Paolo Recchia was born in 1980 in Fondi, a small city in southern Lazio roughly halfway between Rome and Naples. His father introduced him to the saxophone, and he began playing at eleven, starting with classical study before turning to jazz after hearing recordings of Charlie Parker and the Roman altoist Massimo Urbani. He went on to attend masterclasses with Bob Mintzer, Rick Margitza, Billy Harper, Harry Allen, Dave Liebman, Enrico Pieranunzi, Chris Potter, Rosario Giuliani and Paolo Fresu; none of these carries an independently verified Discogs recording credit with Recchia, so they are reported here as career context rather than confirmed sessions.

Recchia made his recording debut in March 2008 with Introducing, released on the Rome-based label Via Veneto Jazz and billed to "Paolo Recchia Featuring Dado Moroni," with Marco Loddo on bass and Nicola Angelucci on drums. His second album, Ari's Desire (2011, also Via Veneto Jazz), added the American trumpeter Alex Sipiagin as a featured guest, with bassist Nicola Muresu, Angelucci again on drums, and liner notes by saxophonist Rick Margitza.

For his next two records Recchia moved to a piano-less trio format with guitarist Enrico Bracco and bassist Nicola Borrelli: Three for Getz (2013, Albore Jazz), a cool-toned tribute built around the vocabulary of Stan Getz, and Peace Hotel (2015, Albore Jazz), released the same year in Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the United States. Both albums were recorded near Rome, the first at Video Eikon Media in Lavinio and the second at Groovefarm Studio.

His most recent studio album, Imaginary Place (2022, Birdbox Records), returned to a full quartet, co-billed to Recchia, pianist Luca Mannutza, bassist Giuseppe Romagnoli and Angelucci on drums, produced and mixed by Lorenzo Vella and mastered by Bob Katz. Birdbox Records reissued the album in 2023 in two further formats: a limited deluxe box pairing a 10.5" reel-to-reel reference master tape with the CD, and a 180-gram vinyl LP.

Alongside his own albums, Recchia has built a substantial career as a sideman on other Roman and Italian jazz sessions: saxophone on singer Francesca Sortino's The Music I Play (2008) and Federica Zammarchi's Fires 'N Pyres (2008); alto saxophone on bassist Giorgio Rosciglione's Tribute To "Duke" (2009); saxophone alongside Luca Mannutza Sound Six on Tributo Ai Sestetti Anni 60 (2010) and My Music (2012); alto and soprano saxophone on Nicola Angelucci's own leader albums The First One (2010) and Beyond the Drums (2013); alto saxophone on the Riccardo Fassi Tankio Band's Plays Zappa - The Return of the Fat Chicken (2017); saxophone on Luca Mannutza's Wayne Shorter tribute The Uneven Shorter (2021), and alto saxophone on the Luca Mannutza Quintet's Circles (2025, A.MA Records, not yet on Discogs).

Recchia is one of the best-known saxophone teachers in Italy. He has taught through the formation class for big bands in Lanciano, given masterclasses at the Conservatorio "F.A. Bonporti" in Trento and Riva del Garda, and currently teaches through Rome's Percento Musica school and the Riverside Music School. His prizes include the Massimo Urbani Award scholarship (2003), second place at Italy's "Young Talents of Italian Jazz" competition (2004), and first prize at Romania's Festivalul International de Jazz "Johnny Raducanu" (2015), per his official biography.

Recchia's playing is rooted in bebop, formed first by ear on Charlie Parker records and sharpened by the example of the Roman altoist Massimo Urbani, whose scholarship fund gave Recchia one of his earliest prizes. Three for Getz and Peace Hotel show the other half of his vocabulary: a cool, lyrical alto tone, cut to a guitar-and-bass trio with no piano to fall back on, in a direct line to Stan Getz's own sound. Imaginary Place moves toward a more contemporary post-bop quartet writing, with Luca Mannutza's piano restoring the harmonic support the trio records worked without. Across all of it, his working relationships have stayed close to a small circle of Rome-based musicians, especially drummer Nicola Angelucci, who plays on four of his five studio albums and on whose own two early leader dates Recchia returns the favor as featured saxophonist.