Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Martino began as a clarinettist, playing jazz for fun and profit. He attended Syracuse University, where he studied composition with Ernst Bacon, who encouraged him in that direction. He then attended Princeton University as a graduate student, where worked with composers Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt. He also studied with Luigi Dallapiccola in Italy as a Fulbright Scholar.

Martino died in Antigua in 2005. A memorial concert was held at the New England Conservatory on May 8, 2007. A recording of the concert was released by Navona Records in 2009.
He won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1974 for his chamber work Notturno.
In 1991, the journal Perspectives of New Music published a 292-page tribute to Martino.
Martino died in Antigua in 2005. A memorial concert was held at the New England Conservatory on May 8, 2007. A recording of the concert was released by Navona Records in 2009.​

B,a,b,b,it,t (1966)  

"A Set for Clarinet" by Alexey Gorokholinsky, mvt. 1