Alexandra Grimal was born in 1980 into a musical family and began studying piano and composing at age five, taking up saxophone at thirteen. She studied at the Sibelius Academy in Finland, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, and The Hague Royal Conservatory in the Netherlands under John Ruocco. She was noticed in 2007 at the International Competition for Young Soloists in Fribourg, and has since received numerous soloist awards, two MacDowell Fellowships, and a Tavitian Fellowship as a composer.

An established fixture of the European improvised music scene, Grimal is perhaps best known for a productive two-year spell in New York that produced Owl's Talk, recorded with saxophonist Lee Konitz, whose own career is covered in full in his JazzProfiles.com profile, bassist Gary Peacock, whose own career is covered in full in his JazzProfiles.com profile, and drummer Paul Motian, and Andromeda, with Todd Neufeld, Thomas Morgan, and Tyshawn Sorey. She was a member of the National Jazz Orchestra from 2014 to 2018.

She released her first record as a saxophonist, Shape, a trio with Antonin Rayon and Emmanuel Scarpa, in 2009, followed by Seminare Vento under her own name before her New York period. She later released kankū (2017) with Sylvain Daniel and Eric Echampard, and the double album Nāga (2019) with her septet.

Grimal's rare opportunity to record with Lee Konitz, Gary Peacock, and Paul Motian during her New York years placed her directly alongside some of the most significant figures in jazz improvisation, and her subsequent career bridging the European and American improvised-music scenes established her as one of the more internationally connected saxophonists of her generation.