Kevin Kastning :: Articles

UNIVERSOS PARALELOS
KEVIN KASTNING SPECIAL 2026-07-09

"Welcome to Universos Paralelos! Our musical discovery session begins here on the Onda Verde dial, 107.9 FM in Madrid, also at radiopra.blogspot.com.es, broadcasting from Nava, Asturias, the cider region, and of course, always on our blog and podcast at www.universos-paralelos.com. We're also featured on the Esferajazz.com platform and on our own Telegram channel, which you can subscribe to completely free of charge. Each week, you'll receive both the blog post with comprehensive information on everything we're playing and listening links to recommended albums, as well as the program itself in high-quality MP3 format, so you can download, collect, and enjoy it on your favorite device.

We begin today our final edition of this 31st season, which has been thrilling here at Universos Paralelos, and we're putting an end to it with a blast, a special dedicated to one of our favorite musicians, a musician who enjoys his own language, his own musical concept, his own dark beauty, and who has also been sharing his work with us for many years. If you heard that first track that played, you'll have immediately realized that we're talking about Maestro Kevin Kastning, a splendid and absolutely innovative guitarist who was a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston and later studied privately with none other than Pat Metheny himself. He has composed more than 300 pieces for different ensemble configurations, and his discography exceeds 50 albums. He is a completely established musician and, as I said, with his own musical concept, even with his own instruments designed specifically for him.

We kick off today's edition with what is our first album to explore by Kevin Kastning. As you know, he's a very prolific artist. We had planned our albums for the first half of 2026, from January to June, and had selected six tracks from his last six albums. But the whirlwind of releases Kevin Kastning is currently involved in has overwhelmed us again, and we have two more albums to premiere and share with you all. They just arrived last week, at the beginning of July, so that makes eight premieres, eight recommendations we have to share and discover with you from Maestro Kevin Kastning. Four of them are solo guitar albums, a format he last explored in 2018, and we've began today's edition with the first album to explore, Codex I, which was released at the beginning of the year.

It's his seventh solo album, and it's a new solo guitar work with a new recording and performance concept to discover. The album was released on January 26, 2026, and features a tremendous array of double contraguitars and double subcontraguitars. The majority of his instruments, at least in this series of recordings called Codex, are double-neck guitars, and he writes he's been working on a new way of recording. The compositions in the Codex series, which at the beginning of the year comprised two volumes and with these July releases now has four, are quite complex compositions that involve new guitar techniques. Each piece was recorded live in a single performance and a single take. There are no re-recordings or edits, and his technique is such that he's playing his double-neck guitars with one hand on each neck—that is, using a percussive, tapping technique, in guitarist terms, which facilitates polyphony, multiple lines, and harmonic structures that wouldn't be possible otherwise. He also tells us that the recording setup is directly in stereo and that each double-neck instrument has been recorded so that the left neck is in the left stereo channel, and the right neck is in the right channel. Therefore, listening with headphones is highly recommended, because you'll hear exactly what Kevin Kastning would hear playing—that is, each guitar neck sounding on a different side. This recording technique is used throughout all four volumes of Codex, both in the first two, which we're about to premiere, and in the last two, which will close this special program.

I can already tell you that the program will be considerably longer than usual, so our colleagues at the radio stations have our permission to cut to the next program whenever they deem it necessary. We're going to extend our runtime and fully enjoy this final seasonal edition of Universos Paralelos.

We opened the program with Kevin Kastning's Codex Volume 1, his first solo guitar album since 2018. Some time ago, we also played a very notable album here on the show: Otherworld, released in 2015, which reached number one on the iTunes classical charts in September of that year. In this case, he presents a series of improvised constructions with distinct characteristics, and in fact, when the structure or way of working on a piece relates to others in the project, he numbers them. Today, as the first piece of this special, we listened to track number 7, which closes Codex I, titled Structure 2. Structure pieces are more percussive and have a more defined rhythmic structure. Incipit pieces are a mix of percussion and silence or rubato, and there are also other pieces, such as Arcana, which are entirely melodic in a single line, with little to no polyphony. Each time a structure, a way of conceiving a piece, is similar, it is numbered, hence the name Structure 2 for the piece with which we opened today's program.

