AMG Review of Inside Canyon de Chelly

Bob Gottlieb
All Music Guide

Paul Horn, one of the leading proponents of solo improvisational flute, collaborates here with Native American flute player R. Carlos Nakai in a genuinely equal pairing. As with some of Paul Horn's earlier Inside albums, this is a field recording, done in two weeks inside of Canyon De Chelly and capitalizing on its natural acoustics. Listen to "Raven Rendezvous," where Horn uses his soprano saxophone to "speak" to a raven that happened into the area. The sound of Nakai's Native American flute, echoing the natural sounds of the canyon and its water, is breathtaking on "Within the Rocks." The two of them toss ideas back and forth at times, trying out different tonalities or embellishing what the other has put forth.