Armando Cairo was born in Amsterdam the 21st of March in 1953. He studied painting and portrait painting and graduated at the Rietveld Academy of Arts in 1976.
At age twenty-four he started playing the tenor saxophone. He took lessons, for two years from be-bop alto player, Ron Rem. Armando moved on to the workshops of Nedly Elstak (Trumpetplayer, Composer and Arranger). After the beginners-workshop he attended Nedly’s Composer- and Arrangingclasses.
In 1982 he won the Meervaart Jazz Concours and the VPRO Aanmoedigings award with the Armando Cairo Quintet.
He played in several Dutch Jazzgroups: amongst others, Fra Fra Sound, the Frank Grasso Big band, Rockin’ the Reeds, Fonk, Quartet Tritonus and still with the Billy Brooks Big Band. Armando toured with the Dutch Connection (direction by Butch Morris) and the South African Joe Malinga Septet.