"Interchange One" was Kevin Kastning (baritone guitar, contrabaritone guitar) and Paul Wertico's (drums, percussion, prepared drumset and talking drum) first collaboration.
A second album has been announced for later this year.
The albums "Interchange One" and "Interchange Two" by Kevin Kastning (30-string Contra-Baritone guitar, 30-string Double Contraguitar, 26-string Double Sub-Contraguitar, 24-string Double Sub-Contraguitar) and Paul Wertico (Acoustic Drums & Cymbals (featuring the Wertico Ride), Prepared Drumset & Talking Drum) were recorded in January-February 2026.
The story and the process behind these two albums is quite unusual, especially in the jazz world.
Paul explains:
"I think it’s critical to understanding how this music was actually created.
A few months ago, Kevin (who I didn’t know at the time) contacted me on Facebook Messenger about the possibility of recording a duo album project together. I then called him by phone and I told him that I’d love to do a duo project together.
Two days later Kevin, who lives in Maine, sent to me in Chicago (where I live), a track that he improvised. I listened to about the first 30 seconds of it and decided to record my drums over it in my home studio without ever hearing the entire track. I then sent the results back to him and we agreed that we indeed had a special chemistry, so he sent me more improvised tracks for me to record over, and I sent him some improvised drum tracks for him to record over.
Our concept was basically that two streams of water/music can exist independently, but also co-exist and blend and/or clash sonically with each other during the same passage of time. It’s also based on “organic time” (flowing time) verses “inorganic time" (metronomic time). So, our musical conversation was primarily one of listening to the other person speaking through their instrument in real time, while reacting to it without any pre-plan or set agenda. Every track was also recorded by both of us in a single unedited take.
The result was that we ended up with two full albums worth of material, again, all of which were recorded as complete first takes without ever pre-hearing what we were playing/recording over. By the way, this is even before we actually made a video call where we could even see what each other looked like!
After we had 14 completed tracks, I mixed the drums and sent the drum mixes to Kevin where he mixed the guitar and the drums together, and then I mastered the final mixes. Next, we discussed the titles of the albums (Kevin’s suggestion), the song titles (my suggestion) and we agreed on artwork from artists Kevin knew (and had worked with before).
Lastly, we agreed to release our music on Kevin’s Greydisc label, and since then we’re just waiting for reviews, and hoping that we’ll get the opportunity to perform live together in the near future. Every aspect of these recordings has been a study in mutual respect and friendship.
Our musical chemistry is only equaled by our personal interactions, where we talk frequently (often several times a day) about music and life, etc."
Kevin adds:
“Again, we want to stress that on both albums, we recorded (overdubbed) our parts on each other’s tracks without previously hearing those tracks. Additionally, the recordings for each track and its overdubbed part by the other person were all first takes, as well as being complete and full takes. While the compositions on both albums sound composed, in fact everything was improvised in the studio in a single take, with no edits in post-production. The albums as you hear them are exactly how everything was recorded in our respective studios in Maine and Chicago.”
Interchange One was released on 31 March 2026.
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Interchange Two is released on 4 August 2026.
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Here's 'Adjacent Flowing Streams V', from "Interchange One":
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