Marleen Dahms is a berlin based trombonist, improviser and composer.
After she saw Lisa Simpson screaming her soul out of her saxophone in an episode of the simpsons at 8 years old, she started playing the alto a few weeks later. As a teenager she additionally learned trombone and piano.
She did a bachelors degree in jazz trombone at the Jazz-Institute-Berlin (UdK/Hanns-Eisler), did an exchange semester in Lucerne (Switzerland) and learned from Nils Wogram, Geoffroy de Masure, Gerry Hemingway and Greg Cohen among others.
As a bandleader she composes for her quintet „AllOY“ and plays/-ed with different projects such as "Andromeda Mega Express", „Magnetic Ghost Orchestra“, "Été Large", „Zaunkoenig“, „Electronic Swing Orchestra“, „Skazka Orchestra“, „Omniversal Earkestra“, „Panda Do Sol“, "Babylon Orchestra" among others. As a sidewomxn she has also played with german pop/rap/rock artists like AnnenMayKantereit, Revolverheld, Kool Savas, Nina Chuba.
She has played concerts at european jazzfestivals and concerthalls like Leipziger Jazztage, Jazzfestival Dresden, Jazzfestival Münster, Jazzfestival Göttingen, Jazzgoestotown Prague, Elbphilarmonie Hamburg, Volksbühne Berlin. Tours lead her to Ghana, Ecuador, Colombia, Russia, France, Italy, Czech-Republic, Denmark, Lithuania, Switzerland und Poland.
She lived in Ecuador for 10 months and travelled to Cuba, Colombia and Ecuador for 3 months again during her studies to learn from trombonists and other musicians of the Salsa- and Cumbia Scene (German Guerrero, Amaury Perez, Ramon Torrivilla) and played in local bands. She did a 7-weeks residence in Accra (Ghana) and learned and played with local jazz musicians and the all female highlife band „Lipstick Band“.
She was a member of the "Jazz Academy Elbphilarmonie Hamburg 2021" with Theo Croker, Melissa Aldana, Matt Brewer and the "Summer Session 2022" in Denmark with Terri Lyne Carrington, Joe Lovano, Kris Davis, Keyon Harrold and got scholarships from Goethe Institut, PROMOS, DAAD, Musikfonds.
She is the founder of a feminist reading group for womxn and non-binary jazzmusicians and artistic director/curator and co-founder of the project BUMMM! (Being Unique Makes Meaningful Music), a series of jam sessions/concerts for womxn, non-binary and other historically marginalized gender identities in the jazz and improv scene of Berlin and beyond.
