Jake Hertzog, U of A assistant professor of guitar and jazz area coordinator, performed in the 50th anniversary "Highlights in Jazz" — New York's longest-running jazz concert series — on Feb. 23 at the Manhattan Borough Community College Theater in TriBeCa. The series began in 1973 and has featured many of the most important and influential jazz musicians across five decades such as Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz and Keely Smith.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary, producer Jack Kleinsinger also featured Danny Gottlieb (Pat Metheny Group), Harvie S (Alan Broadbent), Russell Malone and Shelia Jordan, among others. A unique feature of every concert is the "surprise guest," and Hertzog, who has performed on previous concerts in the series, was one of the "surprise guests," a distinction held by legendary artists including Branford Marsalis, Jerry Mulligan, Earl Hines and Carmen McCrae. "It was an incredible honor to join such distinguished master artists of many generations and pay tribute not only to this amazing New York institution, but its place in the great jazz legacy of New York," Hertzog said.

Jack Kleinsinger, the original and only producer of the series, said he wanted to have Hertzog because "the series has always been intergenerational, and we had Jake at a very early stage in his career, so it was very special to have him back!"

Hertzog opened the concert in a duo set with fellow guitarist Roni Ben Hur, a fixture on the New York jazz scene. A glowing review of the concert by the New York Sun can be found found here.

A recording of the concert will be housed in the the official archive of the series at the University of North Florida.