He studied trumpet at the Fresnes Conservatory. He quickly turned to jazz and contemporary music. He studied for five years at the American School of Modern Music in Paris. He participated three years in a row in the Seminario di Musica Jazz in Siena, Italy (1996, 1997, 1998). During these sessions, he worked with Paolo Fresu, Enrico Rava, Enrico Pierranunzi, Franco D’Andréa, Furie Di Castri, and Claudio Fazoli.

Little by little, he turned towards freer forms of music.

Won the 1st prize for group at the La Defense national jazz competition in 2001 with the group Dr Knock, led by bassist Jean Philippe Morel. (Philippe Gleises Drums, Olivier Py Sax, Manu Codjia guitar, Matthieu Jérome Rhodes, Xavier Bornens trumpet).

He won first prize in the group category at the La Défense National Jazz Competition in 2004 with the group Paradigm, led by saxophonist Luis Vinas.

For 15 years, he played in the group Quinte et Sens with Olivier Py, Claude Whipple, Aidje Tafial, and François Fuchs.
In 2008, he completed an internship in New York at the School for Improvisational Music, founded and directed by trumpeter Ralph Alessi.
Over the years, his career has led him to collaborate with Stephan Payen, Christophe Lavergne, Claude Tchamitchian, Paco Serry, Sylvain Kassap, Ralph Alessi, Tom Rayney, Jim Black, Ben Street, and Tyshawn Sorey.

Since 2015, he has been president of the Real Time Music association, which organizes masterclasses, workshops, training courses, and meetings with professional musicians, both French and international.

Currently, Xavier Bornens plays in the following groups:

The Healing Unit quintet led by pianist Paul Wacrenier, the Healing Orchestra (which will be the resident orchestra during the 2020 Son d’Hiver festival in Cachan), the Red Star orchestra led by Johane Myran, the group Cumbia Ya, Le Bal Marmaille, and L’Immense Petit Cabaret.