Daan Kleijn grew up in Groningen, The Netherlands where he studied at the Prince Claus Conservatory. During his studies he received many awards such as the Northern European Jazz Talent Award. Thanks to a full scholarship from the Huygens Talent Program, he got the opportunity to continue his studies at the prestigious New York University.

Nowadays Daan works as a jazz guitarist all over the world and divides his time between the Netherlands and New York City. He regularly performs at New York’s famous jazz clubs such as the Blue Note, Birdland and Smalls Jazz Club. He toured in China, Greece, Switzerland, the US, Poland, Italy, Germany and Belgium. He can be heard as a sideman on numerous albums alongside some of todays foremost artists such as Rodney Green, Billy Drummond, Sam Yahel, Rich Perry, Glenn Zaleski and Mike Rodriquez.

Following a “brilliant debut album” (De Telegraaf NL), Daan Kleijn presented his second CD “Passages” in 2018. An inspiring album showcasing, through a repertoire of seeming simplicity, the expressive force of jazz. Refreshing original compositions, melancholic Brazilian songs and carefully chosen jazzstandards emphasise the “extensive dynamic range of this trio, [which is] is simply magical” (Jazzpodium DE). All of this reinforced by the beautiful spatial acoustics of the Bethlehem Church in Amsterdam Noord where the album was recorded.

Kleijn’s third album, featuring Pablo Menares and Caleb Curtis, is set for release in 2024.

As a teacher Daan has taught masterclasses in the USA, Europe and Asia and is a jazz guitar professor at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts of Fontys University and HKU university of the arts.