Vibraphonist and composer Eldad Tarmu was born in Los Angeles, California, where he studied drums and percussion at Grove School of Music. After graduating from Tel Aviv University in Israel, he returned to the US and started touring and holding jazz clinics with various jazz ensembles, mainly in Europe and Asia. In 2005 he got his Master's degree in Afro-Latin Music, from California State University Los Angeles. The same year he was appointed Head of the Jazz Department at "Richard Oschanitzky" Jazz School of Tibiscus University in Timisoara, Romania, following a fruitful colaboration with Romanian bassist and violonist Johnny Bota, one of the school founders. In 2009 he relocated to the US again, in order to continue his education at Stony Brook University, where he got a second Master's degree, in Classical Composition. He is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Performance from the same school, degree pursued under the guidance of Ray Anderson.
He is a professor of World Music Studies, Intro to Music and African-American Music at Hudson County Community College in Jersey City. He has recently developed a Latin American Music Studies course for the College. He has also been teaching summer music classes (MUS101, MUS308) at SUNY Stony Brook Manhattan, as well as MUS568 Jazz Combo and MUS309 Music After 1900, as a teaching assistant at Stony Brook University.
He has been holding jazz clinics and workshops at festivals and also in music camps in Belgium, Indonesia, Cuba and Hungary. The jazz camp in Romania, held under the patronage of the International Association for Jazz Education, was featured in Down Beat Magazine.
Eldad is endorsed by Zildjian and Mike Balter Mallets.