We will continue with his next album, Codex number 2, which was released on the same date as Codex I, January 26th. Codex 3 and 4 were released on July 6th. The first two volumes date from a single recording session, or a series of sessions, that took place in the summer of 2025, and Codex 3 and 4, which will be played at the end of the program, were recorded in the autumn of last year. Codex 2 is his eighth solo album, and we're going to listen to a very special piece that doesn't correspond to, or at least isn't part of, any of the four Codex series. It has a very special atmosphere, with a strong emphasis on silence and space, depicting a temple. The piece is titled Sanctuary 1, and it evokes a sense of majesty and also spiritual contemplation. We're going to premiere this Codex 2 by Kevin Kastning by listening to this second track, titled Sanctuary 1. We continue enjoying Kevin Kastning's most recent discography here at Universos Paralelos.

< Playing Sanctuary 1 >

We were listening to Sanctuary 1, which is the second track of this second volume of the Codex series, released in January 2026. I chose this piece because it doesn't have an exact correspondence with any series like Structure or Arcana. In this case, it's a unique piece with a very special character. At the beginning, there was a lot of silence and space, followed by those first chords reminiscent of a church bell. It's a very special work and a very personal concept, with its unique way of recording double-neck guitars, one neck in the left channel and the other in the right. For those of you who don't know him, Kevin Kastning has his own line of instruments crafted for him by the Irish brand Emerald. The entire instrument is made of carbon fiber, the only material that could withstand the tremendous stress he puts on them. Some are contraguitars with 30 strings paired in twos or threes, meaning the tension on the necks and the instrument's structure is immense. These guitars are played almost vertically, with a pointer resting on the floor. The truth is, like the rest of his musical vision and his way of communicating it, they are absolutely special and unique to him.

With this, we conclude this series of the first two albums called Codex, released in January 2026, and we're going to move forward in time. We're going through Kevin Kastning's albums from this first half of the year in chronological order of release, and we're going to listen to Across Tall Rain, which is the name of the new project by the duo formed by Kevin Kastning with the splendid double bassist Bruno Råberg, a Swedish-born who emigrated to the USA in 1981 and teaches at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, directed by Danilo Pérez. His collaboration with Kevin Kastning already has several albums released and proves to be very special and dynamic, contributing with many resources: percussion with the double bass body, bowing, and other techniques that he brings to his duets with Kevin Kastning, and the result is very unique and interesting. They've been collaborating for two years, since Silent Dimensions, their first album as a duo, in addition to their trio album Intervallum, which also featured trumpeter Phil Grenadier, who will also have a very special role in this season finale of Universos Paralelos.

For now, let's explore Kevin Kastning's new collaboration with Bruno Råberg, Across Tall Rain, and focus on one of the longest tracks on the album. It exemplifies everything we'll find throughout this new recording, released on February 24, 2026. Here, Kevin Kastning plays double 36-string contraguitar, a 16-string contraguitar—his usual arsenal—along with Bruno Råberg's acoustic double bass. All the compositions are collaborative and were recorded without overdubs at Kevin Kastning's studio in York County, Maine, on December 9, 2023. It was mixed and mastered by the Hungarian maestro Sándor Szabó, who regularly handles this work for many of Kevin Kastning's recordings at his Tandem studio in Vac, Hungary. Let's listen to this work now with track number 3. It's called Dark Branches Faster, and this is what Across Tall Rain, the new album by Kevin Kastning and Bruno Råberg, sounds like, here on Universos Paralelos.

< Playing Dark Branches Faster >

Tremendously electrifying, intense, creative… very powerful. Dark Branches Faster, this third track, is the longest piece in the new collaboration between Kevin Kastning and master Swedish double bassist Bruno Råberg, who, as you've heard, not only contributes pizzicato and bow to his playing in this improvisation, but you've also heard percussion with drumsticks, creating a tension that barely dissipates until the very end of the piece. Kevin Kastning and Bruno Råberg undoubtedly share a very special chemistry and continue their collaboration with this album, released on February 24, 2026. Kevin Kastning plays, among other instruments, double contraguitars, and Bruno Råberg plays the double bass on this second duet album. It's a true pleasure to share this duo project, which continues to evolve over the years, with this new album, Across Tall Rain.

Now I'd like to take a moment here to remind you that all the material we're going to listen to today is available on Kevin Kastning's Bandcamp page. The digital albums are quite affordable and worth buying on the first Friday of each month when the platform donates its commissions to independent artists and labels. This entire discography is available at Kevinkastning.bandcamp.com, and in this week's blog post, you'll find all eight albums accessible along with eight links to access their Bandcamp pages and listen to them directly there, including Across Tall Rain by Kevin Kastning and Bruno Råberg. This album was mixed and mastered by Sándor Szabó, achieving the excellent sound he usually delivers in his studio.

