Pete La Roca facts for kids

Pete "La Roca" Sims (born Peter Sims; April 7, 1938 – November 20, 2012) was an American jazz drummer. He was known as Pete La Roca from 1957 until 1968.

Pete grew up in Harlem, New York. His mother was a pianist, and his stepfather played the trumpet. His uncle, Kenneth Bright, helped him discover jazz. Pete studied percussion at the High School of Music and Art and at the City College of New York. He played the tympani in the college orchestra.

He started using the name "La Roca" early in his music career. This was because he played timbales in Latin bands for six years. Later, in the 1970s, he went back to using his original last name, Sims. When he returned to jazz, he often added "La Roca" in quotation marks to help people recognize him. He felt it was important for audiences to know he was the same musician.

Early Music Career and Collaborations

In 1957, famous drummer Max Roach noticed Pete playing at Birdland. Max then suggested Pete to Sonny Rollins, another jazz legend. Pete became the drummer for Rollins' trio. He played on the important album A Night at the Village Vanguard.

Pete also recorded with many other great jazz musicians. In 1959, he played with Jackie McLean on the album New Soil. He also recorded with Tony Scott, Bill Evans, and Jimmy Garrison. He often played with bassists like Scott LaFaro and Steve Swallow. He also joined pianists such as Steve Kuhn, Don Friedman, and Paul Bley.

Between the late 1950s and 1968, Pete played with many artists. These included Slide Hampton, the John Coltrane Quartet, Marian McPartland, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Mose Allison, and Charles Lloyd. During this time, he also led his own music group. He worked as the main drummer at the Jazz Workshop in Boston, Massachusetts.

Leading His Own Albums

Pete La Roca recorded two albums as a band leader in the mid-1960s. The first was Basra released by Blue Note in 1965. The second was Turkish Women at the Bath released by Douglas in 1967. These albums showed his talent as a leader.

Becoming a Lawyer and Returning to Music

By 1968, the popularity of acoustic jazz was declining. Pete decided to go to law school. At this time, he was already earning money by driving a taxi in New York City. He did this for five years in the 1960s.

Pete became a lawyer in the early 1970s. He continued to practice law for many years. An interesting event happened with his second album, Turkish Women at the Bath. It was released under Chick Corea's name without Pete's permission. Pete filed a lawsuit against Douglas Records and won. The records that were wrongly labeled were then taken back.

In 1979, Pete returned to jazz music part-time. He recorded one new album as a leader called Swing Time. It was released by Blue Note in 1997.

Pete La Roca Sims passed away in New York from lung cancer. He was 74 years old.

Discography

As leader

• Basra (Blue Note, 1965)
• Turkish Women at the Bath (Douglas, 1967; also released as Bliss! under Chick Corea's name on Muse, 1973)
• Swingtime (Blue Note, 1997)

As sideman

With Anamari

• Anamari (Atlantic, 1964)

With Bill Barron

• Modern Windows (Savoy, 1961)

With Paul Bley

• Footloose! (Savoy, 1963)

With Rocky Boyd

• Ease It (Jazztime, 1961)

With Jaki Byard

• Hi-Fly (New Jazz, 1962)

With Sonny Clark

• My Conception (rec. 1957, Blue Note compilation, 1979)
• Sonny Clark Quintets a.k.a. Cool Struttin' Volume 2 (rec. 1958, Blue Note, 1965)

With Johnny Coles

• Little Johnny C (Blue Note, 1963)

With Ted Curson

• Plenty of Horn (Old Town, 1961)

With Art Farmer

• To Sweden with Love (Atlantic, 1964) with Jim Hall
• Sing Me Softly of the Blues (Atlantic, 1965)

With the Don Friedman Trio

• Circle Waltz (Riverside, 1962) with Scott LaFaro
• Scott LaFaro – Pieces of Jade (rec. 1961, Resonance, 2009)

With Slide Hampton

• Slide Hampton and His Horn of Plenty (Strand, 1959)
• Sister Salvation (Atlantic, 1960)
• Somethin' Sanctified (Atlantic, 1961)

With Joe Henderson

• Page One (Blue Note, 1963)
• Our Thing (Blue Note, 1963)

With Freddie Hubbard

• Blue Spirits (Blue Note, 1964)
• The Night of the Cookers (Blue Note, 1965)

With the Steve Kuhn Trio

• 1960 (rec. 1960, PJL (J), 2005) with Scott LaFaro
• The Country and Western Sound of Jazz Pianos (Dauntless, 1963) with Toshiko Akiyoshi
• Three Waves (rec. 1966, Flying Dutchman (J), 1975) with Steve Swallow
• Sing Me Softly of the Blues (Venus, 1997) with George Mraz

With Booker Little

• Booker Little and Friend (Bethlehem, 1961)

With Charles Lloyd

• Of Course, of Course (Columbia, 1965)
• Nirvana (Columbia, 1965)
• Charles Lloyd - Live at Slugs' (Resonance, 2014)

With Jackie McLean

• New Soil (Blue Note, 1959)
• Bluesnik (Blue Note, 1961)

With Helen Merrill and Dick Katz

• The Feeling Is Mutual (Milestone, 1967)

With J.R. Monterose

• The Message (Jaro, 1960)

With Sonny Rollins

• A Night at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1957)
• St Thomas – Sonny Rollins Trio in Stockholm 1959 (Dragon, 1984)
• Oleo (recorded 1959, Jazz Hour, 1992)

With George Russell

• The Outer View (Riverside, 1962)

With Tony Scott

• Gypsy (Signature, 1959)
• Golden Moments (recorded 1959, Muse, 1982) with Bill Evans and Jimmy Garrison
• I'll Remember (recorded 1959, Muse, 1982); both Muse LPs reissued on CD as At Last (32 Jazz, 1999)

With the Paul Serrano Quintet

• Blues Holiday (Riverside, 1961) with Cannonball Adderley a.o.

See also

In Spanish: Pete La Roca para niños