Francois..
Francois Grillot was my brother, and for many years my closest musical ally. The reason we were so tight for me is that we met in the trenches, the survival gig. Francois was a musician like me, but to exist he had to work some kind of full time job most of his life that wasn’t music. I was working at the also now deceased Tower Records at Lincoln Center, NYC. I had worked my way up to being head of shipping and receiving and CD’s were in full bloom. Francois was a cashier in the classical department and we first met when I took notice of his shirt: there were 3 wolves running to the right surrounded by lightning on it. He wanted overtime and the store manager sent him to me. I remember I gave him the job to figure out these baskets of product that had no barcode, ah retail. As we got to talking he heard I was looking for a bass player for a jam session I was starting in Chelsea at this place called the Rainy Daze, which is now a parking lot. Francois told me “You should hire me for this, I can play this shit I’m telling you!” Turned out he lived in Hell’s Kitchen within walking distance from the store. Francois invited me to his now well known amongst musicians kitchen to play. We started the gig at the Rainy Daze which lasted over a year on the weekends. I’ll never forget in the winter Francois would show up with his lady at the time wearing a coat that had a giant male Lion head on the front. At first we were playing straight-ahead but it wasn’t long before we started playing Stella by Starlight by improvising on each chord and phrase of the melody at length, really expanding and opening up. Playing like this was new to us both. I still remember our main tunes. Alone Together, Stella, Body & Soul, Lester Leaps In, Blue Monk, and Impressions super fast. Around this time we recorded Misty in the kitchen, I wish I still had that somewhere. Like all jam sessions it ran it’s course and I went to join a low-key cult in upstate NYC. I was gone for a couple years but I got a message from Francois through my friend Sarah which was “Tell Matt to fucking call me!”
I made my way back to NYC and went right back to Tower Records, except now Francois was running the receiving department and he was my boss. Francois then became the jazz buyer and I got my old position back. After this Francois got fired and I became the jazz buyer. During this time I’ll never forget I started playing free, and invited Francois to a session with the great trombonist Steve Swell and drummer Todd Capp. Francois took to it like a fish to water and at this point his musical world went through a dramatic shift. It wasn’t long before the sessions started at the kitchen and literally almost every musician I know was over there at some point. We had both found out musically where we belong.
During these years Francois was the absolute key in the stories from my previous Substacks on Giuseppi Logan and Bern Nix. His kitchen was home base for both bands and we were there just all the time. I’ve told both of these stories here. Two recordings exist. The Giuseppi Logan Quintet and The Bern Nix Quartet. Both would not exist without Francois. He made it possible to do the work, and in fact he produced and financed Bern’s record himself! Giuseppi followed every move Francois made on bass, and Bern and Francois had a deep connection. Then there was that time at Nublu when both bands combined into one! We kept playing over the years and he was of course the original and only bassist in my orchestra the 12 Houses for over 10 years. As time went on his lifestyle started to catch up with him, though he played as much as he could to the end.
Those that knew Francois knew he liked to get down, and by that I mean drink Vodka. Musicians in the kitchen knew that in the fridge you might only find a mustard, 1 vodka, and another Vodka in the freezer. No judgement here, just reality. The same kind of reality for Charlie Parker and Paul Gonsalves in a way. The greatest example of this of all time is here when Duke Ellington put Paul in the fire in front of a huge crowd in France. After leaving Paul hanging out to dry (he had survived the event!) Duke tells the crowd “Paul Gonsalves, drunk again!”
Francois was able to drink and play at a high level most of the time, the proverbial high wire act. As ever, the human body always has the last word, and eventually his body had enough. He was playing less and less. During this time his inner circle formed an intervention and he complied, but it wasn’t easy. He reached the end of the road and was dry, or so I thought when I went to the kitchen for a session with the new Francois, but then old Francois answered the door. After all our years playing together that genuinely freaked me out, as the doctors told him he was down to weeks if he didn’t stop. I ended up moving to Philadelphia when Charles Waters called me with the news. For me, Steve Swell really summed it up best when he said that Francois lived the life he wanted.
Francois wanted to and chose to experience his life the way he wanted to. If somebody wants to live a full life for 65 years instead of a dry, extended out, lonely and painful life of 75 years, that’s certainly their right to do so as a soul. Francois gave it all to the musical moment. He was one of the best and most engaged listeners I have ever known. The vitality in his sound and swing were always just bursting. His knowledge of music was extensive, and he was fearless. He was also a true master of harmolodics. Francois could play the supporting role of the bass and co-create at the same time. He was also into what we could discover together. The best example of this, and my favorite Francois musical moment is his playing here on You're the Tonic. Recorded by Francois right in the kitchen. This was the band I was getting ready to tour Sweden with at the time. Francois would boost the bass in the recording so that he was equal to the horn and was essentially soloing with you and backing you at the same time. On this one I was purposely playing a really long solo in time, but I had no idea that he would elevate what we were doing to such a high level. Check it out with headphones! Bob Hubbard on drums was certainly a reason this worked, and Brother Ras Moshe plays an incredible solo. I was looking as I still am to put in and out together on the same elevator going up. On to more music…
Francois was on my first record as a leader on the CIMP label in 2002 Handling the Moment. Worked up in the kitchen of course. Francois sets the vibe up on Roy Campbell, a blues portrait of Roy. When hearing this Roy said “That’s me.”
