Unanimously recognized as "one of the greatest jazz pianists of his generation" (Le Monde), Paul Lay has received the most prestigious awards, including the Grand Prix of the Académie Charles Cros in 2014 for his album Mikado, which distinguishes him on the international stage as a creator. Instrumentalist of the year at the Victoires du Jazz (2020), Paul Lay is also the winner of numerous prestigious prizes, including the Soloist Prize at the Concours de la Défense, the Moscow Piano-Jazz Competition, the Martial Solal Competition, the Montreux Competition, and the Django Reinhardt Prize from the Académie du jazz.
A pioneer of original collaborations, he created for La Folle Journée de Nantes (2015) a video-musical performance Billie Holiday, passionnément in collaboration with videographer Olivier Garouste. This project was performed at the Philharmonie de Paris, the Festival de La Roque d’Anthéron, and the French May Festival in Hong Kong. A sought-after sideman, Paul has also performed with Riccardo Del Fra, Géraldine Laurent, Eric le Lann, and Ping Machine.
In 2017, he released two albums: The Party (with Dre Pallemaerts and Clemens Van Der Feen) and Alcazar Memories (with Isabel Sorling and Simon Tailleu), two unique trios that took them on over 70 concerts around the world. At the end of 2018, Paul released the album Thanks a Million, a duo with Eric le Lann, a heartfelt tribute to Louis Armstrong, which was particularly acclaimed.
Regularly invited abroad, Paul Lay has performed in New York, Toronto, Berlin, Warsaw, and has toured Germany, Russia, Peru, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, China, and Japan. He is also a recipient of sponsorships and programs that have made him an official representative of French jazz. He performed during the International Jazz Day alongside Barbara Hendricks, as part of Marseille European Capital of Culture in 2013, The Bridge 2017, and the Mission for the Centenary of 14-18.
His album Deep Rivers, with Isabel Sörling and Simon Tailleu, was released in January 2020. This success led the trio to perform fifty concerts in 2020-2021. In June 2021, Paul released his first solo piano album, Full Solo, under the Gazebo label, featuring unique reinterpretations of Beethoven. Upon release, the album topped the Fnac sales charts in the Jazz/Blues category and received several awards, including the Victoires du Jazz.
Since then, collaborations involving composition commissions have multiplied. In 2024, several projects were launched. Paul contributed to the soundtrack of the film Ravens by Mark Gill, presented at the Cannes Film Festival. In the same year, he created, with the Les Éléments Chamber Choir, a new program titled Waves of Light, for which he composed several pieces for choir and jazz trio. 2024 also marked the premiere of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, reworked by Paul Lay in a symphonic version, performed twice with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and the Orchestre Régional Avignon-Provence.
After releasing the album Blue in Green: Tribute to Bill Evans in 2022 under the Scala Music label, Paul is preparing the release of a new trio album, L’Odyssée, which will be released in the fall of 2024 under the Gazebo label. Through this original album, freely inspired by Homer's L’Odyssée, and for which he composed every piece, Paul reaffirms his calling as a composer.
Since September 2022, Paul Lay has been a professor of jazz piano at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris. Since 2017, he has received support from the BNP Paribas Foundation for the development of his career.