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| "a turn of events" Improvisation in the 21st century, from Hertzog & Hagen What is improvisation in the 21st century? That is the question that guitarist Jake Hertzog and media artist Adam Hogan seek to answer on their new album a turn of events. The pair combine guitars and cutting-edge electronics on a turn of events to completely redefine how "free" free jazz can get. "We really wanted to understand the interaction between the performer and the instrument" Hertzog said, "and that interaction begins with conceptualizing the ambisonic diffusion technology as an instrument". The album was created over the course of an entire year that included extensive experimentation, testing, technology development and nearly a hundred hours of trial recordings. "I was drawn to the immersive holistic sound field that can be rendered using ambisonics, and how as both a composer and improviser, we can think about space just as we would pitch, melody, or rhythm. Now with Dolby ATMOS, we can deliver that experience to the listener" said Hogan. Their work is pioneering enough that the duo was recently featured at the International Network for Artistic Research in Jazz Conference in a presentation on how technological research influences improvisation. