Tom Moon
Tom Moon has been writing about pop, rock, jazz, blues, hip-hop and the music of the world since 1983.
He is the author of the New York Times bestseller 1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die (Workman Publishing), and a contributor to other books including The Final Four of Everything.
A saxophonist whose professional credits include stints on cruise ships and several tours with the Maynard Ferguson orchestra, Moon served as music critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1988 until 2004. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GQ, Blender, Spin, Vibe, Harp and other publications, and has won several awards, including two ASCAP-Deems Taylor Music Journalism awards. He has contributed to NPR's All Things Considered since 1996.
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Columbia Records' latest release from the jazz maverick's vault is a three-CD, one-DVD live compilation. The previously unreleased material captures a little-known burst of creativity, recorded between two vastly different periods in Davis' career.
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On Matane Malit, the singer and her group offers a transfixing balance of old and new, laying expansive instrumentation over traditional Albanian folk melodies.
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The Swedish jazz trio sculpts epic soundscapes on its first posthumous album, released four years after pianist Esbjorn Svensson's death.
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Gardot captures the sensibility that guides, shapes and defines so much Brazilian music.
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Two recent albums, from Don Byron's New Gospel Quintet and Charlie Haden and Hank Jones, offer contrasting perspectives on the intersection of two quintessentially American music styles.
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James Farm isn't a person, but the name of a jazz supergroup comprising saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman and drummer Eric Harland. The band's self-titled debut is complex and truly collaborative.
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Probably best known for her work with the Grammy-winning jazz star Esperanza Spalding, the singer crafts something profound on The Lost and Found.
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Anointed the next bright hope of jazz, last year's breakout pianist took only two days to record his first solo album of originals and covers. Does it live up to high expectations? NPR's Tom Moon reviews the album here.
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The latest recording from Jason Moran and his trio is called Ten, and this year marks the group's 10-year anniversary. The trio has expanded jazz with elements of hip-hop and electronic music, a mix that critics have hailed as visionary.
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Diana Krall's latest album is dominating the market for sultry Brazilian tunes. But reviewer Tom Moon recommends an alternative: the U.S. debut album of Magos Herrera, a Mexican-born jazz vocalist with a gift for understatement.