We're continuing with Kevin Kastning's new discography, and now comes what is undoubtedly the surprise of the year. A new stage begins, a new duet collaboration that is already developing with other projects in addition to the one we're premiering today: Kevin Kastning's duet with Paul Wertico, the former drummer of the Pat Metheny Group. This is quite an unprecedented collaboration because, apart from his work with Hungarian percussionist Balazs Major, there haven't been any regular collaborations with percussionists, much less with a drummer. In this case, a new line of work has opened up with Interchange One, the title of Kevin Kastning's first duet album with Paul Wertico, a truly remarkable work that was recorded remotely.

Paul Wertico was a member of the Pat Metheny Group from 1983 to 2001 and has worked with a multitude of musicians, primarily from the Chicago area, where he lives, such as Kurt Elling, Paul Winter, and even David Bowie. He is an associate professor of Jazz and Contemporary Music at Roosevelt University's School of Performing Arts, conducts drum clinics worldwide, and has received numerous awards, including Chicagoan of the Year, bestowed by the city's authorities.

We're going to explain how Kevin Kastning and Paul Wertico's Interchange One came about, because it's a long-distance collaboration. Kevin Kastning proposed this project to Paul Wertico. He sent him a pre-recorded track, and the drummer played it and listened to the first few seconds. He immediately stopped it, restarted the track, and began recording over it, responding to what he heard in real time—in other words, the response was completely instinctive. This is explained in Kevin Kastning's liner notes and Paul Wertico's own words. He listened to roughly the first 30 seconds and decided to record his drums over that track without having heard the entire piece at all. He sent the results, and they concluded that there was a special chemistry between them and developed this concept of a 'double current,' similar to water flows that can exist independently, coexist, merge, or even collide sonically. It's also based on the concept of organic time, time that flows naturally, and inorganic time, that is, time marked by the metronome. So their musical conversation was primarily about listening to the other person speaking through their instrument and reacting to what they felt or heard with their own instrument. They completed 14 tracks, he mixed his drums, sent the result back, and then Kevin Kastning did the joint mix and mastering.

This is how Interchange One was born, which will be followed by Interchange Two, to be released in August. As I said, Kevin Kastning's release schedule is practically impossible to keep up with, at least with the programming structure we have here at Universos Paralelos, but it's worth taking a break now and then to listen to all his new releases, as we're doing today. Interchange Two, the second part of this collaboration, will be released on August 4, 2026, so we'll be checking it out in the second half of the year. For now, let's explore the results of this Interchange One, this first collaboration with this wonderful surprise. As I mentioned earlier, Kevin Kastning was a private student of Pat Metheny, and that seems to be the link that has finally brought Kevin Kastning together with Paul Wertico, who was the drummer for the Pat Metheny Group for many years. Let's premiere this recording, Interchange One. All the tracks are titled Adjacent Flowing Streams, and we're going to focus on one of the most interesting pieces. Although they're all interesting, I have the feeling that from the first tracks to the last, the relationship loosens up a bit more, becoming more agile and organic. Let's listen to track number 6, the penultimate track on the album, titled Adjacent Flowing Streams 6. This is what Interchange One sounds like; this is what Kevin Kastning and Paul Wertico sound like for the first time here, on Universos Paralelos.

< Playing Adjacent Flowing Streams 6 >

There were those currents, in this case musical ones, demonstrating in a completely practical way what maestro Paul Wertico said about this conception, this way of perceiving music, these currents that can coexist independently, can unite, or can even collide. We also heard practically all of these modalities in this piece, which is quite paradigmatic of what you can find, especially at the end of the recording. We were listening to the sixth track, the penultimate of the seven on this Interchange One, which is the first collaboration between maestro Paul Wertico, none other than the former drummer of the Pat Metheny Group, and Kevin Kastning.

Here, Kevin Kastning plays contra-baritone guitar, double contraguitar, and double sub-contraguitar, among others, and Paul Wertico plays acoustic drums, cymbals, and also the talking drum, which also appears in the recordings they made, as I mentioned, one on top of the other, reacting almost instantaneously. The album was released on March 31st of this year, 2026, and this is a sample of what they've achieved in this first recording, or rather, these first two recordings, because Interchange Two is coming out in August.

Imagine if, instead of recording remotely, they had been able to see each other and react and communicate physically. This is a completely new addition to Kevin Kastning's discography and work. This first duet album with drums will surely be followed by others, because, as you know, Kevin Kastning establishes very long lasting relationships with his collaborators, as is the case with what's coming next, which is none other than the work called 2 + 2, the next stop on the long journey of Kevin Kastning and British guitarist Mark Wingfield.

The album is titled 2 + 2 because each composition, each piece, is made up of four parts, with each musician contributing two parts to each composition. In other words, two musicians, two parts of each composition: 2 + 2.

Kevin Kastning plays guitars in this case, mostly acoustic, along with contra-baritone guitar, double contraguitar, and double sub-contraguitar, while Mark Wingfield plays electric guitars, expanding the palette considerably. Here, I get the impression that there are indeed overdubs, as there are also soundscapes, backgrounds, landscapes painted with Mark Wingfield's electric guitar. This is something new compared to Kevin Kastning's recent collaborations with Mark Wingfield, which were relatively minimalist, featuring only two guitars. In this case, you'll find a broader and more interesting timbral spectrum to get lost in, or to immerse yourself in. For now, let's take a first bite of this duet, this new collaboration between Kevin Kastning and Mark Wingfield, and we'll start with one of the tracks that I liked most almost from the first listen: the second track, titled "2 + 2, Part 2." This is how Kevin Kastning and Mark Wingfield sound in 2 + 2, here at Universos Paralelos.

< Playing 2 + 2, Part 2 >

The tension between Kevin Kastning and Mark Wingfield was tremendous, with successive re-recordings of both Kastning's acoustic guitars and Wingfield's electric guitars and soundscapes wrapping the recording. These re-recordings featured calls, responses, counterpoints, and all sorts of messages between the two musicians, creating an almost unbearable tension that lasted until the end of track number 2, "2 + 2, Part 2." This was the piece we chose to introduce you to 2 + 2, the latest work under their own names by the two masters, American Kevin Kastning and British Mark Wingfield.

The album was released on May 26, 2026, and was recorded in several sessions at Kevin Kastning's Traumwald North studio and Mark Wingfield's Heron Island studios in England. The mixing and mastering were done by Wingfield in England, and the compositions are a joint effort, as is the cover art, which both artists created for this 2 + 2, a relatively new work compared to their previous career, which spans many years and numerous recordings.

We continue with this special season finale of Universos Paralelos. We've already completed our usual hour of broadcast, and from now on we enter bonus territory. We still have much to listen to and much to discover in the discography of this first half of 2026 from maestro Kevin Kastning. We finished with this duet with Mark Wingfield, and now we're going to delve into one of my favorite projects, or practically my absolute favorite, of Kevin Kastning's recent work: this collaboration with jazz trumpeter Phil Grenadier. This Unreal City, as their new recording is called, is a true marvel. It's a relatively short recording, just over thirty minutes, but the result is impressive. It's practically a sonic journey to immerse yourself in and experience a story told by that dark, urban sound, the sensations produced by the combination of Kevin Kastning's acoustic guitars and Phil Grenadier's incredible trumpet. The combination is very interesting because Kevin Kastning provides the polyphony and harmony, and the contrast is marked by that monophonic instrument, the trumpet, whether muted or unmuted, with an impressive phrasing and narrative style that truly adapts to the guitarist's language, while maintaining its connection to jazz, and leaving that feeling of contemporary urban melancholy that is striking.

Without a doubt, this album is my favorite of all the recordings Kevin Kastning has released in the first half of the year, and it recaptures the feeling of previous works with master Phil Grenadier, both Intervallum, a trio with Bruno Råberg, and his debut, In Visible Ascent, which we also premiered in a special program here on Universos Paralelos. Let's get to know Unreal City without further ado. Today we're not going to set any limits and we're going to listen to the longest track on the album, one of the four it has. There's a 4:45 piece, another of almost 4 minutes, another of 10 minutes, and this essential track, this improvisation that's a journey through memory, which is track number 4. We're going to enjoy Unreal City, the new collaboration between Kevin Kastning and Phil Grenadier, released very recently on June 23, 2026. We'll find Kevin Kastning with a double 36-string contraguitar, another of 24, another of 30, and another contraguitar of 18 strings, and Phil Grenadier on trumpet and flugelhorn. The combination is incredible, and we're going to focus on the track that closes the album, this amazing piece of almost 16 minutes and 20 seconds. This is Unreal City, and this is how Kevin Kastning and Phil Grenadier sound on Memory Passage Echo, here at Universos Paralelos.

