Guitarist and Composer Jake Hertzog Joins Faculty at University of Arkansas

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Jake Hertzog

Multi-genre critically acclaimed guitarist, composer and educator Jake Hertzog will be joining the Department of Music at the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville beginning in fall 2016.

Hertzog's career to-date has spanned nine albums as bandleader across jazz, rock and classical new music styles. He has toured throughout the U.S., Europe, Latin America and India and performed and recorded with a diverse cadre of artists including Randy Brecker, Ivan Neville, Mike Clarke, Blondie Chaplin, Anton Fig, Corey Glover, Barry Altschul, Dave Leibman, Ingrid Jensen and many others.

Hertzog's many projects have included the Jake Hertzog Trio with Harvie S and Victor Jones — a jazz/rock group that has released five albums to wide acclaim and radio success and headlined venues such as The Blue Note in New York and Salo Jazz Festival in Finland. Hertzog's rock group "The Young Presidents" has been featured on Vh1 and MTV as well as radio stations around the world. He also produced a documentary film about the making of their album "Coalition," in collaboration with Grammy-winning producer Rob Fraboni (Rolling Stones, The Band).

Most recently, Hertzog released "Well Lit Shadow" (2016), a classical suite for solo electric guitar celebrating themes and images in particle physics. Another of his classical projects, "Stringscapes" for two guitars, was partially premiered in New York in 2016 and is set for recording later this year co-featuring guitarist Yishai Fischer.

For three years, Hertzog was musical director and lead guitarist for Nickelodeon's The Naked Brothers Band stars, Nat and Alex Wolff. They headlined two major national tours and performed on national television shows including Good Morning America, The View, Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards and The Today Show.

As an educator, Hertzog has been an artist-in-residence and guest clinician in colleges and conservatories in the U.S., Europe and India. He created the instructional series "Hey Jazz Guy" for Guitar Player magazine and contributed over 30 articles to the publication.

Hertzog is a grand prize winner of the Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition, holds a performance degree from Berklee College of Music and a master's degree from The Manhattan School of Music in New York.

About the Department of Music: The Department of Music, part of the University of Arkansas's J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, is home to over 300 music students and 38 faculty members and is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. The multi-disciplinary department annually hosts more than 300 performances by students, faculty and guest artists and offers academic and professional training in performance, composition, ethnomusicology and music education, history, theory and business.

About the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences: The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most academically diverse unit on campus with 19 departments and 43 academic programs and research centers. The college provides the core curriculum for all University of Arkansas students and is named for J. William Fulbright, former university president and longtime U.S. senator.