Jazz Drummer Pete LaRoca

Pete LaRoca play the drums during a photo session for an album May 19, 1965 at the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey Studios. This photograph was used as the cover shot for his Basra album.Image: Francis Wolff

Pete La Roca (born Peter Sims; April 7, 1938 – November 20, 2012) was an American Jazz drummer. Born in New York City, he adopted the name La Roca early in his musical career when he played timbales in Latin bands.

Between 1957 and 1968 he played with Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Slide Hampton, the John nColtrane Quartet, Marian Macpartland, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Mose Allison, Charles Lyoyd, Paul Bley, and Steve Kuhn, among others, as well as leading his own group and working as the house drummer at the Jazz Workshop in Boston, Massachusetts. During this period, he twice recorded as leader, firstly on Basra (Blue Note 1965) and also on Turkish Women at the Bath (Douglas, 1967), also issued as Bliss under pianist Chick Corea's name on Muse.

In 1968 he left music to become a lawyer, successfully suing when his second album as leader was released under Corea's name without his consent.

He returned to jazz in 1979, and recorded one new album as a leader, Swingtime (Blue Note, 1997).

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