Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Pete LaRoca 1938-2012

Another very great drummer has died, Pete LaRoca Sims. I heard that he had entered a hospice a few days ago; his condition must have deteriorated very quickly. He was of roughly the same generation as some very crisp players like Art Taylor and Louis Hayes, but LaRoca had a looser way of playing. If there were such thing as an Elvin Jones “camp” during that period, maybe LaRoca would've been in it. I got to see him play when he was touring in the '90's, after a hiatus of many years, and he was taking a very loose, very Elvin-like approach. I think his chops may have been down a bit, but it didn't matter. Very sorry that he is gone.

This is from, I think, his greatest recording as a player— and one of the great drumming performances in jazz, period— with Sonny Rollins, Live in Stockholm:



A few more selections after the break:



From his album, Turkish Women at the Bath, with John Gilmore and Chick Corea:



From his other great album as leader, Basra:



Finally, here's a seven-part concert with Art Farmer, Jim Hall, and Steve Swallow (playing acoustic). It's well worth following through to YouTube and watching the whole thing:

1 comment:

David Freeman Music said...

Good stuff. That Sonny Rollins record is one of my faves.