I really enjoyed your writing. I studied with Pete and he was a really deep person. It was towards the end of his life and his physical abilities were somewhat diminished, but when he occasionally would sit and play he sounded incredible. He conveyed some concepts about playing non-repetitive time based off of the ride that were extremely helpful.
One thing that may not be widely known is he was really into classical music. He had me analyze a few scores. His intention was to submerge into compositional techniques.
On the first lesson he talked about being able to instantly access an out of body mind state. He said it happened to him accidentally while was playing with Sonny Rollins and it freaked him out. He told me it took years to understand what had happened but he could freely get to that consciousness.
Just a suggestion but one of the best recordings he did in my opinion was the Coltrane live at the Jazz Gallery.
He did tell me that while he was soloing on Minor Apprehension he was always thinking of the form.
Hi Pete, just seeing this now! INCREDIBLE information, thanks for sharing…Jeff Williams played me Mr. LaRoca with Coltrane at the Half Note, it was incredible, I agree.
And very handy to have his testimony about Minor Apprehension!
Thank you so much for reading and sharing your priceless recollections of Pete LaRoca, and my apologies for replying in such an untimely fashion…somehow I didn’t see this…
You do explain well where the "La Roca" name came from, and, considering that his most important years as a jazz musician saw him using that name professionally, it seems reasonable to refer to him as "La Roca". But I'll note that for the last 45 years of his life, he preferred to be known professionally as Pete Sims, and he begrudgingly let others bill him as Pete "La Roca" Sims because having some name recognition was better than having no name recognition in the very tough post 1960s acoustic jazz scene. Sims was (personally) done with "La Roca" by the time he left jazz to get his law degree in the late 1960s.
Thank you Jim, great point. Parts of the essay were originally written with “La Roca/Sims” as his last name…just another aspect of how difficult to summarize Mr. Sims is! Thanks for reading and your helpful comment!
Great piece. Milford Graves started out playing Latin music; his first credit was on an album by Jamaican conguero Roger "Montego Joe" Sanders, and there's some mention of that early work in his NY Times obit:
If memory serves, Ben Young’s essay in the “Call It Art” collection of the NYAQ suggests that Graves’ feet on the hat and kick drum are basically doing the dance moves that you’d do when standing at the timbales. So that everything on the kit comes out of MG’s Latin experience.
Since I'm writing a book on Cecil at the moment, I've been listening to those early albums a lot lately - Denis Charles swung SO FUCKING HARD on Jazz Advance and Looking Ahead!
Yes!!! Denis is AMAZING….I love him on those…he had an incredible left hand!! I love him on the Gil Evans record too (the name of which is not available to my clouded mind at the moment)…Michael Formanek played with Charles, and I believe Chris Lightcap did as well…Formanek loved playing with him, spoke very highly about it, though I believe it was just one gig…
Amazing! I wrote a thing about these trades but had to cut it due to length…you can really hear some timbale and Afro-Cuban wisdom in these trades!! Thank you Paul!
Vinnie, a great essay! The solo is something to behold! As you pointed out, it is astonishing how everybody joins him at the end. What I noticed that for the last half minute or so after the solo and everyone else joins in, he maintains that free feeling in all his strokes. How he starts the piece is different from how he ends it. He must have been in a different state of consciousness after the solo. Great inspiration! Million thanks!
Hi Vinnie
I really enjoyed your writing. I studied with Pete and he was a really deep person. It was towards the end of his life and his physical abilities were somewhat diminished, but when he occasionally would sit and play he sounded incredible. He conveyed some concepts about playing non-repetitive time based off of the ride that were extremely helpful.
One thing that may not be widely known is he was really into classical music. He had me analyze a few scores. His intention was to submerge into compositional techniques.
On the first lesson he talked about being able to instantly access an out of body mind state. He said it happened to him accidentally while was playing with Sonny Rollins and it freaked him out. He told me it took years to understand what had happened but he could freely get to that consciousness.
Just a suggestion but one of the best recordings he did in my opinion was the Coltrane live at the Jazz Gallery.
He did tell me that while he was soloing on Minor Apprehension he was always thinking of the form.
Thank!
Pete Sweeney
Hi Pete, just seeing this now! INCREDIBLE information, thanks for sharing…Jeff Williams played me Mr. LaRoca with Coltrane at the Half Note, it was incredible, I agree.
And very handy to have his testimony about Minor Apprehension!
Thank you so much for reading and sharing your priceless recollections of Pete LaRoca, and my apologies for replying in such an untimely fashion…somehow I didn’t see this…
Best,
Vinnie
You do explain well where the "La Roca" name came from, and, considering that his most important years as a jazz musician saw him using that name professionally, it seems reasonable to refer to him as "La Roca". But I'll note that for the last 45 years of his life, he preferred to be known professionally as Pete Sims, and he begrudgingly let others bill him as Pete "La Roca" Sims because having some name recognition was better than having no name recognition in the very tough post 1960s acoustic jazz scene. Sims was (personally) done with "La Roca" by the time he left jazz to get his law degree in the late 1960s.
Thank you Jim, great point. Parts of the essay were originally written with “La Roca/Sims” as his last name…just another aspect of how difficult to summarize Mr. Sims is! Thanks for reading and your helpful comment!
Great piece. Milford Graves started out playing Latin music; his first credit was on an album by Jamaican conguero Roger "Montego Joe" Sanders, and there's some mention of that early work in his NY Times obit:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/19/arts/music/milford-graves-dead.html
Amazing!! That’s the Milford info I wanted…thanks for that comment, this is what we need!
If memory serves, Ben Young’s essay in the “Call It Art” collection of the NYAQ suggests that Graves’ feet on the hat and kick drum are basically doing the dance moves that you’d do when standing at the timbales. So that everything on the kit comes out of MG’s Latin experience.
Thank you for this! Ben Young is a wonderful scholar of the music…now I know where to look!!
Since I'm writing a book on Cecil at the moment, I've been listening to those early albums a lot lately - Denis Charles swung SO FUCKING HARD on Jazz Advance and Looking Ahead!
Yes!!! Denis is AMAZING….I love him on those…he had an incredible left hand!! I love him on the Gil Evans record too (the name of which is not available to my clouded mind at the moment)…Michael Formanek played with Charles, and I believe Chris Lightcap did as well…Formanek loved playing with him, spoke very highly about it, though I believe it was just one gig…
Solid! If All roads lead to Rome, they at least pass through Utica...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlGTCIN5Kcg&list=PL0q2VleZJVElEY8R5Q6ldM8a650mB_Qdy
(link doesn't make it obvious, but Pete LaRoca trading fours with JR Monterose)
Amazing! I wrote a thing about these trades but had to cut it due to length…you can really hear some timbale and Afro-Cuban wisdom in these trades!! Thank you Paul!
Two thumbs up, Vinnie!
Vinnie, a great essay! The solo is something to behold! As you pointed out, it is astonishing how everybody joins him at the end. What I noticed that for the last half minute or so after the solo and everyone else joins in, he maintains that free feeling in all his strokes. How he starts the piece is different from how he ends it. He must have been in a different state of consciousness after the solo. Great inspiration! Million thanks!
Thanks for sharing ! I wasn't familiar with the referenced Jackie McLean and Shelly Manne recordings.
Thanks Eric!!
Yes! Thank you for sharing!! This is what’s needed!!!