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Nick Mancini

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Boasting a performance career which already spans more than three decades, Nick’s drumming placed him in high demand all around central and upstate New York at an early age. However, it was upon entering Schenectady County Community College that he was exposed to the world of mallet percussion and the course of his life was forever altered. Diligent in his practice and studies, he transferred to the Crane School of Music and began his life-long study of jazz on the vibraphone. From there he earned a Masters Degree from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in New York, a recipient of the President’s Award Scholarship. Staying on in NYC for another 8 years he built his reputation as a dynamic band leader, and trusted sideman playing in many different projects and gigging all around town. In 2006, Mancini headed for the west coast. Bringing the experience and fire of 10 years in NYC, it wasn’t long before he found himself on gigs and in the studios, with emerging stars such as Kamasi Washington, Gerald Clayton, John Carroll Kirby, and Danny Janklow, as well as stalwarts such as Arturo Sandoval, Poncho Sanchez, Ernie Watts, John Beasely, Peter Erskine, Lewis Nash, and Frank Marocco. Outside of jazz he has recorded with artists as diverse and ubiquitous as Solange, Dr. Dre, Chrissie Hynde, Santigold, Post-Modern Jukebox, and Half-Alive. As a leader and sideman he has graced stages in the U.S. like The Apollo Theater and Birdland in NYC, The Blue Whale, The Jazz Bakery, The Ford Amphitheater, and The Greek Theater in LA, Rudy’s Jazz Room in Nashville, The Lowdown in Tulsa OK, and the Fayetteville Arts Center in Arkansas. Internationally he’s appeared at Bimhuis in Holland, The Jeppis Jazz Festival, Alandia Jazz Festival, and Fasching Jazz Club in Scandinavia, and has toured extensively across Australia and Tahitti. In LA, he curated and hosted multiple concert series’, often times also performing in them. The most acclaimed of them being “elastic hour” which ran for five seasons and hosted hundreds of performing groups that were as musically diverse as the places from which they hailed. Mancini has been an instructor at Cal State Northridge and Long Beach, The Herbie Hancock Institute, and Pasadena Jazz Institute, as well as having maintained his private teaching studio for 25 years. In 2008 he was named Honoree at the LA Jazz Vibes Summit, and shortly thereafter became a a sponsored artist with Majestic Percussion vibes, and Innovative Percussion mallets. In 2020, Mancini moved his family to Tulsa OK. Soon after his arrival he was a recipient of the Tulsa Remote grant. In addition to his performing throughout the midwest, he continues to maintain an active presence in LA recording and performing with artists such as Herb Alpert, Seth McFarlane, Peter Erskine, and Chrissy Hinde and can be heard on the sound track for the movie Turbo and episodes of Family Guy. Nick is currently on the faculty at the University of Tulsa, he is happily married and is the proud father of two children.



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NM1 - NICK MANCINI / MEDIUM HARD VIBRAPHONE MALLETS / SAGE YARN - RATTAN