Intro to "Now's the Time" + Happy Birthday, Bird!

Yesterday, I took a break from transcribing to sit at the piano and noodle around. I plunked out a three note cluster in the right hand (D, Eb, G), which reminded me of something I had not listened to in a long time. I ended up transcribing part of the intro to "Now's the Time" right then and there:

I thought at first that maybe it was Monk who came up with the intro, but it's actually Sadik Hakim, a pianist from Minnesota. These little quirky intros are underappreciated, I think—I didn't pay any attention to them until reading a bit about an intro to "Dewey Square" on Do the Math. Now that I think of it, the intros do add a lot: the slick line at the beginning of "Confirmation" always made me want to fast-forward to that track on the CD when I was younger, and sometimes, an intro is really all you need ("Ko-Ko"). I'll likely have a Bird transcription up here soon, but considering that Bird has been plenty enough dissected in universities, I think I'll try checking out some of the older records with an ear for the intros and the funny stuff going on with the rhythm sections.

CORRECTION — the pianist on the session wasn't Sadik Hakim, but actually Dizzy! Thanks to Elijah Shiffer for pointing this out. -KS, 1/12/12