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

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer's ...

and attorney. Born and raised in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

by a pianist mother and a stepfather who played trumpet, he was introduced to jazz by his uncle Kenneth Bright, a major shareholder in

Circle Records Circle Records is a jazz record label founded in 1946 by Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis. History In New York, Blesh and Janis heard jazz drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds playing inventive solos with Bunk Johnson's band. Blesh said he hated drum solos ...

and the manager of rehearsal spaces above the Lafayette Theater. Sims studied percussion at the High School of Music and Art and at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, where he played

tympani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...

in the CCNY Orchestra. He adopted the name La Roca early in his musical career, when he played

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfico ...

for six years in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

bands. In the 1970s, during a hiatus from jazz performance, he resumed using his original surname. When he returned to jazz in the late 1970s, he usually inserted "La Roca" into his name in quotation marks to help audiences familiar with his early work identify him. He told ''The New York Times'' in 1982 that he did so only out of necessity: In 1957,

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He work ...

became aware of him while jamming at Birdland and recommended him to

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a ...

. As drummer of Rollins' trio on the afternoon set at the Village Vanguard on November 3 he became part of the important record ''

A Night at the Village Vanguard ''A Night at the Village Vanguard'' is a live album by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins released on Blue Note Records in 1958. It was recorded at the Village Vanguard in New York City in November 1957 from three sets, two in the evening and one in t ...

.'' (Only one of five recorded tracks with La Roca was included on the original single LP release of the album). In 1959 he recorded with

Jackie McLean John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...

('' New Soil'') and in a quartet with

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was an English film director and producer. He was known for directing highly successful action and thriller films such as '' Top Gun'' (1986), '' Beverly Hills Cop II'' (1987), ''D ...

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

and

Jimmy Garrison James Emory Garrison (March 3, 1934 – April 7, 1976) was an American jazz double bassist. He is best remembered for his association with John Coltrane from 1961 to 1967. Career Garrison was raised in both Miami and Philadelphia where he ...

. Besides Garrison he often joined with bassists who played in the Bill Evans Trio, especially Scott LaFaro and

Steve Swallow Steve Swallow (born October 4, 1940) is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar. ...

, and also accompanied pianists like Steve Kuhn,

Don Friedman Donald Ernest Friedman (May 4, 1935 – June 30, 2016) was an American jazz pianist. He began playing in Los Angeles and moved to New York in 1958. In the 1960s, he played with both modern stylists and more traditional musicians. Early life Fr ...

and

Paul Bley Paul Bley, CM (November 10, 1932 – January 3, 2016) was a jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ...

. Between the end of the 1950s and 1968, he also played with

Slide Hampton Locksley Wellington Hampton (April 21, 1932 – November 18, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tuba and flugel ...

, the

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and raise ...

Quartet,

Marian McPartland Margaret Marian McPartland OBE ( Turner;Hasson, Claire"Marian McPartland: Jazz Pianist: An Overview of a Career" PhD Thesis. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English–American jazz pianist, composer, and wri ...

Art Farmer Arthur Stewart Farmer (August 21, 1928 – October 4, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. He and his identical twin brother, doub ...

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives ...

, Mose Allison, and Charles Lloyd, among others. During this period, he led his own group and worked as the house drummer at the Jazz Workshop in Boston, Massachusetts. He recorded two albums as a leader during the mid-1960s, ''

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

'' ( Blue Note, 1965) and '' Turkish Women at the Bath'' (

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

, 1967). In 1968, with the market for acoustic jazz in decline, Sims decided to enroll in law school. By this time he was already earning most of his income by driving a taxi cab in New York City, a job he held for five years during the 1960s. Sims became a lawyer in the early 1970s, and was still practicing at the time of a 1997 radio interview with WNYC's Steve Sullivan. When his second album as leader, '' Turkish Women at the Bath'', was released under Chick Corea's name without his consent, Sims filed and argued a lawsuit against Douglas Records, and the erroneously-labeled records were recalled. He returned to jazz part-time in 1979, and recorded one new album as a leader, ''Swing Time'' ( Blue Note, 1997). He died in New York of lung cancer at the age of 74.

Discography

As leader

* ''

'' ( Blue Note, 1965) * '' Turkish Women at the Bath'' (Douglas, 1967; also released as ''Bliss!'' under

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...

