The Interchange Sessions

 

Introduction

In January and February 2026, I recorded two albums with drum/percussion artist Paul Wertico.  When I was outlining my concepts for this project to Paul on a long phone call in early January 2026, I used John Coltrane's Interstellar Space as a reference point.  I wasn't interested in copying or recreating that record, but I've always loved and admired Coltrane and Ali's conception for it in that both instruments were staged as equals.  It wasn't a tenor saxophone solo with drum accompaniment; it was two compositionally equal instruments and balanced approaches, with each instrument equally supporting the other.  When I referred to Interstellar Space, Paul said, "I'm glad you mentioned that record."  I knew then that we would each have the same approach for our project, and we did.  Recording sessions concluded in mid-February 2026.

 Interchange One was released on 31 March 2026. 

Interchange Two will be released on 4 August 2026. 

 

 The Process

(written by Paul Wertico)

"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 sent me 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. BTW, 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 consension.

Our musical chemistry is only equaled by our personal interactions, where we talk frequently (often several times a day) about music and life, etc."

I enjoyed the highly collaborative recording sessions with Paul.  Throughout the sessions, we explored various instrumental combinations; I used several of my extended-range guitar-family instruments, and Paul changed up his drums and cymbals; as well as utilizing sticks, brushes, and mallets.

 I'm already looking forward to our next project.

-kk