[1] After settling in Paris in 1950, he began working with Django Reinhardt and U.S. expatriates such as Sidney Bechet and Don Byas.

[2] He formed a quartet (occasionally also leading a big band) in the late 1950s, although he had been recording as a leader since 1953.

[2] He composed music for Jean-Luc Godard's debut feature film Breathless (À bout de souffle, 1960).

From 1968, he performed and recorded with Lee Konitz in Europe and the U.S.[2] In its January 2011 issue, The Gruppen Review published a 12-page interview in which Solal discusses his work as an eternal "researcher in jazz".

[5] His jazz approach was once described by Jean-Pierre Thiollet as "brilliant, unique and intellectual"[6] He has said of his technique: "You have to make people believe that it's very easy, even when it's very difficult.