<Playing Memory Passage Echo>

This track, which closes Unreal City, is both impressive and breathtaking. It's the last recording Kevin Kastning and trumpeter Phil Grenadier made together. What a display of communication, synergy, and respect—including the silence to allow the other musician's instrument to shine in its full glory—and a spectacular, pristine, crystal-clear sound, achieved by Kevin Kastning at his studio in Traumwald North, York County, Maine, USA, on April 28, 2024, where this sesión was recorded. The final sound, mixing, and mastering were done by Sándor Szabó at his Tandem Studios in Vac, Hungary, and the cover art is by Russian artist George Korunov, who has illustrated most of Kevin Kastning's recent discography. Without a doubt, Kevin Kastning's Unreal City with Phil Grenadier is one of the highlights of his entire discography, in my opinion, and my favorite recent work. I find it a unique combination, and the chemistry is palpable; at no point does this nearly 16-and-a-half-minute piece drags or feels like asking for a break. Both the album and the collaboration between Kevin Kastning and Phil Grenadier are truly magic. Grenadier is a renowned trumpeter in the jazz world, as you know, brother of bassist Larry Grenadier, and an incredible musician in his own right on both the trumpet and the flugelhorn.

We're approaching the final stretch of this special season finale of Universos Paralelos, and we're going to do so by discussing these two very recent albums. These last two volumes of Codex, from the series that began at the start of the year (at least with the summer 2025 sessions), were released just a few days ago. These last two Codex releases correspond to recordings made in the autumn of 2025. The working method and concept remain the same: the kind of structures that are repeated across different volumes, numbered in various sequences, like Construction or Structure, for example, which we heard in the first Codex. I also mentioned at the beginning of the program those pieces called Arcana, which have a special touch because they are practically single-line pieces, without polyphony. These are melodies based on Kevin Kastning's musical conception, played in a single line, like the trumpet of the maestro Phil Grenadier, but in this case, just solo guitar.

From this Codex 3, we'll be focusing on one of the Arcana tracks, specifically number 3, which is track 6 on this Codex. We're going to delve into the last two solo guitar volumes by Kevin Kastning to reach the end of this special and also of season 31. Here's Arcana 3. This is how Codex 3 by Kevin Kastning sounds on Universos Paralelos.

< Playing Arcana 3 >

There it was, playing that interpretation of single-line melodies that Kevin Kastning has named Arcana, of which there are a few throughout the four volumes of Codex, in the two we premiered at the beginning of the program and in these two that are providing the epilogue to this final edition of season 31 of Universos Paralelos. We're going to say goodbye now. It's been a pleasure sharing these 31 seasons with all of you. If you'd like, we'll be back on September 17th from 5 to 6 PM on Onda Verde, 107.9 FM in Madrid, and from 3 to 4 PM on Radiopra.com from Nava, in Asturias, the cider country, and of course, always on our blog and our podcast at www.universos-paralelos.com. You know you can find us both among the new releases on the Esferajazz.com platform and on our own Telegram channel, which you can subscribe to completely free of charge. Each week, you'll receive the blog post with comprehensive information on everything we're playing, as well as listening links to our recommended albums and, of course, the program itself in high-quality MP3 format so you can download, collect, and enjoy it on your favorite device.

We're going to say goodbye for now; were taking a break until mid-September. We'll leave you with the latest volume of the Codex series by maestro Kevin Kastning, featuring his unique approach and recording technique with one neck on the left channel and another on the right. We're going to focus on one of the more varied pieces, because it includes percussion, rhythmic changes (or the absence of rhythm), and this piece has a very interesting tension. Furthermore, Incipit IV is the track that welcomes us to the final album, the last volume, number 4 in Kevin Kastning's Codex series. Today we listened to four solo guitar albums from him, one track from each. We also thoroughly enjoyed his duet series, both with Bruno Råberg and that huge surprise with Pat Metheny Group former drummer Paul Wertico, as well as with his old friend Mark Wingfield and that incredible combo he forms with Phil Grenadier—a formidable duo. I hope you enjoyed this farewell edition of season 31 of Universos Paralelos. See you in September, be good!"

< Playing Incipit IV >

Kevin Kastning: Unique and Unclassifiable
- tomajazz Magazine; October 2025 (SPAIN)

Kevin Kastning’s Extended Guitars

By MARK SULLIVAN
September 28, 2018

American fingerstyle acoustic guitarist Kevin Kastning has increasingly dedicated himself to two musical areas: improvisation and extending the range of the acoustic guitar. He has created a number of new instruments in this quest, including the 36-string Double Contraguitar, 30-string Contra-Alto guitar and 17-string Hybrid Extended Classical guitar he has used on recent recordings. In addition to performing solo, he has found common cause with several other musicians with whom he regularly collaborates, notably Hungarian guitarist Sandor Szabo, British guitarist Mark Wingfield, Hungarian drummer/percussionist Balázs Major and American saxophonist Carl Clements. A frequent touring musician, Kastning is also a very prolific recording artist. This is an overview of a range of his recordings from the last two years (2017-2018 at the time of writing). They are all characterized by pristine recorded sound and strikingly beautiful album cover art.

