Biography:

Dennis Matthew Budimir (June 20, 1938 – January 10, 2023) was an American jazz and rock guitarist. He was considered to be a member of The Wrecking Crew.^[1]

Budimir learned to play piano and guitar in his youth and first played professionally when he was fourteen years old. In Los Angeles in the mid-1950s he played in a quartet with La Monte Young, Billy Higgins, and Don Cherry.^[2] In the late 1950s he worked in the bands of Ken Hanna, Keith Williams, Harry James, and Chico Hamilton.^[3] In 1960–1961 he worked with Bud Shank and accompanied Peggy Lee, then entered into military service in 1961.

After his discharge in 1963 he toured Japan with Bobby Troup and returned to the Los Angeles area, where he played as a studio musician for the next several decades.^[4] He recorded in this capacity with Joni Mitchell, The Carpenters, Brian Wilson, Barbra Streisand, Ravi Shankar, Frank Zappa, Linda Ronstadt, Julie London, Dusty Springfield, Dave Grusin, Quincy Jones, David Axelrod, Lalo Schifrin, Marty Paich, Don Ellis, Gil Melle, Tom Waits, Harry Nilsson, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Johnny Mathis, Cher, and Doris Day.^[5] In jazz idioms he worked with Ella Fitzgerald, Milt Jackson, Stan Getz, Jimmy Smith in the 1970s and with Ray Brown and Johnny Mandel. He recorded with the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut in the 1990s. As a session player he also played on more than 900 movie soundtracks from the early 1960s until the 2000s.^[6]

Budimir died on January 10, 2023, at the age of 84.^[7][8][9]

Credits: