Franck Vaillant was a Parisian born in 1972. He was ad-libbed in his teens as a rock guitarist, before the drums became a revelation to him. (When he was 17, he watched Buddy Rich on The Muppet Show). His heroes later on were Bill Bruford and Tony Williams, Daniel Humair and Stephane Galland. He also idolized Elvin Jones and Chander Sardjoe. He is a creative musician and adds his own personal touch to everyone he works alongside. Franck loves to mix everything percussive from the standard kit to custom-made, tinkered with, and electrified arrays. He loves to find the right sound for a song or band, and he enjoys making films. He was attracted to words and song from an early age. He played with the Varans de Komodo and Kabal, Arthur H and Fred Poulet, as well as occasional outings with Alain Bashung and Katerine, Brigitte Fontaine and Izia. Over four years, Franck participated in the Rock/World Music adventure by the Anjou band LO’JO. The band was formed in 1982 and has ten albums. The British daily The Independent rated them the “Best Live Group”. That group spirit was continued in Jazz with Print, Thot Agrandi and Caroline. They also performed with Wonder Brass Factory and Yves Robert. Vaillant has been a regular on Paul Ouazan’s research-workshops. He played with Mark Thomkins and Brad Scott, Mami Chau, Fred Poulet and Elise Caron. Not to mention the Underground adventure of Slam planet. He’s also a composer with a few film-soundtracks and pieces for his own band, Benzine. This includes “electro music” for the band’s electro-Situationist edition with guest-artists like Cyril Atef (Benoit Delbecq), Olivier Py, Jean-Philippe Morel, or Airelle Besson. Franck Vaillant, whether as a drummer or an arranger, is a musician who enjoys adventure. In ten years, Vaillant has recorded over thirty CDs, and has played nearly everywhere in the world. Jean-Luc Lehr plays electric and acoustic bass and Guillaume Orti plays alto saxophones and keyboards. Jozef Dumoulin plays piano, Rhodes piano, and combined electronics. These highly talented musicians are all from the experimental jazz fringes and have performed with Reggie Washington, Reggie Washington’s Magic Malik Orchestras, Octurn Quartets, Toots Thielemanss, Aka moon, David Lynx, the Belmondo brothers, and Jozef Dumoulin playing piano, Rhodes piano, combined electronics, and Reggie Washington. You can hear them on increasing numbers of records. Visit www.yolkrecords.com
