Updated: February 28, 2024
Born: August 26, 1960
Eldad Tarmu was born and raised in Los Angeles. He originally played drums and percussion before switching to the vibraphone where his mentor was Dave Pike. He spent time in Israel, studied and graduated from Tel Aviv University, and then back in the United States performed and recorded with a range of jazz groups including Freddie Hubbard, Frank Morgan, Poncho Sanchez, and Ernie Watts. Tarmu became a world traveler, performing at festivals and venues in over twenty-five countries while developing his own fresh voice on the vibes. He began recording as a leader in 1997 with Aluminum Forest, followed by Get Up Close, which garnered notable critical acclaim. Between 2005 and 2008, he ran the jazz department of a Romanian university and toured extensively in Eastern Europe. He currently teaches music at the college level in the New York area, while performing regularly and continuing to write jazz and contemporary classical music for various ensembles.
Awards
Best ad music (Sears spot)
Gear
Mike Balter Mallets, K&K Sound System
Tags
All About Jazz Articles
Eldad Tarmu: Tarmu Jazz Quartet
by Jack Bowers
The vibraphone is not often heard on the jazz scene these days, which makes this new album by the Tarmu Jazz Quartet even more welcome than it might have been at a time when Red Norvo, Lionel Hampton, Terry Gibbs, Milt Jackson, Cal Tjader, Gary Burton, Bobby Hutcherson, Gary McFarland and their ilk were riding high. Los Angeles-born Eldad Tarmu, who leads the quartet, has his own approach to the instrument, softer and less frenzied than Hampton or Gibbs, leaning ...
read moreEldad Tarmu: Songs for the Queen of Bohemia
by Raul d'Gama Rose
In January 2009, Los Angeles-born, Romanian vibraphonist, Eldad Tarmu took his Chamber Jazz Ensemble, featuring Israeli drummer Yoni Halevy and the Timisoara String Quartet, on tour with a superb new symphonic poem, Songs for the Queen of Bohemia. It has been on record almost since then, but sadly has not received the attention it deserves. Admittedly the world of music is becoming a crowded place, but this music deserves to be taken much more seriously. The music ...
read moreEldad Tarmu: Aluminum Forest
by Jack Bowers
With an uncelebrated vibraphonist at the helm of an album titled Aluminum Forest, I was bracing myself for music aimed straight toward the heart of “smooth Jazz” radio. Wrong. This is uncompromisingly straight–ahead post–bop Jazz — and I should have guessed as much from the list of personnel, which includes such prominent names as trumpeters Oscar Brashear and Jack Coan, reedmen Bob Sheppard and Jeff Clayton, bassist Dave Carpenter and the underappreciated vocalist Sue Raney (on “Hold That Thought”). Tamu ...
read more"Not only is Eldad a first-rate vibraphonist, but his compositional ideas also bring an interesting and innovative sound to the fore." Craig W. Hurst - Rhombus Records
"Meet the new face of jazz vibraphone. Tarmu differs from other relatively recent jazz vibraphonists... [...] ...His modernity is inherent in the music itself while still retaining the classic foundation you’d expect to find on one of your favorite Blue Note releases." Greg Debonne - Hollywood2You
"Tarmu's arrangements reveal an excellent feel for making the music move." Dave Nathan - AMG
Primary Instrument
Vibraphone
Location
New York City
Willing to teach
Advanced only
Credentials/Background
Mallet technique, Jazz Harmony and Theory, Jazz Improvisation, Jazz Arranging, Rhythmic Studies, Ensemble Direction, World Music Styles (Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, Middle-Eastern), Exotic Modes in Jazz, Rhythm Section Workshops for soloists and vocalists. Available during weekdays, occasionally during weekends.
Clinic/Workshop Information
Jazz Harmony for Classical Musicians - Seven Easy Lessons
Wayne Shorter
saxophone
Gary Burton
vibraphone
Chick Corea
piano
Bill Evans
piano
Bobby Hutcherson
vibraphone
Milt Jackson
vibraphone
Oscar Peterson
piano
Dave Pike
vibraphone
Tito Puente
drums
