From Ann Arbor, MI, and now based in Philadelphia, Oliver Mayman is a vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Beginning on the drums and piano, the vibraphone was an apt discovery as a teenager – the instrument essentially fusing the mechanics of drumming with the harmonic capabilities of the piano. He has since become a distinguished voice on the instrument, reimagining its role in music through an inventive technical approach and a discerning creative ear.

He has performed as a bandleader across the Midwest and East Coast at storied venues like Cliff Bell’s, the Blue LLama, and Chris’ Jazz Cafe, and has also been featured in several larger, iconic events like the Detroit Jazz Festival and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Additionally a sought-after accompanist and sideman, he has performed in countless other venues with various groups, and aims to play the vibraphone as a suitable alternative to the piano, capable of fully assuming a rhythmically and harmonically supportive role in any setting.

He also has extensive experience as an educator, teaching a handful of vibraphone students in addition to being on faculty at vibesworkshop.com, the largest online vibraphone community in the world. With a unique approach and pedagogical method to the instrument, he advocates his own novel dampening techniques, adaptations of pianistic ideas, and other innovative 4-mallet concepts. He is also the author of “Dampening Studies,” a comprehensive method for dampening on the vibraphone, and presented on this subject in a 2023 PASIC clinic.

In 2022, he was selected as a Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition jazz winner. He was also a member of the 2022 JM Jazz World Orchestra, which tours Europe each summer. In 2021, he won the Italy Percussive Arts Society jazz vibraphone competition, the largest of its kind. He earned a B.M. from Temple University in 2023, studying with Tony Miceli and Bruce Barth, and endorses Malletech instruments and mallets.