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.
Person Page
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When The Mars Volta purchased a ouija board in a Jerusalem curio shop and began to use it, the band had no idea how much it would affect its recording. Listening to The Bedlam in Goliath, the paranormal talk might not seem like such a publicity stunt. -
Two years ago, jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Matt Chamberlain spent a few days free-associating in the recording studio. Their extemporaneous jams were then sampled, cut up and mixed together to create an unusual album project called Floratone. -
Veteran Cuban singer and member of the Buena Vista Social Club, Ibrahim Ferrer, finished recording a solo album just before he died.
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Israeli-born pianist and composer Anat Fort spent the last seven years in New York, much of it working on her first album for ECM Records. She says that though some of the music was written quickly, it took time to discover how to perform it.
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The Austin, Texas, band called Explosions in the Sky has spent eight years pursuing what might strike some as a tiny sub-speciality: alternative instrumental rock. The band has a new album called All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone.
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The Arcade Fire put out a brilliant debut album in 2004's Funeral. They spent the better part of 2006 in a church outside Montreal, creating Neon Bible. Like their debut, the 10-piece band's music is full of percussion, strings and smart lyrics.
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The rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah released its first record last year on its own label. Major labels came knocking when the band quickly became an Internet darling. The band decided to remain independent and, this week, will release its second record on its own label, Some Loud Thunder. -
It has been 30 years since Keith Jarrett released The Koln Concert, a recording of solo piano improvisations that has sold over 3 million copies — far more than most jazz records. It was a breakthrough for the 60-year-old pianist and composer, who studied classical music in his youth and got his start playing jazz with Art Blakey, Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. After the success of Koln, Jarrett began doing regular solo concerts. But in the late 1990s, a battle with chronic fatigue syndrome forced him to rest at his home in rural New Jersey. Last September, the pianist performed at Carnegie Hall. The concert became a two-CD set. Tom Moon has a review.
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Cat Stevens left the recording industry in 1978, after converting to Islam and changing his name to Yusuf Islam. Since then, he's occasionally found himself in the middle of controversies involving the Muslim world and the West. The former star has a new CD, An Other Cup.
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John Mayer has sold millions of CDs with his sensitive, wistful songs. Music critic Tom Moon has been listening to Mayer's new album, Continuum. He says Mayer is growing as an artist, his songs are better and he is utilizing one of his strengths, in playing guitar.
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Bob Dylan is 65, an age at which many people expect to slow down. The revered songwriter is doing the opposite. In the last two years, he's launched his own weekly satellite radio program, the Theme Time Radio Hour. This week brings a CD called Modern Times, the first new songs Dylan has released in five years.
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In the crowded field of indie rock, a band's first few albums are crucial. They establish the band's sound and expand its fanbase. But Cincinnati's Heartless Bastards breaks those rules with its second CD, All This Time. Instead of sticking to its workmanlike gritty blues rock, the band has developed a more open, expansive and personal sound.