Kevin Kastning/Sándor Szabó/Balázs Major
Ethereal II
Greydisc
2018

Kastning seems to gravitate to the duet format, but this is a recurring trio. Kastning's 36-string Double Contraguitar, 30-string Contra-Alto guitar and piano are joined by Szabó's electric guitar and electric baritone guitar and Major's drums and percussion. It is an especially rich timbral mix. Kasning's acoustic guitar provides chiming double-coursed sounds reminiscent of a 12-string guitar, as well as occasional bass parts. The electric guitar provides electronic washes for accompaniment, as well as a contrasting lead voice. And the drumming is an equal partner, sometimes atmospheric, sometimes keeping time. Opener "Arrival (Second Recall)" contains all of this; "Etheriality I," which follows it, sticks to a mostly slow moving soundscape. Major includes Indian tabla drums in his arsenal: they are especially prominent on "Supernal Vapor" and "Portals I." This is a splendid improvisational session, full of variety in tempo and texture: an excellent starting place for listeners new to Kastning's music.

Kevin Kastning//Balázs Major
Kismaros
Greydisc
2018

Kastning and Major have toured and recorded together before, but this is their first duo project. It came about by accident: the pair were in the studio for trio and quartet sessions, but decided to try recording a duo piece. It went so well that they were encouraged to keep going. This album is the result, containing all seven pieces recorded, in the order they were performed. On most album projects there are extra pieces recorded but left off the final album for various reasons (run-time, or sounding outside the overall direction, for example). So there is a special quality to Kismaros, a sense of inspiration and completeness: this is the whole story. Kastning plays only 30-string Contra-Alto guitar, and Major is credited with percussion (not drums). So there is a consistent sound palette, often rubato: the opposite of a the usual jazz guitar/drums breakdown. On "Kismaros I" Major employs cymbals and Indian tabla. There is a segment of "Kismaros II" where Kastning plays in bass and treble registers simultaneously, showing the possibilities of his extended instrument. Recommended to Ralph Towner fans.

Kevin Kastning
17/66
Greydisc
2018

Kastning solo, playing three of his signature guitar designs. The music makes use of a new compositional structure he calls harmonic blocks, which he can only describe as "a rather dense concept...almost crosses the line from compositional structure into music theory." Sonically this translates into some of his most abstract music, possibly the result of his improvisational instincts being tempered by the formal structures he is working with. The program does offer the opportunity to hear all of the instruments unaccompanied and clearly identified (as well as recorded live in the studio with no overdubs). The first three tracks feature the 30-string Contra-Alto guitar; the second group of three the 17-string Hybrid Extended Classical guitar; and the final group the 36-string Double Contraguitar.

Kevin Kastning/Sándor Szabó
Ethereal I
Greydisc
2017

The first Ethereal album features Kastning's 36-string Double Contraguitar, 30-string Contra-Alto guitar and piano along with Szabó's electric guitar and electric baritone guitar—the same instrumentation as the second album, minus the percussion. There is even more acoustic/electric contrast here. Opener "Choros Nympharum" includes rich electronic soundscaping. Kastning's piano is up front on "The leaves are full of voices," with Szabó's volume-pedal guitar in the lead. Throughout the session both players seem especially in tune with each other, smoothly exchanging lead and accompanying roles. The album closes with Kastning's piano again accompanying Szabó's electric guitar on "Sylvia Nympharum."

Kevin Kastning/Mark Wingfield
The Line to Three
Greydisc
2017

Another acoustic/electric contrast, with British experimental guitarist Mark Wingfield providing electric guitar, live electronics and pre-recorded soundscapes. Kastning plays 30-string Contra-Alto guitar, 17-string Hybrid Extended Classical guitar, piano and percussion. "Invisible Landscapes I" opens the album with very legato electric guitar lines, their pitch shifting from Wingfield's sophisticated whammy bar technique—accompanied by low electronic rumbles and sparkling acoustic guitar chords. Like some of the tracks on the duo with Szabó, Kastning sometimes accompanies on the piano for an entire track, as he does here on "All the Clouds Around You," "The Gathering of Shapeless Forms" and "Momentary Books of Leaving" (which contains especially dramatic piano playing: Kastning has a strong voice on the instrument). Of all of Kastning's collaborators, Wingfield arguably has the most distinctive, well-established sound, as well as the most virtuosic technique. But he is also a sympathetic collaborator, as demonstrated on "A Nameless Unfolding II," where the two guitars alternate, Wingfield frequently providing accompaniment. Wingfield fans who have not heard his collaborations with Kastning may want to start here.

