Born and raised in Lyon (France), Nacim Brahimi started playing the saxophone at the age of eight. He became passionate about jazz when studying at the Villeurbanne National School of Music and then furthered his musical education at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. He was awarded a First Prize in Jazz and Improvised Musics in 2003.

The following year he won the second Best soloist Prize and the second Best Band Prize with the Sébastien Jarrousse Sextet in the La Défense National Jazz Competition, Paris.

From 2004 to 2008 he was part of Riccardo Del Fra’s Jazoo Project, which allowed him to share the stage and record with Kenny Wheeler, Joey Baron and Sylvain Luc.

He also performed with many artists in various artistic fields : Chico Freeman, Karim Ziad, Jeanne Added, Amel Bent, Supergombo, Bigre !, John Greaves, Sinclair, Le Sacre du Tympan, Calypso Rose, Nasser Martin-Gousset, Milk Coffee and Sugar, Mokhtar Samba, Albert Mangelsdorff, Walter Thompson…

In 2015 he won the second place across all categories in the Made in New York Jazz Competition, with Karim Maurice’s band.