Menno Daams was born in Amsterdam on January 30th, 1961.

While studying with Freddy Grin (then solo cornettist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra), he began to play jazz with friends, modelling himself after Louis Armstrong and the great trumpeters of the Swing Era.
Playing in traditional jazz idioms — ranging from dixieland to bebop — and equally adept at reading music as he is at improvising, Menno has toured the world with numerous bands or as a soloist.

Some of the many legendary players Menno has played with are Jake Hanna, Scott Hamilton, Warren Vaché, Dan Barrett, Howard Alden, Lew Tabackin, Lee Konitz, Toots Thielemans and Monty Alexander.

An outstanding arranger, Menno contributes to the books of many jazz-, pop- and marching bands and even the odd symphony orchestra.
Apart from co-leading the Unaccounted Four with reed player David Lukacs, Menno is teaching music in both The Hague and the Amsterdam Conservatory, and at the annual Ascona workshop in Switzerland.

In August 2013, after five years of studying with David Blumberg and Ardell Hake, he graduated from Lyle Murphy’s System of Horizontal Composition, a 1200-page course.