-- All About Jazz magazine (US)
October 2018

"Kevin Kastning cuts a striking figure, not just for the winter-white hair cascading down his shoulders but more significantly for the 30-string contra-soprano guitar and 36-string double Contraguitar he's seen cradling in photos. The pioneering work he's done in the field of modern acoustic guitar composition extends beyond these remarkable, self-invented instruments to the music he composes and performs. Kastning, who studied privately with Pat Metheny at Boston's Berklee College of Music and currently calls northern Massachusetts home, has written in excess of 200 works and issued nineteen recordings, many of them with notable figures such as Michael Manring, Balazs Major, Mark Wingfield, Sándor Szabó, and Carl Clements. Stylistically, Kastning's work resists easy categorization: it's neither strictly blues, jazz, folk, rock, nor classical, even if traces of each might be found within it. In its dense array of microtonal textures and tones, his music might best be described as impressionistic tone paintings that allude to classical composition without being bounded by it. Compositional structure and improvisation are both present in the material. Needless to say, Kastning is a virtuoso, but grandstanding is foreign to his approach and anathema to his sensibility. The six albums reviewed here (all issued on his own Greydisc imprint) offer an in-depth portrait, especially when five present him in partnership with others and one features him alone; in those that pair him with another, an effective balance is achieved, with neither musician dominating the other. We begin with the latest and then jump back to consider the five others in logical manner.

For whatever reason, Otherworld is his first solo album despite it being the nineteenth he's issued. Regardless, the sixty-six-minute collection offers a compelling sampling of his artistry, especially when heard in its purest form. Alternating between the orchestral density provided by the double-neck 36- and 30-string guitars and the 12-string soprano and 15- and 6-string classical guitars, Kastning picks, plucks, and strums his way through sixteen settings whose crystalline glisten can be appreciated by listeners and guitar musos alike. His technical facility is evident throughout but always used in service to the song, the implication being that Kastning's credibility as a musician and artist is most effectively revealed in his rendering of the compositional material. Space, dynamics, and tempo are tended to with care, the guitarist often opting for slow tempos to accentuate the reflective dimension of the recording. As emphatically pursued as such aspects are on “In Stillness Defined,” it's hardly the only instance: notes also bleed reverberantly into the pregnant pauses between notes within “Lingua Ignota,” “Veiled Silent Overturn,” and “Arc Rotation Shadow,” and as wonderful as it is to hear the rich sound generated by the 36- and 30-string guitars, there's also much to be said for the stark clarity the 6-string classical brings to “A Lingered Chamber to Wake” and “Whisper Garden.” Mark Wingfield's comment that Otherworld is “guitar playing on the highest artistic level” isn't, it turns out, hyperbole.

Of the five collaborative releases, it's The Book of Crossings that aligns Kastning with another musician most like himself, sonically speaking, though the recording indicates that the two also are very much soulmates in general terms. Recorded on March 23, 2012 in Hungary while the two were on tour in Europe, the seventy-three-minute collection pairs Kastning on a number of 14- and 12-string guitars (plus E-bow and piano) with Sándor Szabó on classical, 16-string, 10-string viola caipira guitar, and guzheng. On no less than twenty-one pieces, they produce an elegant, multi-layered sound that in its stately presentation exudes the formal character of classical music. On “First Transversal” and “Modus Novus II,” the Eastern sonorities of Szabó's guzheng playing dramatically expands on the musical breadth of the recording (in the latter piece, it even takes on a zither-like quality); in similar manner, Kastning's E-bow adds a powerful sense of mystery to “To Carthage Then I Came.” The music also sometimes flirts with an outdoorsy peacefulness (though they're hardly needed, faint bird sounds even sometimes surface to strengthen the effect) that likens it to folk music as much as classical, and their playing is at times so complementary it could pass in places for the playing of one musician only.

