Sadik Hakim

Sadik Hakim (born Argonne Thornton on July 15, 1919 in Duluth, Minnesota; died in New York City on June 20, 1983) was an American jazz pianist and composer.

Thornton was taught piano by his grandfather and started playing professionally about 1939. In 1944 he moved to New York City and was hired by Ben Webster. He participated in the emergence of bebop, sharing piano duties with Dizzy Gillespie on Charlie Parker's famous "Ko-Ko" session and recording with Dexter Gordon and Lester Young (he can be heard on Young's "I'm Confessin'"). Hakim is credited with co-writing Thelonious Monk's standard "Eronel" and is rumored to have written a few famous bop tunes credited to other composers. He adopted his Muslim name in 1947.

Hakim moved to Montreal after visiting in 1949 and was a big fish on the small bebop scene there, working with Louis Metcalf's International Band. However he was compelled to leave Canada following a drug bust in November 1950. Through the 1950s he worked in New York with James Moody and George Holmes Tate. He returned to Montreal from 1966 to 1976, leading bands and recording with Charlie Biddle. He led a few recording dates from 1976–1980 and cut an album with Sonny Stitt in 1978.

Hakim played "'Round Midnight" at Thelonious Monk's funeral in 1982, and died himself the following year.

Discography

• Witches, Goblins, etc. (SteepleChase, 1978)

With James Moody

• Moody (Prestige, 1954)

References

• NYT Obituary
• John Gilmore, Who's Who of Jazz in Montreal: Ragtime to 1970." Vehicule Press, 1989.
• John Gilmore, "Swinging in Paradise: The Story of Jazz in Montreal." Second Edition. Ellipse Editions, 2011.

External links

• Sadik Hakim, "Reflections of an Era: My Experiences with Bird and Prez" on AnthonyFlood.com
• Tony Flood, Sadik Hakim, 1919-1983: A Vignette from My Diary on Tony Flood's House of Hard Bop.