Guilhem Flouzat was born in Paris in 1985, the grandson of the pianist and composer Henriette Puig-Roget, and grew up surrounded by the music of Ravel and Poulenc. He studied literature and philosophy before turning to the drums seriously, training at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris. While still based in Paris he appeared on a handful of other leaders' records, among them Nicola Andrioli's Pulsar and Nicola Sergio's Symbols.

At 25 he moved to New York on a Fulbright grant to continue his studies at the Manhattan School of Music, where he earned a further degree in drums, working with Eric Harland, Dan Weiss, Mark Guiliana and John Riley. He stayed in New York for years afterward, building a working life on the scene: he became a longtime sideman for the vocalist Youn Sun Nah, the Chilean singer and guitarist Camila Meza and the saxophonist Seamus Blake, and worked with Lionel Loueke, Becca Stevens, Steve Wilson, Dave Liebman, Linda Oh and Gilad Hekselman, among others. He also appeared with the band AJOYO, the pianist Pablo Held, Shauli Einav, Julia Kadel and Adam Larson.

His debut as a leader, One Way... Or Another (2010, Onze Heures Onze), was a sextet date with Antonin-Tri Hoang on alto saxophone, Ben Wendel on tenor, Laurent Coq and Tigran Hamasyan sharing the piano chair, Michael Valeanu on guitar and Matteo Bortone and Simon Tailleu on bass. The French journalist Vincent Bessières singled it out in Jazznews as one of the best things to happen to French jazz in years, and an All About Jazz review praised its restraint and its unconventional instrumental combinations. Portraits followed in 2015 on Sunnyside, an album built around musical sketches of the eight musicians who played on it, including Ben Wendel, Anna Webber, Jay Rattman, Can Olgun, Laurent Coq, Desmond White and Becca Stevens on voice.

A Thing Called Joe (2017, Sunnyside) reset the format entirely: a piano trio with Sullivan Fortner and Desmond White, working straight through the Great American Songbook. American and French critics both called it a classic, with one review comparing the trio's cohesion favorably to Red Garland's 1950s Prestige dates; Flouzat and Fortner toured together behind it. Two years later he co-led Constant Stranger (2019, Fresh Sound New Talent) with the pianist Richard Sears and bassist Martin Nevin, recorded in Los Angeles with guest spots from Sam Gendel and Dayna Stephens, a record critics likened to Ellington and Scriabin. The same year he joined Shauli Einav's working Paris band on drums for Animi (Berthold Records / Outside In Music), playing across the album alongside Einav's saxophones, Andy Hunter's trombone, Tim Collins's vibraphone, Fayçal Salhi's oud and Yoni Zelnik on bass.

In 2021 Flouzat turned songwriter on Turn the Sun to Green (Shed Music), seven original songs written at night on a neighbor's piano in Washington Heights before his return to Paris, sung by Isabel Sörling with Laurent Coq on piano, Ralph Lavital on guitar and Desmond White on bass. He has continued to divide his time between drumming for other leaders and his own projects since: he plays across Christophe Panzani's Mères Océans (2024), sharing the drum chair with Antoine Pierre, and remains an active member of the Maxime Sanchez Trio, credited on that group's 2025 live album. His most recent leader date, I'm Nice (2026, Elstir Music), again pairs him with Sörling's voice, alongside Laurent Coq, Sullivan Fortner, Ralph Lavital and Desmond White.

Flouzat's playing carries the literary instincts of his pre-drumming education: his records are conceived as narratives, whether that means the character sketches of Portraits, the standards-as-storytelling of A Thing Called Joe, or the original songs of Turn the Sun to Green and I'm Nice. His time studying with Eric Harland, Dan Weiss, Mark Guiliana and John Riley shows in a touch that critics have repeatedly described as controlled rather than showy, favoring interplay and color over display even while leading his own dates. That range, from an acoustic piano trio steeped in Red Garland-style swing to song-based records built around a single vocalist, has made him as active behind other leaders' drum kits as behind his own.