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Born Peter Sims on April 7, 1938, in Harlem, New York, Pete "La Roca" Sims grew up surrounded by music. His mother was a pianist, his stepfather a trumpeter, and his uncle Kenneth Bright introduced him to the world of jazz during his childhood. This immersion in the jazz tradition led him to formal study at two of New York's most prestigious institutions: the High School of Music and Art and City College of New York, where he focused on percussion.
In his early professional years, La Roca first adopted his stage name while playing timbales in Latin bands, a role that would influence his distinctive approach to drumming. The buoyant quality he brought to the kit—a legacy of his Latin percussion roots—set him apart from his contemporaries, earning him work alongside some of jazz's most innovative voices. He performed with Sonny Rollins, played in John Coltrane's quartet, and worked with Art Farmer and Freddie Hubbard. His reputation as a reliable, creative drummer led to a steady gig as the house drummer at the Jazz Workshop in Boston.
The 1960s marked La Roca's most prolific period as a bandleader. In 1965, he recorded Basra, followed two years later by Turkish Women at the Bath. Both albums showcased his compositional interests and his ability to blend post-bop innovation with rhythmic sophistication. Though the geographic references in these titles suggest thematic exploration, La Roca's musical interests were rooted in the experimental jazz conversations of his era rather than documented personal experience in the Middle East.
Like many jazz musicians of his generation, La Roca's relationship with the music industry shifted in the late 1960s. He stepped away from jazz performance to pursue law, with a period of taxi driving bridging his two careers. He returned to music on a part-time basis in 1979, eventually recording Swing Time in 1997. La Roca continued working in both law and music until his death on November 20, 2012, from lung cancer at age 74.
