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Jake Hertzog: The Ozark Concerto
by Richard J Salvucci
As Terry Teachout very accurately wrote, “The relationship between jazz and classical music has often been close...but is ultimately equivocal" ("Jazz and Classical Music: To the Third Stream and Beyond," in Bill Kirchner, editor, The Oxford Companion to Jazz, Oxford University Press, 2000). Equivocal is a tough word. It can mean suspicious, doubtful or uncertain. Spend any time around musicians in either camp and you find out about suspicions, doubts and uncertainties. They range from 'overpaid' to 'tissue paper lip' ...
Continue ReadingJake Hertzog: The Ozark Concerto
by Jack Bowers
Jake Hertzog's ambitious Ozark Concerto showcases his lithe electric guitar in a well-intended but only moderately successful seven-movement opus, accompanied for the most part by the 23-member Arkansas-based Ozark Jazz Philharmonic (whose existence may seem improbable but is nonetheless true). The concerto premiered in April 2024 at the UARK Jazz Festival on the Fayetteville campus of the University of Arkansas. Hertzog wrote the concerto and arranged much of it, with the OJP's director, Susumu Watanabe, providing several ...
Continue ReadingJake Hertzog & Yishai Fisher: Stringscapes: A Portrait of the World in Nylon & Steel
by Geno Thackara
It can't be easy to keep thinking of different places to go when one's career is already as eclectic as Jake Hertzog's, but he doesn't seem in any danger of running out of ideas. The guitarist has run an impressive gamut already, from the electric Pat Metheny-inspired fusion session Evolution (Buckyball, 2011) to the more straightforward jazz of Throwback (Zoho, 2013) and the conceptual solo outing Well Lit Shadow (Self Produced, 2016). Teaming up with classical guitarist Yishai Fisher for ...
Continue ReadingJake Hertzog: Well Lit Shadow
by Dan Bilawsky
A suite for solo electric guitar that takes inspiration from images of particle collisions isn't exactly your garden-variety jazz release. But, then again, Jake Hertzog isn't your garden-variety jazz guitarist. Over the course of the past decade, Hertzog has established himself as a powerful and unique voice on his instrument. He's worked out his own brand of fusion, made his mark in jazz settings, crossed into rock realms with The Young Presidents, served as musical director and lead guitarist for ...
Continue ReadingJake Hertzog: Throwback
by Glenn Astarita
With his fourth solo venture, nascent New York-based guitarist Jake Hertzog beckons the services of celebrated jazz trumpeter, Randy Brecker. His conspicuous synergy with longtime associates, bassist Harvie S and drummer Victor Jones is true to form on a set that highlights an uncanny blend of harmonically appealing content and edgy jazz-fusion extravaganzas, heightened by Hertzog's judicious use of distortion techniques. Throwback represents a significant level of maturity attained by this young artist, largely owing to a host ...
Continue ReadingJake Hertzog: Evolution
by AAJ Italy Staff
Il giovane chitarrista Jake Hertzog giunge al terzo album da leader in studio, offrendo un'ulteriore conferma della bontà del suo progetto. Senza divenire servo della sua ottima tecnica, Hertzog si ciba di curiosità e di voglia di esplorare in maniera poco rituale un jazz-rock progressivo raffinato, elegante, ma anche carico di adrenalina e di sostanziosi grumi materici. Hertzog sembra idealmente seguire la strada battuta da un chitarrista piuttosto dimenticato come Bill Connors che, nella seconda metà degli anni ottanta, aveva ...
Continue ReadingJake Hertzog: Evolution
by Ian Patterson
Guitarist Jake Hertzog's previous recordings as leader, Chromatosphere (That's Out, 2009) and Patterns (Buckyball, 2010) created a stir, with reviewers comparing his talent to just about every jazz and rock guitarist who's ever been described as a legend, from the 1940s on. What this hints rather broadly at is Hertzog's cross-generational approach and stylistic variation which define his music, though he's essentially a modernist. The effusion of comparisons has, perhaps, heaped heavy expectations on both the guitarist--still only 25--and listener, ...
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