During a concert, Carlos Niño may set up a bass drum and a floor tom, but his percussion instruments are far from traditional. He's not interested in maintaining a steady beat, he creates a sparkling atmosphere and dirt. Texture with many species, clams, rain rods or rattles in a large black roller bag. He surrounds himself with cymbals and gongs. He shakes the dried palm leaves. Wind noise is involved.
A presence on the Los Angeles music scene for nearly three decades, Niño has become a key practitioner of what he calls “spiritual, improvisational, cosmic collage music.” (Perhaps the most relevant genre is spiritual jazz.) He is a beacon of energy and knowledge who can put you in touch with the city's transformational saxophonists and give you the names of master acupuncturists. He's also been very active, releasing seven releases across various projects in the past eight months alone. His latest film ‘Placenta’ is scheduled to be released on May 24th.
On a recent afternoon at Endless Color, a cafe and record store near Niño's home in Topanga Canyon, California, he was enthusiastic and enthusiastic as he recommended both menu items and vinyl records. A multicolored knit hat sat atop her wavy brown hair. Gray light streamed through the bushy beard sprouting from his face.
An instrumentalist and producer, Niño, 47, has also been a beatmaker, DJ for terrestrial and online radio, record collector and venue programmer. But above all, he is a listener. “There are many times in my life when there is literally no music playing. But I still feel the flow of sound,” he said. “I’m basically on stream. I've never not been part of a stream. “It’s really cool.”
Guitarist Nate Mercereau, who has become one of Niño's frequent collaborators, said that while listening is an important part of their dynamic, it is far from a passive experience. “It’s about listening to yourself and making that part of your communication,” he said. “It’s like waves within waves, turning toward each other and inward, rather than just accepting.”
The impact of Niño's approach is beginning to be felt outside of his niche creative abilities. He was essential in the production of André 3000's unexpected first solo album, “New Blue Sun” (2023), based on flute. Niño produced the album and co-wrote the music with André. He also brought together other musicians to appear on it and perform in live shows.
André said in a phone interview: “This is a real group. I'm digging deep into what we're doing. When I met Carlos, he put it in front of me,” he said. “And most of all, I always love meeting people who are crazier than me. People who come up with ideas and say, ‘Oh shit yeah.’ let's go.'”
Born in Santa Monica and raised in the San Fernando Valley neighborhoods of Reseda and Canoga Park in the '80s and early '90s, Niño began breakdancing and moved to the Sherman Oaks Galleria, 'Fast Times at This is the shopping mall that was used during the filming of ‘Ridgemont High’.
Before he was even a teenager, his older cousin began opening up his world to him. The painter Ernesto Potdevin took Niño to concerts and clubs in parts of Los Angeles he couldn't get to on a skateboard, exposing him to the boundless jazz of artists like John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. “I might have heard ‘Giant Steps’ and INXS on the same day,” Niño recalled. “I heard Run-DMC and the Fat Boys, and I might have heard ‘Heavy Weather’ by Weather Report.”
During high school, he got a job at Reseda's public library, where he studied the musicians he loved and spent most of his salary buying old records. He recognized an improvisation-based connection between his own jazz heroes and emerging rap greats like Freestyle Fellowship. He began crudely mixing songs he recorded from the radio, and at age 18 began his own show on North Hollywood station KPFK, which he continued for 20 years. In his early 20s, he was one of the founding DJs at pioneering streaming station Dublab.
Niño began recording music as a teenager, initially using a four-track recorder with three functional tracks. Over the decades, as he became more confident as a musician and performer, his circle of collaborators expanded to include South African composer Thandi Ntuli and multi-instrumentalist Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. It also swept in senior mentors such as jazz percussionist Adam Rudolph, fringe architect Laraaji, and foundational New Age artist Iasos, who passed away earlier this year.
Since 2011, many of his albums have been credited to Carlos Niño & Friends, a fitting name for his emotion-based approach. “If I invited them to my house, I would probably record with them,” Niño said.
Mercereau said artists are attracted to Niño's atmosphere. “He brings a lot of passion. He brings a lot of real connections. He provides a lot of support. He opens his heart to people.”
At first, Niño didn't know if André 3000 might be one of those people. He had heard that the Outkast rapper had moved to Venice, California, and had seen him on social media walking the city streets and playing the flute alone. “He thought he was traveling and on a quest,” Niño recalled. “He’s reaching for something really deep and inspiring in himself, and that resonated with me.”
Niño decided that if they were going to meet, it would happen naturally. And that's what happened at Erewhon Grocery Store. Niño introduced himself and invited André to the Alice Coltrane tribute he and keyboardist Surya Botofasina had put together. André happened to have been listening to Coltrane on repeat for the past week. Soon he was in Niño's garage with a flute and their sessions evolved into “New Blue Sun”.
“It was like a discovery and a new feeling for me,” André said. “That’s what really appeals to me. “I was honest no matter what happened.” He plans to release more of their recorded music in the near future.
“Placenta,” the latest LP from the Carlos Niño & Friends collection, offers a different perspective on parenthood. Niño was inspired by her recently born son, Moss, and the emotions she felt when her first child, Azul, was born 24 years ago. But rather than centering around his own experiences, Niño wanted “Placenta” to celebrate and support his partner, Annelise, as well as all obstetricians, midwives and obstetricians who help bring life to this world.
Of the period following Moss' arrival, Niño said, “There was so much intimacy and intimacy and sound and feeling, and so much connection with the people involved.”
The album can be both calming and overwhelming, just like the early days of parenting. “Moonlight Watsu in Dub” finds an easy rhythm between echoing clatter and nature sounds, while “Generous Pelvis” soars over Sam Gendel’s swirling saxophone. Built on live performances by Niño, Mercereau and Botofasina in Cologne, Germany with vocalist Cavana Lee, the 17-minute closer “Play Kerri Chandler's RAIN” twists with anticipation and uncertainty before reaching a safe landing spot.
“It’s also a tribute to the grandeur of how we got here: it has to be within and it has to emerge somehow,” Niño said. “There’s always a placenta in that process.”
For Niño, making music is a spiritual practice that involves considering and willingly accepting one's calling. “I’m interested in actually communicating and trying to find common ground so that we can reduce the enormous suffering that occurs when people become too greedy, too competitive and too violent with each other,” he quickly said. It rolled out of his mouth. “I’m really interested in representing different things.”