xylophonist n someone who plays a xylophone Usage(s) Once the Toscanini temper flared upwhen the xylophonist floundered over a particularly tricky passage. Basil Garwood ("Professor Lam-berti") Lambert, 58, "mad xylophonist" of vaudeville; after long illness; in Hollywood. Ringleaders were handsome Norman Towner, 18, who likes to write and play tennis, and his sister Shirley, 15, who wants to be a xylophonist.