For those unaware, Jazz Guitarist Jake Hertzog’s new recording Ozark Concerto for electric guitar and 23-piece Ozark Jazz Philharmonic is Hertzog’s second ZOHO Music CD release.

Following a succession of five acclaimed cutting edge jazz-rock trio outings with bassist Harvie S. and drummer Victor Jones (including 2013’s Throwback on ZOHO, featuring special guest trumpeter Randy Brecker) guitarist Jake Hertzog decided to scale back.

That radical change in musical direction resulted in 2016’s intimate solo electric guitar album, Well Lit Shadow, followed by 2018’s acoustic duet project with Yishai Fisher, Stringscapes, and 2023’s ambisonic duet with Adam Hogan, A Turn of Events.

After receiving a generous grant, Hertzog opted to dream big. Drawing on his classical and jazz studies, he created a large-scale work for jazz orchestra, guitar, and string quartet along the lines of revered guitar concertos of the past, from Kenny Burrell’s Guitar Forms with the Gil Evans Orchestra (1965) to John McLaughlin’s The Mediterranean concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra (1988) and more recently Bill Frisell’s Orchestras with the 60-piece Brussels Philharmonic (2024).

Hertzog’s Ozark Concerto, which had its world premiere in 2024 at the UARK Jazz Festival on the Fayetteville campus of the University of Arkansas and was subsequently recorded for this ZOHO release, is coming directly out of that tradition.

Divided into seven parts, the Ozark Concerto showcases Hertzog playing electric guitar in the company of full orchestra (Part I, Part III, Part V and Part VII), brass instruments (Part II), string quartet (Part IV) and saxophones (Part VI).

1. Ozark Concerto - Part I
2. Ozark Concerto - Part II
3. Ozark Concerto - Part III
4. Ozark Concerto - Part IV
5. Ozark Concerto - Part V
6. Ozark Concerto - Part VI
7. Ozark Concerto - Part VII

A grandiose concerto for electric guitar and the 23-piece Ozark Jazz Philharmonic conducted by Susumu Watanabe (who also contributed arrangements), Hertzog’s latest ambitious undertaking opens on the conceptually explorative Ozark Concerto - Part I, and then we are lulled into Part II by an expressive fingerstyle guitar solo, which gives way to some brass-styled swing, the stridently dynamic Part III, then we are graced with the melodically introspective Part IV, the rhythmically organic, at times Chick Corea-esque, latterly guitar-fueled and then more mellow Part V, the recording rounding out on the multi-modal, multi-lined guitar work within Part VI, coming to a close on the complex, yet dutifully melodious Return to Forever-imbibed Part VII.

I wanted to create something that from start to finish followed more of an orchestral or classical philosophy of what a feature for an instrument could be, Jake Hertzog has said.

Musicians:
JAKE HERTZOG guitar
SUSUMU WATANABE conductor

THE OZARK JAZZ PHILHARMONIC:
Piano: Matt Nelson (Part V), Tomoko Kashiwagi (Part I, III, & VII)
Bass: Garrett Jones
Drums: Chris Peters
Trumpet I - IV: Bill Gable, Ben Hay, Rich Rulli, Cameron Summers
Trombone I- III: Cory Mixdorf, Shea Pierce, Michael Olefsky
Bass Trombone: Jason Hausback
Alto Sax I – II: Michael Hanna, Sarah Hetrick
Tenor Sax - II: Alisha Pattillo, Austin Farnam
Bari Sax: Rick Salonen
Violin I: Er-Gene Kahng
Violin II: Dayton Strick
Viola: Tim MacDuff
Cello: Pecos Singer

Official Purchase Link

www.jakehertzog.com