Dr. Jake Hertzog is a critically acclaimed guitarist, composer and educator whose career to-date has spanned ten albums as bandleader across jazz, rock and classical new music styles. He has toured throughout the U.S., Europe, Latin America, the Middle East 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 “Stringscapes: A Portrait of the World in Nylon and Steel” (2018) on Fretmonkey Records. This 12 movement through-composed work for two guitars co-features classical guitarist Yishai Fisher and is a unique blend of classical and jazz. He was awarded a fellowship from the Arkansas Arts Council in 2018 for music composition for this project. His classical work also includes a solo guitar album, “Well Lit Shadow” (2016), a classical suite for solo electric guitar celebrating themes and images in particle physics.

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, Latin America and India. He created the instructional series “Hey Jazz Guy” for Guitar Player magazine and contributed over 30 articles to the publication. He currently serves as Jazz Area Coordinator as Assistant Professor of Guitar at the University of Arkansas.

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. In additional to his musical work, Hertzog also holds a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Arkansas. His research focuses on how higher music education is adapting to the digital music industry. Other research includes data use in the music industry, music ecosystems, and entrepreneurial pedagogy.

“An unapologetic brand of jazz-rock guitar that does not look back…”

— Mark Redlefsen, All About Jazz