"Preservation of blues music is no more or less important than the preservation of any other artistic human endeavor. Blues doesn't need missionaries, it doesn't need proselytizing, it doesn't need to be artificially kept alive. Blues music will live on for as long as there is popular music. You can find the blues even in the most insipid, shallow forms of commercially-oriented pop music. It is here to stay. It is in the human genome at this point."

Franck L. Goldwasser: A Blues Musketeer 

Formerly known in blues circles as “Paris Slim”, Franck L. Goldwasser was born and raised in Paris, France in the 1960’s and studied fine arts before moving to Oakland, California in 1983. A self-taught guitarist and vocalist, Goldwasser began studying the recordings of Elmore James, B.B. King, and T-Bone Walker at age 16. In 1978, Goldwasser’s first public appearance finds him jamming with the renowned harmonica player Sugar Blue, then a Paris resident. Gaining experience while sitting-in with visiting American bluesmen such as Luther Allison, George Smith, Jimmy Dawkins, and Phillip Walker, Goldwasser lands his first professional gigs as backup guitarist for his idol Texas-bred California bluesman Sonny Rhodes in Paris and Reims. Following Rhodes’ invitation to come to California, the Frenchman spends three months in Oakland and Los Angeles in 1981, meeting and jamming with Big Mama Thornton, Smokey Wilson, Lowell Fulson, Frankie Lee, Mark Naftalin, Buddy Ace, Troyce Key and J.J. Malone, Cool Papa, and Mark Hummel, while documenting the West Coast blues scene for the French music magazine Soul Bag.                                (Franck L. Goldwasser, aka “Paris Slim” / Photo by Nico Dreier)

Having moved permanently to the San Francisco Bay Area in June 1983, Franck Goldwasser immerses himself in the vibrant East Bay blues scene, quickly landing a job in singer-guitarist Troyce Key’s band. While gigging every weekend at the famed Eli Mile High club, he hones his skills working alongside West Coast blues titans Percy Mayfield, Lowell Fulson, and Jimmy McCracklin, as well as Bay Area blues luminaries Omar “The Magnificient” Shariff (formerly Dave Alexander), Johnny Heartsman, Ron Thompson, and Elvin Bishop. His new album “Who Needs This Mess!!??”, the title track of which features musical cohorts Charlie Musselwhite, Sugaray Rayford and Kirk Fletcher, released in July 2023 on CrossCut Records. Like his storied career, the fifteen-track collection features a star-studded cast of friends, on a journey that flows over the musical landscape that grew out of the blues and his love for the guitar.

Interview by Michael Limnios

How do you describe your sound, music philosophy and songbook?

I consider myself a link in a chain, an inheritor of a very rich and potent musical lineage. I feel very much indebted to the artists of that tradition who have preceded me and who passed it on to me. I also feel a responsibility to carry it on and pass it on to the next generation and to share it with whoever is willing to receive it. I realize how precious a gift it is, particularly in these times of extreme confusion, anxiety and uncertainty. I am convinced that blues music, because of its simplicity and immediacy has the power to reach people of all backgrounds in a very powerful and profound way and to support them in helping them to cope. I chose to sing songs that are well written, that tell a story or that have strong emotional content. There are songs that I love but that I wouldn't attempt to do because the content is too foreign to my personal experience. Playing music is a cathartic and therapeutic practice for me. If it wasn’t for music, chances are good that I wouldn’t be around by now.

I would hope that my music reflects the places and times where have honed my craft, namely the San Francisco Bay Area of the early 80's, and that it is inhabited by the spirit of the artists who have mentored me and the audiences I have played and sung for.

The material that I choose to perform and record, whether my own or other people's, is necessarily a vehicle for expressing my own experiences and emotions but almost more importantly a channel through which I can become one with the audience. That is absolutely essential, and if I'm able to reach that place I feel like I have truly done my job.                       (Photo: self-taught guitarist/vocalist Franck L. Goldwasser, aka “Paris Slim”)

"Having spent a lot of time within the Black community and around Black musicians and fans in the United States has undoubtedly impacted the way I experience being alive in the world. My relationship with music and my responsibility as an entertainer and the role that I have within society are vital to my mental and emotional health. The only time I feel truly alive is when I am performing."