Trumpet Rising, Bass Clarinet Moon was next in 2004. Somehow even spotify didn’t get their slimy hands on this one. Francois is at full power here, magnificent playing in a live set. He drives the whole band really.
Next was a band that worked quite a lot, I have 14 mini-discs of us playing live. Morcilla. I replaced drums with Andre Martinez on congas. This is a great one that was slept on for sure. With less drum action, Chris Forbes and Francois filled in the space, but the rhythm was still there. I was hanging with Ornette at this time and trying to process that. Our one record was self-produced and called The Manifestation Drama. Again, Francois is very deep here, far more than the bass player. Another Roy Campbell flashback, Morcilla played the 269 once with Ras Moshe and I played a new tune. Roy said “This sounds like you have a new lady.” Of course at the time, I had indeed just started a new relationship that felt good at the time, but I hadn’t told Roy about her yet.
Next in our journey, I was out to feature Francois in a full on orchestral environment, and finally got to do that with the 12 Houses on this piece titled Bloodstreams. I wasn’t going for a creepy murder scene, but more like the flow of blood inside the body. The whole tones gave it a slight haunting nevertheless. Francois true sound is captured well here.
Francois was born and raised in France. His musical story began there in the 70’s playing Fusion. I am just floored to find Edition Spéciale on YT. This was clearly full on full power Fusion in 1978. I used to like to ask Francois about this period as they were so large in France they were playing stadiums! At some point America called..
Francois made one remarkable record as leader. I was urging him to do so, just believing in his work when he was so busy playing with so many other people. The result was the extraordinary Contraband. All original music with a truly stellar group. Roy Campbell, Catherine Sikora, Daniel Levin, Anders Nilsson, and Jay Rosen were and are all leaders that came together, but on this live recording the music was the leader.
Francois sideman work was hard to fully track down, but definite standouts and ways to hear him further in 4 different unique environments are with Steve Swell, Catherine Sikora, Chris Kelsey, and Rocco John. Check out his duo with Cheryl Pyle.
No piece on Francois would be complete without a few stories, and I have my favorite for better or worse over the years.
As he told me, he was on tour in Canada at a packed bar, and at the bar. He sounded off on the whole place declaring “You people are all bullshit! I’m the real and true French!” (They threw him out)
Crossing the street in Hell’s Kitchen with his bass and a car tried to jump the light too early and bumped him. He slammed down his fist on the hood and told the driver to fuck off. The driver got out and tried to attack him. With one hand holding the bass, he used his other hand to deflect the blows on a Bruce Lee tip. The driver never landed a direct hit.
Trying to get through a a subway turnstile late at night with his bass. The neck got stuck in the turnstile. He was trapped. NYPD showed up and said he was blocking pedestrian flow and forced him through doing serious damage to the bass.
Francois and Giuseppi Logan were on a smoke break outside the Firehouse Space in Brooklyn when the NYPD arrested him because he looked like a murder suspect. He got out the next day thankfully.
All stories while he was out there getting to the next gig. Then there’s the stories that are in person only.
Drilling down to the center of my brotherhood with Francois is a mystical experience. I have had these throughout my life and may write about them someday. I had a communication with Francois, after, his death. How? I cannot explain it, but it was him, because only Francois would get this real on me. I wrote it all down and saved it.
“You practice too much.”
“Stop making calculations when you play. Are you writing an equation or making music?”
“I like the bass clarinet more than the alto, and the flugel more than the trumpet.”
“Are you composing or improvising? Choose a path man and let’s go!”
“Your writing sucked in the beginning, but you’re making improvement.”
“Your always too serious about everything, lighten up man.”
Francois was more about playing music with people, the exchange, than anything else.
In another stunning act of mysticism, after Francois passed on his bass went to the famous David Gage bass shop. During our Bern Nix days we had all met Bern’s buddy Ray Bally I, he was a big help to Bern. We also met his son, Ray II. Ray II is a bass player and he was looking to move on a serious bass purchase. He tried a bunch of them at David Gage over several days and finally chose the one.
Without knowing it, he had just bought Francois lifetime bass that he played when we were all together at Ray’s house getting ready to go on a tour. Somehow Francois and his bass made it back home in a way.
One thing Francois asked me to do while he was here, was that should anything happen to him, that the 12 Houses record his piece Hymn to the Universe, and that we make sure his daughter Charlotte gets a copy. The link is from our recording of it to be released in the future. We got you covered Francois. I found out years later from our great flute player Mary Cherney that this song was for Francois late parents to dance to back in France. I’ve always loved this kind of hymn waltz that to me has said just do the best you can in life-trust and salute the process at the same time. Try to enjoy life while it’s happening because it all works out in the end. Francois wanted flugelhorn on this piece. His spirituality is somewhat revealed here. More details about his life can be found here in his Local 802 Obituary.
“Francois had a sharp wit and an inexhaustible imagination.” - Nick Gianni
May he rest in invincible intrepid and infinite swing
For Francois and his music
Francois on the move by Eric John Eigner
Cover photo above by Gil Selinger