From 1992 to 2001 he was Paris bureau chief for TIME Magazine, where he worked for 22 years,[1] and he has contributed to numerous publications including Vanity Fair, Fortune, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal.
He began playing the clarinet aged 13, after being taken by his father, Thomas Sancton, Sr., to hear traditional New Orleans jazz at Preservation Hall.
[4] Since then he has recorded over a dozen albums, and performed regularly at Preservation Hall and the Palm Court Jazz Cafe with his New Orleans Legacy Band.
Other honors and distinctions include an Overseas Press Club Award (1987), a citation for "outstanding musical contributions" by the Preservation Resource Center (2012), and a 2014 decoration by the French Culture Ministry as a Knight (Chevalier) in the Order of Arts and Letters.
[5] He is the coauthor of the international bestseller Death of a Princess: The Investigation and author of the political thriller The Armageddon Project.