Talib Rasul Hakim (1940–1988) was an American composer of

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

heritage. Born Stephen Alexander Chambers on February 8, 1940, he was brother to noted jazz drummer and composer

Joe Chambers Joe Chambers (born June 25, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, vibraphonist and composer. In the 1960s and 1970s, Chambers gigged with many high-profile artists such as Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter, and Chick Corea an ...

. In

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populous city in Western North Carolina a ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, he grew up playing music in school, studying clarinet, piano, and singing in church choir. He later studied music at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

New York College of Music The New York College of Music was an American conservatory of music located in Manhattan that flourished from 1878 to 1968. The college was incorporated under the laws of New York and was empowered to confer diplomas and degrees ranging from a ...

, and

The New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...

. His teachers include

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, a development associated with the experimental New York School o ...

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Ja ...

Margaret Bonds Margaret Allison Bonds (March 3, 1913 – April 26, 1972) was an American composer, pianist, arranger, and teacher. One of the first Black composers and performers to gain recognition in the United States, she is best remembered today for her po ...

Robert Starer Robert Starer (8 January 1924 in Vienna – 22 April 2001 in Kingston, New York) was an Austrian-born American composer, pianist and educator. Robert Starer began studying the piano at age 4 and continued his studies at the Vienna State Academy. ...

Hall Overton Hall Franklin Overton (February 23, 1920 – November 24, 1972) was an American composer, jazz pianist and music teacher. Life He was born in Bangor, Michigan, the first of the three sons of Stanford and Ruth (Barnes) Overton. He grew up in Gra ...

Chou Wen-Chung Chou Wen-chung (; July 28, 1923 – October 25, 2019) was a Chinese American composer of contemporary classical music. He emigrated in 1946 to the United States and received his music training at the New England Conservatory and Columbia Univ ...

, William Sydeman,

Hale Smith Hale Smith (June 29, 1925 – November 24, 2009) was an American composer, arranger, and pianist.De Lerma, Dominique-Rene"African Heritage Symphonic Series" Liner note essay. Cedille CDR061. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he learned pian ...

, and Charles Whittenberg.Alison Deborah Jones. "Hakim, Talib-Rasul." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 14 February 2010. Hakim first came to attention in the wider music community through appearances of his works on the "Music in Our Time" concert series in New York in the mid-1960s. He received awards and residencies from the Bennington Composers Conference (1964–1990) and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts (1981–1982), as well as

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

, grants from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, and the Creative Artist Public Service Program. In addition to composing, Hakim taught at

Pace University Pace University is a private university with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York, United States. It was established in 1906 as a business school by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace. Pace enrolls about ...

Adelphi University Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York, United States. Adelphi also has centers in Downtown Brooklyn, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County in addition to a virtual, online campus for remote students. As of 2019, it had ...

Nassau Community College Nassau Community College (NCC) is a Public college, public community college in the East Garden City, New York, East Garden City section of Uniondale, New York, Uniondale, Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, New York (state), N ...

, and

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black research university in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically bla ...

, as well as working as a radio and television producer. After converting to

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

in 1973, Hakim changed his name. He died on March 31, 1988, in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

List of works

* Indicates extant score materials located in ''College Archives & Special Collections'' at Columbia College ChicagoColumbia College Chicago
''Guide to the Talib Rasul Hakim Collection'' (2020). ''CBMR Collection Guides''
/ref> *''Mutations'' (1964)* bass clarinet, horn, trumpet, viola, cello *''Six Players and Voice'' (1964)* Soprano, clarinet, trumpet, cello, 2 percussion, and piano *''Four'' (1965)* Clarinet, trumpet, trombone, piano *''Piano Piece'' (1965) Piano *''Shapes'' (1965)* Chamber Orchestra *''Three Play Short Five'' (1965)* Bass clarinet, percussion, bass *''Contours'' (1966)* Oboe, Bassoon, horn, trumpet, cello, bass *''Currents'' (1967)* String Quartet *''Elements'' (1967) Flute/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin/viola, cello, piano, glass and bamboo wind and hand chimes *''Roots and Other Things'' (1967) Flute/alto flute, oboe/EH, clarinet/bass clarinet, trumpet, horn, trombone, viola, cello, bass *''Sound-Gone'' (1967) Piano *''Inner-Sections'' (1967) Flute, clarinet, trombone, piano, percussion *''Sound Images'' (1969) Brass, 3 percussion, strings, female chorus *''Tone-Poem'' (1969)* Soprano, percussion, contrabass, and piano (text by

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...

) *''Placements'' (1970)* Piano, percussion *''Set-Three'' (1970) Soprano, cello, piano *''Timelessness'' (1970) Flugelhorn, horn, trombone, tuba, 2 percussion, bass, and piano *''Uranian-Projections'' (1970) Soprano, percussion, and piano *''Visions of Ishwara'' (1970)* Orchestra *''Reflections on the 5th Day'' (1972) Narrator, chamber orchestra *''Concepts'' (1974)* Orchestra *''Recurrences'' (1974)* Orchestra *''Arkan- 5'' (1980–81)* Chamber Orchestra *''Lailatu'l-Qadr'' (''The Night of Power'') (1984) Bass clarinet, bass, percussion *''Az-Zaahir-Al Batin''(''The Outward-The Inward'') (1985–86)* Orchestra

References

External links

Guide to the Talib Rasul Hakim Collection
Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago {{DEFAULTSORT:Hakim, Talib Rasul 1940 births 1988 deaths Converts to Islam African-American Muslims American male composers New York College of Music alumni American Sufis The New School alumni 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians African-American male classical composers People from Asheville, North Carolina Pace University faculty Adelphi University faculty Morgan State University faculty Manhattan School of Music alumni Muslims from North Carolina

List of works

References

Further reading

External links