[2] After some preparatory classes, he enrolled in the engineering school at the ISEN in Lille, where he met the bassist Didier Levallet through whom he discovered jazz.
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 addition, he played with Éric Le Lann, Philip Catherine, Jacques Thollot, Richard Raux, Jean-Pierre Debarbat, Alain Jean-Marie, Paolo Fresu, and Pharoah Sanders.
In the course of his career, he accompanied singers Julos Beaucarne, Jacques Bertin, Maxime le Forestier, Eddy Mitchell, Stéphanie Crawford, Elisabeth Caumont, and Stella Vander.
[5] According to Graillier, he was influenced most by pianists Bud Powell, Bill Evans, and McCoy Tyner, and somewhat later Herbie Hancock in the Miles Davis quintet.
"[2] Xavier Prévost wrote in the Dictionnaire du Jazz, "Michel Graillier constructed an internal dialogue of breathing that knew how to make room for silence.