's name on Muse, 1973) * ''Swingtime'' (Blue Note, 1997)

As sideman

With Anamari *''Anamari'' (Atlantic, 1964) With Bill Barron *'' Modern Windows'' (Savoy, 1961) With

* '' Footloose!'' (Savoy, 1963) With Rocky Boyd * '' Ease It'' (Jazztime, 1961) With

Jaki Byard John Arthur "Jaki" Byard (; June 15, 1922 – February 11, 1999) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. Mainly a pianist, he also played tenor and alto saxophones, among several other instruments. He was known for hi ...

* '' Hi-Fly'' (New Jazz, 1962) With

Sonny Clark Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark (July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963) was an American jazz pianist and composer who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom. Early life Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town east of Pi ...

* ''

My Conception ''My Conception'' is an album by jazz pianist Sonny Clark, recorded for the Blue Note label and performed by Clark with Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Paul Chambers, and Art Blakey. It was originally released in 1979 in Japan, as GXF 3056, featuring ...

'' (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

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

Trio * '' Circle Waltz'' ( Riverside, 1962) with Scott LaFaro * ''Scott LaFaro – Pieces of Jade'' (rec. 1961,

Resonance Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscil ...

, 2009) With

* ''

Slide Hampton and His Horn of Plenty ''Slide Hampton and His Horn of Plenty'' (titled ''Slide!'' on the back cover) is the debut album by American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger Slide Hampton which was released on the Strand label in 1961.Callahan, M., Watts, R. and David Edw ...

'' (

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

, 1959) * ''

Sister Salvation ''Sister Salvation'' is an album by American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger Slide Hampton which was released on the Atlantic label in 1960.Somethin' Sanctified'' (Atlantic, 1961) With

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...

* '' Page One'' (Blue Note, 1963) * '' Our Thing'' (Blue Note, 1963) With

* '' 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 is a Japanese–American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. Akiyoshi received fourteen Grammy Award nominations and was the first woman to win Best Arranger and Composer awards in '' Down Beat'' magazine's annual Readers' Poll. ...

* ''Three Waves'' (rec. 1966, Flying Dutchman (J), 1975) with

* ''Sing Me Softly of the Blues'' (Venus, 1997) with

George Mraz George Mraz (born Jiří Mráz; 9 September 1944 – 16 September 2021) was a Czech-born American jazz bassist and alto saxophonist. He was a member of Oscar Peterson's group, and worked with Pepper Adams, Stan Getz, Michel Petrucciani, Stephan ...

With Booker Little * ''

Booker Little and Friend ''Booker Little and Friend'' is the final album led by American jazz trumpeter Booker Little featuring performances recorded in 1961 for the Bethlehem label.

'' (

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital ...

, 1961) With Charles Lloyd * '' Of Course, of Course'' (Columbia, 1965) * ''

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lamp Richard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colomb ...

'' (Columbia, 1965) * Charles Lloyd - Live at Slugs' (

, 2014) With

* '' New Soil'' (Blue Note, 1959) * ''

Bluesnik ''Bluesnik'' is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1961 and released on the Blue Note label.Helen Merrill Helen Merrill (born Jelena Ana Milcetic; July 21, 1930) is an American jazz vocalist. Her first album, the eponymous 1954 recording '' Helen Merrill'' (with Clifford Brown), was an immediate success and associated her with the first generation ...

and Dick Katz * ''The Feeling Is Mutual '' (Milestone, 1967) With J.R. Monterose * ''The Message'' ( Jaro, 1960) With

* ''

'' (Blue Note, 1957) * ''St Thomas – Sonny Rollins Trio in Stockholm 1959'' (

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...

, 1984) * ''Oleo'' (recorded 1959, Jazz Hour, 1992) With George Russell * '' The Outer View'' (Riverside, 1962) With

* ''Gypsy'' (

Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

, 1959) * ''Golden Moments'' (recorded 1959,

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in ...

, 1982) with

and

* ''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 Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered for the 1966 soul jazz single " Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", w ...

a.o.

References

External links

Pete LaRoca Sims Discography at ''JazzDiscography.com''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:La Roca, Pete 1938 births 2012 deaths African-American drummers American jazz drummers Blue Note Records artists Muse Records artists 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people