Chet Doxas

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Chet Doxas is a Brooklyn-based saxophonist, clarinetist and composer. Born in 1980 in Montreal into a musical family, he grew up around music. His father was a musician, music teacher and recording engineer, and his older brother Jim is a drummer; they often perform together.

Doxas began performing and recording as a teenager in Montreal, where he also started composing and leading his own groups. He studied Jazz Performance at McGill University, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees, and later taught there. In 2014 he moved to New York City and now leads several projects, including The Chet Doxas Trio, Doxas Brothers Quartet, Landline, Rich in Symbols, Larum and the Ceremonial Sextet. He was appointed the first tenor saxophone chair in the Canadian National Jazz Orchestra.

Since relocating, he has performed with or recorded alongside notable artists such as Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Dave Douglas, John Abercrombie and Michael Formanek. He has released fourteen albums as a leader or co-leader, and his work appears on many other recordings. His album Rich in Symbols received a Juno Award nomination for Best Jazz Solo Album in 2018; it blends jazz with a rock-influenced approach and features guitar by Dave Nugent on some tracks.

Doxas contributed to the soundtrack of the animated film Les Triplettes de Belleville, which drew Academy Award and Grammy attention. In 2019 he won SOCAN’s Haygood Hardy Award. He was named a Rising Star in Downbeat Magazine’s Critics Poll in 2022 and again in 2023, in several reed-playing categories.

Earlier in his career, he played in a swing jazz ensemble in Montreal and later joined the Sam Roberts Band as a woodwinds player. He recorded the albums Big Sky and Dive before moving to New York.