In Memoriam

Larry Bunker
1928-2005

Drummer, vibraphonist and percussionist Larry Bunker died on March 8 at age 76 of complications from a recent stroke.

A native of Long Beach, California, Bunker was self-taught on piano, accordion, drums and saxophone. From 1946–48 he played drums and piano in the Army band at Fort Ord, Calif. In the early 1950s, he played with Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars. Afterwards, he played with such jazz artists as Stan Getz, Georgie Auld, Art Pepper, Gerry Mulligan, Barney Kessel, Joe Pass, Gary Burton, Bud Shank, Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie and singer Peggy Lee.

Bunker was also a first-call studio musician for movie soundtracks and worked with such leading film composers as Henry Mancini, Alfred Newman, Miklos Rosza, Jerry Goldsmith, Johnny Mandel and John Williams. His first film was Stalag 17 in 1953 and his last was The Incredibles in 2004.
He also was a timpanist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and performed on more than 30 Academy Awards programs, including the most recent one in February.