Oliver William Jones, the maker of the first flutes R. Carlos Nakai played, continues his recollection of his role in the renaissance of the Native American flute within the Native American community and its spread beyond to non-Native performers.

R. Carlos Nakai’s career as a Native American flutist began in the early 1981 when a friend gave him a couple flutes and told him to see what he could with them. R.C.’s friend had traded some jewelry to a flutemaker he’d met at the Southwest American Indian Fair in Sante Fe.  The flutemaker, Oliver William Jones, was a doctor who taught at the UCSD School of Medicine.  Bill had became fascinated with the Native American flute and taught himself, with the aid of Native friends, how to make them.  At this time there were only a handful of flutemakers, and the art and craft of making this unique instrument was in danger of fading into history.  With the gifting of O.W. Jones’ flutes to R.C, a new era for the Native American flute began.  R.C. lead the way for the traditional flute to not only become very popular outside the Native community, but to be performed by many non-Natives, and even make its way to the classical concert hall (R.C. has performed with over twenty symphonies including the Philadelphia Orchestra).  This is the first part of three videos in which Dr. Jones tells his story of making flutes and connecting, by serendipity, to R. Carlos Nakai.

Both albums are great ways to introduce children to Native American culture in a fun way which they can relate to while learning about other traditions. Both recordings include native language transliterations and English translations.

More behind the scene footage and photographs of a video shoot featuring four songs from R. Carlos Nakai, William Eaton and Will Clipman’s Dancing into Silence.

We did have the excitement of a snake “attack”, though it was the snake that was attacked. While setting the glow lights in the pitch darkness to mark the trail for the first dawn shoot, I allegedly stepped on the head of the snake pictured below. I did think I saw a very small snake in the light of my headlamp, but it wasn’t moving in the night cold and I thought I’d stepped over it. Jeff Nagy, who provided the pictures from his camera phone, documented the remains. Rattle snakes were on everyone’s mind (especially on the second dawn shoot which was in less traveled desert), and are always to be treated with extreme caution.

Check back here for more information on the release of the videos which are in the editing process.

On Sunday, May 23, Canyon Records staff traveled to Gates Pass west of Tucson to spend three days on a video shoot featuring  four songs from R. Carlos Nakai, William Eaton and Will Clipman’s Dancing into Silence. Stephen Butler, the producer/director for the project, and I had gone ahead to scout locations and shoot test footage. Sunday afternoon we showed R.C., Will Clipman and the Canyon staff the three shooting sites.

Monday morning we are onsite at 4:00 a.m. moving equipment  uphill through the desert in absolute darkness. Using glowsticks I marked the trail through the cacti (jumping cholla is the worst to encounter) and up slopes covered with loose rock. Everyone wore a headlamp. The view from the road was eerie: a line of colored lights snaking up an unseen hill with bobbing white lights (headlamps) indicating where Canyon staff was moving equipment up the trail

The artists showed up at 4:30 a.m. with William Eaton driving through the night from Cottonwood, Arizona (about five hours)  to arrive on time. The morning was windy which made use of the crane difficult, but we covered our footage for one song. We finished about 10:30 a.m. (light is not good for shooting after this time). At 3:00 p.m. we were at our second site (not shown in the video) for sunset shooting. We are off the evening shoot about 9:30 p.m. after covering our footage for a second song.

Everyone worked long, hard hours, but expressed they’d rather be there than back at the office: Alexis Santos, Kathy Norris, Jack Miller, Jeff Nagy (of Nile Graphics) and his son Alex, and, of course, R.C., William and Will who were very patient while we set up shots and dealt with technical issues. I also owe thanks to the staff who kept the office going while we were on our campaign in the desert: Marty Butler, Kristen Butler and Lisa Minker.

Check back for the second part of our on-location video for Dancing into Silence.

Don’t miss the snake attack.

Nakai spoke shortly after performing in the MIM’s beautiful theater to MIM’s first sold out concert. The MIM has the world’s most comprehensive collection of musical instruments featuring instruments from all parts of the globe displayed in state of the art galleries. Opened in April, MIM includes a special gallery where children of all ages have the opportunity to play many kinds of instruments (including a very large gong). The MIM is truly an experience that should not be missed (it will take more than one trip to enjoy everything the MIM has to offer). For more information go to www.theMIM.org.

Duncan, a member of the famed Yellow Bird Indian Dancers, is a championship hoop dancer who has performed throughout the world.  Duncan brings the flair of the hoop dance to his compositions and flute playing.  To get to know Tony in his own words, view the video below.

The album’s beautiful cover image is “Jason’s Corner” by Michael Fatali.  For more of Michael’s beautiful landscapes go to www.fatali.com.

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009, the day was spent sightseeing around Guarenas. I found the architecture of the buildings very beautiful and the people of Venezuela were very welcoming. That evening we travelled to Guatire where I would perform my first concert held in a building for the Performing Arts. More…

Saturday, November 21st, 2009, I was sitting at an airport in Houston, Texas on my birthday getting ready to depart to Caracas, Venezuela. As the invited featured artist at the “Festival Internacional de la Guitarra Academica”, I arrived in Caracas after an eight (8) hour flight just as the sun was about to rise. More…