Joan-Josep Blay Màñez was born in Gavà (Barcelona) in 1955. He studied saxophone with Adolf Ventas and composition with Manuel Oltra, Xavier Montsalvatge and Josep Soler; he then furthered his studies with choral conducting under Enric Ribó and Manuel Cabero, among other specialist studies.
In his professional work he has cultivated various genres. He was a founder member of the three saxophone groups Blay Tritono, Cobla Mediterrània and Quartet Sax, with which he undertook wide-ranging public-performance and recording activities, the latter for records and for the television. He has worked with well-known personalities in our country, and in important cultural-dissemination programmes, such as 'La Caixa a les Escoles' (The Caixa savings bank in schools) and 'Invitació a la Música'. He has also conducted various traditional cobla bands and choirs.
His output as a composer is varied, and has been performed by prominent Catalan ensembles in the leading concert halls, with much of it recorded on records and broadcast on the radio and television. Most of that output was intended for cobla bands and for children. Many of his compositions have won awards in competitions.
In the teaching sphere he was worked with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the University of Barcelona (in their ICEs). He is currently working at the Escola Mestral in Sant Feliu de Llobregat and at the Escola Municipal de Música of Sant Feliu de Llobregat. He has written musical shows with pedagogical aims: 'Tocs de cobla' (Cobla-band touches) in the programme Les Escoles al Palau (Schools in the Palau concert hall), and 'Per molts anys tenora, per molts anys!' (May you celebrate many more birthdays, tenora, many more! ' in reference to the celebrations to commemorate the appearance of the Catalan shawm called tenora), which were recently given their first performance with the Cobla Sant Jordi-Ciutat de Barcelona. He has also worked in the summer courses organised by the Terrassa EPM.