Since he was a child, Carvalho admired popular and classical music. He debuted his career at the state Radio MEC (Rio de Janeiro), writing educational musical shows. He published the first of more than 20 books in 1962. Two years later, with the opening of Cartola's bar Zicartola, which became a meeting point of the most important sambistas of Rio de Janeiro, he met several of his future partners, like Paulinho da Viola, Elton Medeiros, and Mauricio Tapajós (with whom he made his first song, "Mudando de Conversa"). Also in 1964, he started promoting concerts bridging the gap between classical and popular music, like the one in which he presented an until-then maid, Clementina de Jesus, accompanied by consecrated classical guitarist Turíbio Santos. In 1965, he produced the historic show Rosa de Ouro, which had the famous Araci Cortes together with de Jesus and other unknown (until then) artists, Paulinho da Viola, Elton Medeiros, and Nelson Sargento. The show was recorded live and yielded the anthological album Rosa de Ouro I. With Edu Lobo, Carvalho organized the show Feira de Música Popular, with Nara Leão, Paulinho da Viola, Caetano Veloso, and Torquato Neto. That same year, he gave lectures about Villa-Lobos in Portugal, Spain, and France. As director of the Funarte foundation, he implemented important musical projects like the Pixinguinha, which consisted of shows all around Brazil presenting new talents under the auspices of consecrated ones.