Tunisian born pianist and composer Wajdi Cherif proved to be a talented musician at an early age. At five years old, he could play on piano the Arabic melodies that he heard on the local radio by ear. As he grew up, his passion for music has never left him. Later, he came in touch with other styles of music that would have a significant impact on his music. Wajdi Cherif holds a BA. in English literature, but his academic life didn't turn him away from music as he made his first steps on the local stage then.

Wajdi Cherif discovered jazz by watching live perfromance videos of pianists Chick COREA, Thelonious MONK, Bill EVANS. This marked a turning point in Wajdi Cherif's musical career and he decided to study jazz maily by himself. He made his debut as a professional jazz pianist in 1998 when he played with the famous Tunisian jazzman Faouzi Chekili in many jazz festivals in Tunisia and Europe. Wajdi Cherif accompanied many jazz artists on tour in Tunisia such as Claudia Perez (USA) and Dick De Graff (Holland). He shared the stage with different musicians such as Deidda Dario (Italy), Ray Kaczynski, Volker Schlott, Rudi Angel (Germany), Mourad Benhammou, Yoni Zelnik, Diego Imbert, François Jeanneau (France), Sigi Finkel (Austria), Jeff Boudreau, Habib Haddad (USA) and many others...

In 1999, he was invited by the Gothes-Institut of Tunis to play the premirere of the German pianist Dieter Kohnlein and to direct a master class on jazz piano.

Few months later, Wajdi Cherif played the premiere of a jazz giant, Archie SHEPP during the "Jazz in Tunis" festival.

The same year, he met pianist  Bernard MAURY, an important figure of jazz piano in France, who was to become his harmony teacher at the "Bill Evans Piano Academy". In order to perfect his skills, Wajdi Cherif attended many jazz masterclasses mainly in the Amsterdam Conservatory (Holland) and the Manhattan School of Music (USA).

His later meetings with great jazz pianists Kenny WERNER, Chick Corea and Ahmad JAMAL shaped significantly both his vision of music and of playing piano in general.

Wajdi Cherif's music is open not only to  Arabic melodies of his early childhood, but also to the different trends of jazz, European classical music, which influenced his compositions a  lot.  All this resulted in the creation of a brand new jazz sound, a symbiosis of jazz and Arabic music. His distinctive performances as a leader in many renowned venues  received critic's acclaim as the Tabarka Jazz Festival where he led many jazz workshops and master classes with prestigious guest artists such as Paco SERY, Al Di MEOLA, Freddy RAVEL (pianist, Al Jarreau) and others.. Recent performances of Wajdi Cherif Band include the Institut Du Monde Arabe IMA (Paris), Tanjazz Festival (Morroco), La Villette Jazz Festival (Paris), Couleurs Jazz (Tunisia) etc.

Wajdi Cherif  recorded his first album "Phrygian Istikhbar" in Paris in 2003 accompanied  by Diego Imbert on acoustic bass, Jeff Boudreau on drums and Habib Samandi on Arabic percussion. "Phrygian Istkhbar" was finalist in the Indie Acoustic Awards in the USA in 2004 and got very good reviews in many publications worldwide. The CD was airplayed on many radio stations in Australia, USA, and France, Tunisia,  Algeria...

Two years later, Wajdi Cherif recorded his second album entitled "Jasmine" with French jazz musicians, which is going to be issued early November 2005 in France. "Jasmine" shows the maturity and excellent artistic standard that pianist and composer Wajdi Cherif has accomplished so far. Wajdi Cherif continues to build a solid bridge between two worlds.

Learn more about Wajdi Cherif...www.wajdicherif.com