Larry Vuckovich

Jazz Composer and Pianist

Fall 1956 Graduate

        Larry was born Lazar Milutin Vuckovich in the Montenegro region of then Yugoslavia shortly before World War II. Larry became intrigued by the jazz he heard on Armed Forces Radio and Voice of America. Larry was primed for the rich jazz heritage that flourished in San Francisco when he arrived here in 1951. After graduating from Lincoln, he attended San Francisco State University receiving his B.A. in music. His love of jazz led him to the legendary Blackhawk nightclub where he met Lincoln Alumnus (and Wall of Fame inductee), Vince Guaraldi. Vince took Larry as his only student and introduced him to the music of Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Bill Evans and Hampton Hawes. Larry, who also studied with saxophonist John Handy, developed a unique style which, in the words of the of the New York Times jazz critic, John Wilson, has a mainstream swinging attack and romanticism blended with a blues sensitivity and the exotic reflections of his native Yugoslavia. He is affectionately known in jazz circles as the Balkan Bebopper.

        Larry has played all of the top jazz clubs in the United States from Keystone Corner in San Francisco to the Blue Note in New York City. Along the way he has played with Mel Torme, Joe Williams, Bobby McFerrin, Anita O'Day and Jon Hendricks. Larry and his trio have been headlining at Club 36 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel since 1990. He has recorded numerous albums, Blue Balkan; City Sounds, Village Voices; Cast Your Fate; Blues for Red; Tres Palabras and recently Deja Vuk (1995), which received critical acclaim.

        Larry has also produced a number of local jazz events, such as the San Francisco Retrospective All-Star West Coast Jazz Festival (1993), the latter in conjunction with Kimball's East. Larry has also been deeply involved with other local jazz artists in the current attempt to revitalize the Fillmore District and its flourishing jazz scene which was destroyed when the Redevelopment Agency bulldozed much of the Fillmore District in the mid-1960's. El Vucko, as he is known to his friends, has made Lincoln proud.

        In recognition of his many accomplishments, Larry was inducted into the Abraham Lincoln High School Wall of Fame in May 1996.