The albums with Carl Clements are welcome additions to Kastning's catalogue for above all else the different soundworld the collaboration presents; whereas all four of the other releases reviewed here are guitar-oriented, the two with Clements are distinguished by the contrasts between Kastning's arsenal and his partner's saxophones and flutes. Issued in 2013, Nowhere, Now Here adheres to the format of the typical Kastning release in featuring fourteen settings, almost all in the four- to six-minute range; released a year later, Watercolor Sky changes things up in presenting seven pieces only, though these generally longer tracks often push into the nine- and ten-minute zone. One other key difference is that on the latter recording, Clements supplements his saxophone (tenor and soprano) and alto flute playing with Bansuri flute. On Nowhere, Now Here, the pairing of Clements' sinuous soprano lines and Kastning's spidery runs makes for a compelling combination on “Lunar Incantation Precision,” a prototypically explorative meeting of the spirits. As satisfying are the pieces featuring alto flute, with one such as “Somewhen” exuding a subtly aromatic allure, especially when the 30-string guitar's luscious textures are present. Listening interest is maintained through alterations in mood and the musicians' approach: during “Incomparably Light and Repose” and “Deceptive Corridors Passing,” for instance, there are long stretches where the soprano sax and alto flute are heard alone, with Kastning's commentary arising as interjections more than continuous flow. With respect to mood, differences surface, such that the brooding, subdued “Rust in Form” stands in stark opposition to the spirited animation of “First Hovering; First Vanishing” and the labyrinthine “Into Propagation Suspension.”

At sixty-one minutes, Watercolor Sky is slightly shorter than the seventy-six of Nowhere, Now Here, though the more significant difference lies in its aforementioned focus on longer settings. That change allows the duo to cultivate moods of even greater mystery and potency, as the haunting “A Transparency Through” reveals when the lonely call of Clements' Bansuri flute emerges alongside Kastning's dark 36-string shadings. Clements once again plays tenor and soprano saxophones, though only on two of the seven pieces, and the emphasis on flute textures naturally lends Watercolor Sky a differentiating character. If anything, the material is slower and more ruminative on the later recording, and the musicians use silence in bolder fashion, too: “Complete and Early if Later,” for example, opens with a minute of unadorned tenor sax musings, and during “This Daytime Haunted,” the two separate alternating soprano sax and 30-string expressions with prolonged measures of open space. There are many striking moments (even a few macabre, as attested to by “While Still and Moving”), and of the six Kastning projects reviewed, it's arguably the most meditative of the lot.

The Dark Sonatas outing with electric guitarist Mark Wingfield (their third such collaboration, in fact, 2011's I Walked into the Silver Darkness the first) is the one that most overtly nods in classical music's direction, specifically for drawing inspiration from American composer Elliott Carter (1908-2012). But though both acknowledge his influence on their work, Dark Sonatas isn't a collection of Carter works newly interpreted and arranged for two guitarists; no direct quotes of Carter pieces arise, the two instead choosing to channel his spirit in thirteen live in-studio improvisations sans overdubs. The classical character of the project is reinforced by track titles such as “Andante Sostenuto,” “Sonata Tenebrae No. 2,” and “Allegro Cimmerian,” but that detail notwithstanding the material itself positions itself comfortably alongside the other Kastning releases. The musical pairing is effective, especially when the contrast between the electric and acoustic instruments is so pronounced. Armed with the 30-string contra-soprano as well as 16- and 12-string variations, Kastning proves to be an ideal foil to Wingfield, the former doling out thick clusters and the latter sharp, single-note lines. The British guitarist opts for a largely distortion-free sound on the recording and shapes his notes elastically, deviating from rote bar notation and introducing vibrato-tinged warbles here and bent notes there. Much of the music's impact derives from the unpredictable, real-time interactions between these kindred spirits and the contrast between Kastning's pointillism and Wingfield's piercing undulations, their to-and-fro escalating and intensifying during certain episodes and then decompressing elsewhere. One of the primary pleasures in listening to Dark Sonatas involves monitoring their interactions, as many of the tracks really do unfold like dialogues (“Illustratio Triocha I” and “Andante Sostenuto,” for example), and their angular material evokes the character of Carter's bold soundworld without literally referencing it.

Issued a year later, In Stories updates the sound of its predecessor minus the Carter connection and captures the two catalyzing their expressions into sound painting form. The feel on the duo's fourth outing, an hour-long set featuring thirteen pieces, is slightly more relaxed, the approach less brittle and explorative, the hard edges smoothened ever so slightly. An autumnal tone is pervasive, noticeably so during “A Season While Fading” where sparse brush strokes nurture a wistful mood, and there's also an emphasis on atmosphere, with a representative improvisation such as “Halcyon Mist Unknown” spotlighting the mistier side of the project. Kastning's playing on “From the Passing of Summer” is folk-like in its sparcity, and the restrained approach nicely supports Wingfield's lead lines. Though the latter's electric can't help but stand out, the two are equal partners, and Kastning is often as forceful a presence as Wingfield. Formal by comparison, “In Stories Without” wends a stately path through dramatic chambers where the acoustic guitarist forcefully challenges the electric for supremacy. A strong impression of musical maturity is generated when the two execute the settings with such restraint and control.