Aldo Romano and Jean-François Jenny-Clark. He made his first recording in 1969 with Steve Lacy. For three years, he accompanied violinist
Jean-Luc Ponty
Jean-Luc Ponty (born 29 September 1942) is a French jazz violinist and composer.
Early life
Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians in Avranches, France. His father taught violin, his mother taught piano. At sixteen, he was admitt ...
. His first album for Agartha Records appeared in 1970, on which he was accompanied by Alby Cullaz and Bernard Lubat. During the same he year, he recorded ''Pianos Puzzle'' with
Georges Arvanitas
Georges Arvanitas (June 13, 1931 – September 25, 2005) was a French jazz pianist and organist.
Life and career
He was born in Marseille, a child of Greek immigrants from Constantinople. At the age of four he began studying piano and initially ...
,
René Urtreger
René Urtreger (born July 6, 1934) is a French bebop pianist.
Early life
Urtreger was born in Paris and began his piano studies at the age of four, studying privately first, and then at the Conservatory. He studied with an orientation toward jaz ...
, and Maurice Vander. Due to personal problems, he withdrew from performing for a period of time.
In 1972, he was invited by drummer Christian Vander to play piano in his group
Magma
Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...
, which he did for two years. Following that, he played with
Christian Escoudé
Christian Escoudé (born 1947) is a French Gypsy jazz guitarist.
He grew up in Angoulême and is of Romani descent on his father's side. His father was also a guitarist who was influenced by Django Reinhardt. When Escoudé was ten, his father b ...
,
François Jeanneau François Jeanneau (born June 15, 1935, Paris) is a French jazz saxophonist, flautist, and composer.
Jeanneau studied flute under René Leroy at the Paris Conservatory, but was an autodidact on saxophone.Michel Laplace, "Francois Jeanneau". '' The ...
, and others. For several years, he was the regular pianist at the club Riverbop. Here he had the opportunity to play Americans in Paris who were on tour, such as
Philly Joe Jones
Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American jazz drummer.
Biography Early career
As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio station WIP. He wa ...
and Steve Grossman. He performed at the club Dréher in Paris and at Magnetic Terrasse, usually in trio with Alby Cullaz and Christian Vander, but also with Barney Wilen or Jacques Pelzer.
In 1977 saxophonist and flutist Jacques Pelzer, whose daughter Micheline was married to Graillier, introduced him to Chet Baker. For the next ten years, Graillier accompanied Baker.
In addition, he played with Éric Le Lann,
Philip Catherine
Philip Catherine (born 27 October 1942) is a Belgian jazz guitarist.
Biography
Philip Catherine was born in London, England, to an English mother and Belgian father, and was raised in Brussels, Belgium. His grandfather was a violinist in the ...
, Jacques Thollot, Richard Raux, Jean-Pierre Debarbat, Alain Jean-Marie,
Paolo Fresu
Paolo Fresu ( sc, Pàulu; born 10 February 1961) is an Italian jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player, as well as a composer and arranger of music.
Career
Born in Berchidda, Sardinia, he picked up the trumpet at the age of 11, and played in the ba ...
, and Pharoah Sanders. He appeared regularly in duo with bassist
Riccardo Del Fra
Riccardo Del Fra (born February 20, 1956, Rome) is an Italian jazz double-bassist, bandleader, composer, and arranger.
Del Fra first played guitar, then switched to upright bass when he was sixteen years old. He studied at a conservatory, playe ...
and in trio with Alby Cullaz and Simon Goubert.
In the course of his career, he accompanied singers Julos Beaucarne,
Jacques Bertin
Jacques Bertin (27 July 1918 – 3 May 2010) was a French cartographer and theorist, known from his book ''Semiologie Graphique'' (''Semiology of Graphics''), published in 1967. This monumental work, based on his experience as a cartographer and ...
,
Maxime le Forestier
Maxime Le Forestier (; born 10 February 1949 as Bruno Le Forestier) is a French singer-songwriter.
Life and career
Bruno Le Forestier was born on 10 February 1949 in Paris to father Robert Le Forestier and mother Genevieve (née Lili 1917–2010 ...
According to Graillier, he was influenced most by pianists Bud Powell, Bill Evans, and
McCoy Tyner
Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Gram ...
, and somewhat later Herbie Hancock in the Miles Davis quintet.
But Graillier has also said of his influences, "Of course, the influences are there, but it is not worth talking about them, they are part of the normal evolution of any musician. A musician simply wants to play, regardless of his knowledge of the language. He is therefore obliged to learn the language that others have developed over decades and this language becomes more and more intelligible over time, just as a kid learns to write. Above all, the influence of the great pianists and musicians is mainly of value in showing one how to find one's own voice."
In his short autobiography, ''Le Monde la Musique'' (''The World and its Music''), Graillier cited a phrase from Pascal Anquetil, "There floats through all his music, a dreamy and sweetly drifting mist. A climate of peace that restores one on a summer night without knowing exactly why."
Xavier Prévost wrote in the ''Dictionnaire du Jazz'', "Michel Graillier constructed an internal dialogue of breathing that knew how to make room for silence."
Awards
*
Prix Django Reinhardt
The Prix Django Reinhardt is an award granted by the French Académie du Jazz for the best French jazz musician of the year. It is named after Django Reinhardt. The prize is determined by a jury of jazz journalists, producers, and musicians.
In 20 ...
Prize of the
Académie du Jazz The Académie du jazz (English: Jazz Academy) is a non-profit French association created in 1954, which annually awards the best artists and the best musical productions in the world of jazz. The founding president was violinist André Hodeir follo ...
Grand Prix du Disque
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
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* Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma
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, 2000
* Prix Boris Vian de l'Académie du Jazz, 2000
Discography
* ''Pianos Puzzle'' (
Saravah
Saravah is a French jazz record label founded by singer-songwriter Pierre Barouh in 1965.
Saravah released the album ''50 Years'' to celebrate its anniversary in the music business. The album included Albin de la Simone, Bastien Lallemant, ...
, 1970, 1991)
* ''Agartha'' (Saravah, 1970)
* ''Ad lib'' ( Musica, 1976)
* ''Libra'', (1976)
* ''In a Spring Way'', (1978)
* ''Toutes ces choses'' (Open, 1979)
* ''Dream Drops'' (Owl, 1981, 1992)
* ''Oiseaux de nuit'' with Alain Jean-Marie (
Le Chant du Monde
Le Chant du Monde is a French music publishing house. It was created in 1938 by Léon Moussinac and was supported in the beginning by classical composers Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Charles Koechlin, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Albert ...
, 1991, 2004)
* ''Fairly – The Complete Session'' (Le Chant du Monde, 1991, reedited in 2005)
* ''Fairly'' (Le Chant du Monde, 1991)
* ''Portrait in Black and White'' with Alain Jean-Marie ( EmArcy, 1991, 2005)
* ''Sweet Smile'' (1996; Sketch, 2006)
* ''Soft Talk'' (Sketch, 2000)
With Chet Baker
* '' Mr. B'' (Timeless, 1983)
*''
At Capolinea
''At Capolinea'' is an album by jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, recorded in Milan and originally on the Italian Jii label as ''Al Capolinea'' before being more widely released by Red Records.987
*'' Chet Baker Sings Again'' (Timeless, 1985)
* '' Candy'' (
Sonet
Synchronous optical networking (SONET) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) are standardized protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams synchronously over optical fiber using lasers or highly coherent light from light-emitting diode ...