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Wajdi Cherif

"The reach of the jazz aesthetic keeps expanding, and 'Jasmine' is a prime example of a totally successful fusion of different musics." Budd Kopman, All About Jazz, USA.

"Wajdi Cherif dresses his music with a delicate sense of harmony and sweet elegance". Le NOUVEL OBS Magazine, FRANCE.

Wajdi Cherif is a Tunisian-born pianist and composer whose career has taken him from Tunisia to France and, more recently, New York. Since making his professional debut in 1998, opening for saxophonist Archie Shepp at a Jazz festival in Tunis, Wajdi Cherif has pursued a musical path shaped by jazz tradition, original composition, and an evolving personal approach to the piano.

His early career led to performances in France, including Parisian jazz clubs such as Duc des Lombards and Sunset-Sunside, Jazz Festivals, and the release of three albums: Phrygian Istikhbar (2003), Jasmine (2006), and Fuzzy Colors (2009). These recordings documented an exploratory period in which jazz intersected with musical influences ranging from ethnic jazz to Jazz fusion music.

Wajdi Cherif's talent has been recognized through several awards, including the International Songwriting Competition for several years, Unisong Songwriting Competition, Songdoor Songwriting Competition. With a strong passion for jazz and other types of music, he continued to build a bridge between different worlds through his music and performances.

His subsequent artistic direction has increasingly centered on jazz itself, with a particular affinity for the lyricism of Bill Evans and an interest in the expressive possibilities of melody and harmony. His recent performance history also includes appearances at Carnegie Hall, Flushing Town Hall, and Hudson Hall in the United States.

After a period away from public performance and recording, Wajdi Cherif returned to piano and music practice and composition, renewing his focus on the piano and the jazz repertoire. Now based in New York, he is developing the next phase of his career through original music, solo piano and piano-trio performance, and a deeper engagement with the tradition that has shaped his musical life so far.

His upcoming album, Explorations, features bassist Gary Wang and drummer Robert Garcia. Recorded in New York City, the album brings Wajdi Cherif's original compositions together with jazz standards, creating space for blues, Latin-inflected rhythms, and spontaneous trio interaction. His original compositions reveal personal aspects of his writing. “Lost in the Moment,” an invitation to experience the present through the unfolding of the music. “Melancholic Musings,” a tribute to pianist Barry Harris inspired by the soulful quality of the harmonies Wajdi Cherif heard in Harris's playing.

With Explorations, Wajdi Cherif brings together the experience of a transatlantic musical journey and a renewed commitment to his work as a jazz pianist and composer. Rather than treating composition and interpretation as separate pursuits, the album places them in conversation: the familiar becomes a starting point, while original music creates room for further discovery.

In The Press

US and CANADA

"The reach of the jazz aesthetic keeps expanding, and 'Jasmine' is a prime example of a totally successful fusion of different musics." Budd Kopman, All About Jazz, USA

"Cherif shows himself to be a diverse and interesting composer and performer. While Cherif's influences are strongly evident, the context of the music shows that he is developing his own voice." Jazzreview.com, USA

"I must tell you how much I truly enjoyed your tastefully composed and so excellently arranged, Produced, and played Instrumental piece. In fact, as a veteran 25-year songwriter myself in addition to overseeing "Unisong" as one spoke of my own career wheel, the highest compliment I can pay you is to say I wish I'd written "Pochade" myself". Alan Roy Scott, Unisong International Songwriting Competition, USA

FRANCE

"Pianist Wajdi Cherif gives his piano a unique, very expressive, and charming accent. He has chosen a difficult and exciting path and is on the right track." JAZZMAN Magazine

"Influenced by the multiple colors of oriental music, Wajdi Cherif dresses his music with a delicate sense of harmony and sweet elegance. A subtle airy and volatile fragrance emanates from this melodic richness from the American continent and the sweetness of oriental sounds from the African continent." Le NOUVEL OBS Magazine

"This self-taught young pianist offers us jazz that reveals him as a very talented pianist with a strong personality. It is not a collage mixture as some others produce." Jazz Hot Magazine

TUNISIA

“Wajdi Cherif gives his piano a unique, very expressive, and charming accent. Music in which the piano expresses itself in splendid melodies...” Newspaper "La Presse"

"Wajdi Cherif has a personal phrasing that promoted him to the rank of confirmed instrumentalists and talented composers." Newspaper "Le Temps

"Each composition is opened with a typical Tunisian musical style or sound but moves gradually to harmonies charged with the imagination and the [musical] sensitivity of [pianist] Wajdi Cherif." Newspaper "Tunis Hebdo"

Past Performances

USA/CANADA: Carnegie Hall, Flushing Townhall, Opera America, Hudson Hall, Festival du Monde Arabe (CA), Maison Neuve Theater (CA), etc.

FRANCE/EUROPE: Théâtre du Rond-Point des Champs Elysées (Paris), Duc Des Lombards (Paris), Le New Morning (Paris), Sunset-Sunside Jazz Club (Paris), Le Baiser Salé (Paris), Cité des Arts (Paris), Jazz Au Fil de L'oise (Auvers-sur-oise, France), Jazz at La Villette, AJMI (Avignon), Cava Jazz (Alba La Romaine), Les Flanneries Musicales de Reims (Reims), Arab World Institute (Paris), Prague International Jazz Festiva l (Prague), ...

NORTH AFRICA: Jazz in Carthage (Tunis), Tabarka Jazz Festival (Tunisia), Jazz in Tunis Festival (opening for Archie Shepp/Eric Lelann), Carthage International Festival (Tunis), Tabarka Jazz Festival (Tunis), Majazz Festival (Algeria), Tanjazz Festival (Morocco), ...

Prizes/Distinctions

UNISONG Songwriting Competition (USA), (1st prize winner).
International Songwriting Competition ISC Finalist (2005-2024)
Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris): artist residency.
Martial Solal Jazz Piano Competition, France (selection)
Indie Acoustic Project Best CD of 2005 (USA)
SONGDOOR International Songwriting Competition (USA) (Finalist)

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