Sadik Hakim Trio - Witches, Goblins, etc.

barabara sounds sez:

It's a fantastic name for an album, strong cover art too. And if the music is slightly underwhelming — conventional is the word used by allmusic — there's still some lovely piano trio work to be found here. 

Sadik Hakim is certainly no household name, leastways, not in the barabara bailiwick, and this SteepleChase side is the only album of his I've ever come across. So I've dropped a bit of background info at the bottom. Here's a potted version: 

Hakim (birth name Argonne Thornton) was the legendary pianist who played with Charlie Parker (the 1954 KoKo session), Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon (Dexter Rides Again) and Lester Young (I'm Confessin'). In 1982, he played "'Round Midnight" at Thelonius Monk's funeral, a year before his own death.

allmusic.com sez:

Argonne Thornton (who in the late '40s changed his name to Sadik Hakim) had a particularly unusual boppish style in the '40s, playing dissonant lines, using repetition to build suspense, and certainly standing out from the many Bud Powell impressionists. Later in his career his playing became more conventional. Hakim originally studied music with his grandfather and started performing at local gigs in Minnesota. After a period in Chicago, he was heard by Ben Webster, who hired him to play with his group in New York (1944-1945). Hakim recorded with Webster and Dexter Gordon, was on part of Charlie Parker's famous "Ko Ko" session, and gigged regularly with Lester Young during 1946-1948, appearing on many recordings with Pres. After playing with Slam Stewart in 1949, in the 1950s Hakim worked fairly regularly with James Moody (1951-1954) and Buddy Tate's Orchestra (1956-1960) but never became too well known himself. Later in life he lived for a period in Montreal (the second half of the 1960s), performed in Europe often, and toured Japan (1979-1980). Other than sharing an album for the Charlie Parker label with fellow pianist Duke Jordan in 1962, Hakim did not record as a leader until 1973; during the next seven years he would lead dates for CBC, Japanese Progressive, SteepleChase, and finally in 1980 for Storyville.

musicians:

Sadik Hakim piano; Errol Walters bass; Al Foster drums

tracks:

1. Moon In Aquarius; 2. Witches, Goblins, etc; 3. Our Bossa Nova; 4. No More Sue; 5. Portrait Of Cousin Mickey; 6. Booger's Dilemma; 7. Peace Of Mind; 8. Say What You Mean; 9. Peace Of Mind; 10 Booger's Dilemma

And there's some interesting autobiographical stuff here at Tony Flood's House of Hard Bop — plus Tony's own recollections of meeting Hakim.