Paul Lay hits the news in a surprising way: without giving up any basic principles, he is anything but “divisive”. Confidence, freshness, brilliance without excess, themes explored right to the end. A party.
— Francis Marmande, Le Monde
I have developed this repertoire as a musical illustration of cinema scenes unfolding during a party. There is joy, lightness, unexpectedness.
The excitement of enjoying
each other’s company.
Each piece characterizes a person, a situation, or an eye contact,
a dance, and many other movements. A party is also
an opportunity to watch
the mask game: everyone’s complex ego mirrors differently according to the situations,
in order to get the group’s support. These opportunities to gather reflect our own identity, the multiple facets of our personality, our own image, our flaws, our repressions, our projections, our fantasies, confronting our reality to that
of others.
— Paul

Paul Lay’s style is a true joy for the listener. Moved by a sincerely passionate love of music, with no exhibitionism, here is a 32 year-old pianist who fully masters his art and who we’ll delightfully follow as he thrives.
— Michel Contat, Télérama
Paul Lay is charming, delightful, stunning. Each piece opens up the scope of possibilities, emotion and discovery. We’re sensing tremendous talent.
— Bruno Pfeiffer, Libération
It’s all there : groove with unequalled coolness. The tone is set: with such harmonic imagination, refined and asserted playing, we already have one of the best recordings of 2017.
— Philippe Vincent, Jazzmag
There’s nothing harder, in art or other, than touching finesse. It feels good to hear Paul Lay’s dandy piano, his carefree melodies, his glimmering music, which is all the more outstanding that it only aims for enchantment…
— Louis-Julien Nicolaou, Les Inrocks
Natural, powerful, subtle and delicate rythmics, always serving emotion and sensation. Hearing this trio is quite exhilarating. Complicity, rich improvisations, great musicality in the themes, Lay produces his most impressive CD so far.
— Max Dembo, Qobuz