Where does your creative drive come from?

The creative drive, what some people call inspiration, is for me the manifestation of an openness and freedom that allows me --- when I let it --- to tap into what's fundamental and primal about being a human being on this planet.

How has the Blues and Roots music influenced your views of the world and the journeys you’ve taken?

Having spent a lot of time within the Black community and around Black musicians and fans in the United States has undoubtedly impacted the way I experience being alive in the world. My relationship with music and my responsibility as an entertainer and the role that I have within society are vital to my mental and emotional health. The only time I feel truly alive is when I am performing.

Are there any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions which you’d like to share with us?

My most precious musical memories and experiences are those that I've shared with musicians with whom I've had an authentic human connection. Having played with and connected with some of my musical heroes has gifted me some of my most precious memories, source of pride and inner strength. One of my most cherished memories is of having my first record being played on the jukeboxes of some of the clubs I played at in the early and mid-80's, particularly Eli Mile Club, the club in Oakland where I got my start.

Which meetings have been the most important experiences for you? What was the best advice anyone ever gave you?

Meeting Sonny Rhodes in 1980 changed the course of my life. Meeting Troyce Key, a year later was also a point of “no return”.

"The first thing that comes to mind is that you have to be your authentic self; don’t be a poseur, don’t be a pretender, don’t try to be someone else and don’t try to impress. Be sincere and trust that your story can stand on its own; be respectful of what others have to offer; everyone’s got a different story to tell. If you’re a sideman in a project, your primary goal should be to serve the creator’s vision as best as you can. If you are able to contribute to it with your own creativity, so much the better." (Photo: Franck L. Goldwasser with Troyce Key Band, 1983)

What do you miss most nowadays from the blues of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

Blues music is indissociably from the culture, times and places that permitted it to be born. Times have changed, people don’t live the same way, don’t have the same challenges. Technology has evolved. The blues-based music that is played today has very little in common with the original music which once was a vital part of people’s lives within a certain community; for the most part, the music that is played today that we call “blues” is an ersatz, nobody will listen to it thirty years from now. But some of the blues music from the 20’s through the 60’s, people will still listen to that 300 years from now.

What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? How do you want the music to affect people?

I’m sorry, I’m neither a sociologist nor an anthropologist, I’m just a little guitar player. When it comes right down to it, people just want to be entertained; and if I’m able to give them that then I’m doing my job.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

The first thing that comes to mind is that you have to be your authentic self; don’t be a poseur, don’t be a pretender, don’t try to be someone else and don’t try to impress. Be sincere and trust that your story can stand on its own; be respectful of what others have to offer; everyone’s got a different story to tell. If you’re a sideman in a project, your primary goal should be to serve the creator’s vision as best as you can. If you are able to contribute to it with your own creativity, so much the better.

What's the balance in music between technique and soul?

Technique is essential to the extent that it permits you to express what you feel, to manifest the music that corresponds as accurately as possible to what pleases you esthetically and satisfies you emotionally. The perfect level of technical skill is that which makes it possible to reach that goal. Technical skill, proficiency on an instrument as an end to itself is completely futile, it is death.

"The creative drive, what some people call inspiration, is for me the manifestation of an openness and freedom that allows me --- when I let it --- to tap into what's fundamental and primal about being a human being on this planet."

(Franck L. Goldwasser / Photo by Monty Pollack)

Why is it important to we preserve and spread the blues?

Preservation of blues music is no more or less important than the preservation of any other artistic human endeavor. Blues doesn't need missionaries, it doesn't need proselytizing, it doesn't need to be artificially kept alive. Blues music will live on for as long as there is popular music. You can find the blues even in the most insipid, shallow forms of commercially-oriented pop music. It is here to stay. It is in the human genome at this point.

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