Ray: Given your wide playing range of so many musical styles, what informs your choices when it comes down to recording any particular album? R. Carlos: Oh, that’s an easy one. Much of what I do is playing not from my disciplined, schooled background — say that I can play a series of 60 fourth notes…
[Writer’s note: I conducted this interview in person just after I started at New Age Retailer magazine in 1998. I was a big fan, and the marriage of my new role (as assistant editor) and a surprise opportunity (R. Carlos was touring with the R. Carlos Nakai Quartet and coming through Bellingham, Washington, just then)…
Ray: Is there an overall philosophy or message you’re trying to share with your music? R. Carlos: Part of it is expressing the idea of living in many worlds at once. But I also use the music to describe how I feel inside. To describe, as a child does, just singing impromptu—improvisationally in the moment—about…
