Charlie Moon (born March 8th, 1989) is an Irish jazz guitarist, singer and composer based in Dublin.
He is the son of jazz singer Mia Parsons and legendary blues and jazz guitarist and singer Nigel Mooney “Ireland’s King of the blues” - BBC. He was exposed to a variety of music at an early age and on the night he was born, his father played support to B.B. King in the old stadium in Dublin with his then famous ‘Gripewater Blues Band’, so Charlie’s genes were steeped in the blues and jazz traditions from day one.
In 2016 he graduated from Newpark Music School with an honours degree in Jazz Performance, graduating top of his class in ear training and transcription. Here he refined his compositional skills and in 2018, he was nominated for best original score at the Kerry Film Festival for the short film “Ask Me Now” inspired by the Thelonious Monk composition.
He has since undertaken a masters programme in jazz performance in D.I.T. under the study of legendary guitarist Mike Nielsen and has been frequenting New York to take lessons from such masters of the guitar as Adam Rogers, Nir Felder, Yotam Silberstein and Gilad Hekselman.
He has played at the prestigious Cork, Limerick and Bray jazz festivals and has featured numerous times with the Dublin City Jazz Orchestra, The Hot House Big Band and The Downtown Big Band both as a singer and a rhythm guitarist respectively.
Although Charlie has had no formal vocal training, during his degree he used singing as an effective method of learning and internalising a vast repertoire of jazz standards and soon began incorporating singing into his live performances. His biggest influences are Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Betty Carter and Chet Baker. He and his quintet regularly perform a tribute gig to the latter.
Named “Rising Star” of jazz by The Irish Times in 2018, Charlie adding to his reputation on guitar has established himself as one of the most exciting male jazz singers to emerge this decade. He is increasingly in demand as both a leader and as a side man, on stage and in studio, regularly playing with a host of the top jazz musicians across the country.
News
- Charlie's organ trio featuring organist Darragh Hennessy and drummer Dylan Lynch have just released their debut EP "The Charlie Moon Organization". Available now on all streaming platforms.
- The EP launch of the online release will be held at the Wild Duck, Temple Bar on the 18th of July. Doors 7.30, Adm €10