Thomas Raphael Moon (born November 3, 1960) is an American saxophonist, author and music critic. He is best known for his 2008 book '' 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die''. He has won two Deems Taylor Awards from the

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers 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 ...

Biography

Tom Moon studied music at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

, and he played in the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra for about a year on tour. In the 1980s, Moon put his career as a musician on hold to focus on music journalism. He began writing about music in 1983. In 1988, Moon accepted a job at ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'' as their music critic, despite the fact that the paper saw his previous experience as a musician as a conflict of interest. As he later told ''

Jazz Times ''JazzTimes'' was an American print magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade ...

'': "Because I didn't know anybody in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, he Inquirer stafffelt that the potential existed for people to hire me to play when they were just trying to get press...Instead of arriving at the crossroads and getting the keys to the kingdom and playing, I had to say that I won’t do this professionally any more." He remained the resident music critic at the ''Inquirer'' until 2004. In 1996, he began contributing to

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'' program. He is a longtime contributor to multiple music magazines, including ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', '' GQ'', ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...

'', and ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

''. In 2011, his Moon Hotel Lounge Project released the album ''Into the Ojalá'' on Moon's own label, Frosty Cordial Records.

References

1960 births Living people 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American saxophonists American male saxophonists American music critics NPR personalities Rolling Stone people The Philadelphia Inquirer people University of Miami Frost School of Music alumni {{US-journalist-1960s-stub