| Basra | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 1965 [1] | |||
| Recorded | May 19, 1965 | |||
| Studio | Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 40:43 | |||
| Label | Blue Note BST 84205 | |||
| Producer | Alfred Lion | |||
| Pete La Roca chronology | ||||
| ||||
Basra is the debut album by drummer Pete La Roca, recorded in 1965 and released on the Blue Note label. [2]
Bassist Steve Swallow recounted that he and La Roca had taken LSD prior to traveling to recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder's New Jersey studio for the session. [3] He also said that Van Gelder threatened to end the session after pianist Steve Kuhn started manually plucking the piano strings. [3]
The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow stated: "It is strange to realize that drummer Pete La Roca only led two albums during the prime years of his career, for this CD reissue of his initial date is a classic". [4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [4] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [5] |
| Down Beat |  [6] |
All compositions by Pete La Roca except as noted
Pete "La Roca" Sims was an American jazz drummer and attorney. Born and raised in Harlem 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 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, where he played tympani in the CCNY Orchestra. He adopted the name La Roca early in his musical career, when he played timbales for six years in Latin 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:
I can't deny that I once played under the name La Roca, but I have to insist that my name is Peter Sims with La Roca in brackets or in quotes. For 16 or 17 years, when I have not been playing the music, people have known me as Sims....When I was 14 or 15, I thought ["La Roca"] was clever; right now, it's an embarrassment. I thought that it would be something that people would probably remember - boy, was I ever right on that one! I can't make my conversion.
Vertigo is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1962 and 1963 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1980. The initial release contained only the five tracks from 1963, while the later 2000 limited CD edition, released as part of the "Connoisseur Series", added six tracks from a 1962 session originally marked for release as Jackie McLean Quintet, first issued in 1978 as part of a double LP entitled Hipnosis.
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 the afternoon with different sidemen. For the afternoon set, Rollins played with Donald Bailey on bass and Pete LaRoca on drums; in the evening they were replaced respectively by Wilbur Ware and Elvin Jones.
Steve Kuhn is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator.
Whims of Chambers is a jazz album by the bassist Paul Chambers released on the Blue Note label circa January 1957. The album features performances by Chambers with trumpeter Donald Byrd, tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, guitarist Kenny Burrell, pianist Horace Silver and drummer ”Philly” Joe Jones.
Page One is the debut album by American jazz tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, released by Blue Note Records in 1963. Besides Henderson, the musicians for the album were trumpeter Kenny Dorham, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Butch Warren and drummer Pete La Roca. The album's tracks were all written by either Henderson or Dorham, and include two pieces that went on to become jazz standards: "Recorda Me" by Henderson and "Blue Bossa" by Dorham. All the musicians but Tyner are credited are on the album's front cover; Tyner is listed simply as "etc.", because he was signed to the rival Impulse! Records label.
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers is a 1956 repackage of 1955 10” LPs by jazz pianist Horace Silver with drummer Art Blakey and featuring Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, Kenny Dorham on trumpet, and Doug Watkins on bass. By the time this repackage was released, this quintet had named themselves the Jazz Messengers, and the band name on the label reflected that. These recordings helped establish the hard bop style. Scott Yanow on Allmusic describes it as "a true classic". Originally released as an LP, the album has subsequently been reissued on CD several times.
Our Thing is the second album by American jazz tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson on Blue Note. It features performances by Henderson, trumpeter Kenny Dorham, pianist Andrew Hill, drummer Pete La Roca and bassist Eddie Khan of originals by Henderson and Dorham. The CD reissue added a bonus take of "Teeter Totter".
Blue Spirits is an album by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard released on the Blue Note label. It would be his last studio album for Blue Note, recorded in the 1960s. It features performances by Hubbard, James Spaulding, Joe Henderson, Harold Mabern, Jr., Larry Ridley, Clifford Jarvis, Big Black, Kiane Zawadi, Hank Mobley, McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw, Pete LaRoca. The CD release added tracks from a 1966 session featuring Hosea Taylor, Herbie Hancock, Reggie Workman, and Elvin Jones.
The Outer View is an album by George Russell originally released on Riverside in 1962. The album contains performances by Russell with Garnett Brown, Paul Plummer, Don Ellis, Steve Swallow, and Pete La Roca and features the recording debut of vocalist Sheila Jordan on one track. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow states that "Composer George Russell's early-'60s Riverside recordings are among his most accessible. For this set Russell and his very impressive sextet are challenged by the complex material".
Sonny Clark Quintets is an album by jazz pianist Sonny Clark, recorded for the Blue Note label, featuring performances by Clark with two different studio quintets. The first session, from late 1957, featured Clifford Jordan, Kenny Burrell, Paul Chambers, and Pete LaRoca, and produced three tracks. The LP's remaining two tracks were recorded a few weeks later with group including Art Farmer, Jackie McLean, Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. The three pieces recorded with Burrell and Jordan were originally scheduled to be released on album given the catalog number "BLP 1592". Blue Note decided not to complete the album begun with Jordan and Burrell, and the tracks remained unreleased during Clark's lifetime. In 1976, Blue Note combined these three tracks with two outtakes recorded in early 1958 as part of the session for the Cool Struttin' LP. The resulting LP was released in Japan as Sonny Clark Quintets. The same five pieces were subsequently re-released on a 1983 Japanese LP titled Cool Struttin' Volume 2. Sonny Clark Quintets has been reissued numerous times on compact disc.
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 six tracks recorded in 1959 including an alternate take of "Royal Flush", a track that had appeared on the album Cool Struttin'. The 2000 limited CD reissue also comprised the three additional tracks originally recorded for Sonny Clark Quintets, an album which never saw the light of the day until being released later only in Japan.
The Spoiler is an album by jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine recorded for the Blue Note label in 1966 and performed by Turrentine with Blue Mitchell, James Spaulding, Pepper Adams, McCoy Tyner, Julian Priester, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker with arrangements by Duke Pearson.
Bluesnik is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1961 and released on the Blue Note label. It features McLean in a quintet with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Pete La Roca.
New Soil is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1959 and released on the Blue Note label. It features McLean's quintet with trumpeter Donald Byrd, pianist Walter Davis Jr., bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Pete La Roca.
Flight to Jordan is an album by American pianist Duke Jordan recorded in 1960 and released on the Blue Note label.
Little Johnny C is an album by American trumpeter Johnny Coles recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label.
Some Other Stuff is the second album by American trombonist Grachan Moncur III recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label in 1965. It features tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Tony Williams. It was remastered by Rudy Van Gelder for CD in 2008.
Sing Me Softly of the Blues is an album by Art Farmer's Quartet recorded in 1965, and released on the Atlantic label.
Turkish Women at the Bath is an album by drummer Pete La Roca which features saxophonist John Gilmore and pianist Chick Corea. It was recorded in 1967 and was originally released on the Douglas label.
