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Larry McDonald (born June 11, 1938 ) is a Jamaican musician currently living in New York City.

Early Life 1938-1967
McDonald grew up in Little Bay north of Port Maria at he north shore of Jamaica. After winning a scholarship, he attended Happy Grove High boarding school in Portmore where he became president of the school's music club.

Living in Jamaica's North Country, which was then still a secluded area of Jamaica, the local drummers were still closely tied to their African roots playing rhythms like Jonkonnu, Kumina and Burru and also Nyabinghi, which influenced him early on.

In his mid-twenties, after closely escaping death in a car crash with a banana truck that killed his friend, McDonald began thinking about his future. After he had picked up a forgotten drumstick after a dance, he sat down by the sea remembering which joy he had drumming on his childhood home's kitchen walls with wooden spoons. Soon after this, he decided to visit his sister in Kingston, whose boyfriend had a drum, which he then used to practice devotedly, sometimes up to eight hours a day. After a while, McDonald was a regular at jazz sessions, which he used to network with other musicians and show off his drumming.

Having been a member of two bands at the time, Cecil Loyd recruited him for his Calypso Hotel Jazz Band. Now having a regular gig, McDonald had a consistent routine that he used to further develop his skill. His next gig was with Carlos Malcolm's Afro-Jamaicans, with whom he recorded a Ska version of TV series Bonanza's title track, named "Bonanza Ska", which is still famous with ska fans today. At this time Larry McDonald had become a household name on the Jamaican music scene and joined pianist Cecil Lloyd for a residency at the Playboy Club. On his off days, he played in sessions of producers like Lee Perry, laying down backing tracks for songs which would later become Bob Marley or Toots and the Maytals songs, though he was unaware of this at the time of recording.

Life in Mexico 1967-1973
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