Alex Jacobowitz is a New York-born marimba and xylophone soloist, street performer, and author. Born in 1960, he studied marimba and xylophone with Gordon Stout and Leigh Howard Stevens. In 1981, he won the DCI Individual Keyboard Competition in Montreal. After one year with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, he left orchestral percussion to pursue an international solo career.
Jacobowitz combines classical repertoire and Jewish traditional music in concert and street performance. His official biography describes summer tours of major European cities, while Adams records performances across Europe, Israel, Asia, and the United States. A 2024 City of Dresden program documented his marimba performances of traditional Jewish music and a concert accompanying his lecture on synagogues in Germany.
His work has also been documented on film. In 2012, British filmmaker Alan Rosenthal released the portrait Married to the Marimba after following Jacobowitz for 15 years. His recording The Art of Xylos was released by Arte Nova/Sony-BMG in 2002 and nominated for an Echo Award in the crossover category; later releases include Feast of Xylophory (2018) and Vexations (2020).