I got a little obsessed with Pete LaRoca the other day after seeing this video of him with Art Farmer. I really dig his playing.
Eventually I made my way to his Wikipedia page and found this fascinating bit:
“In 1968 he stopped taking side-man gigs, and only accepted work as a band leader/drummer. La Roca began earning a living by driving a taxi cab in New York City, and later attended law school at New York University. When his second album as leader, Turkish Women at the Bath, was released under Chick Corea’s name without La Roca’s consent, La Roca filed and argued a lawsuit against Douglas Records, and the erroneously-labeled records were recalled.
He returned to jazz in 1979, and recorded one new album as a leader, Swing Time (Blue Note, 1997).”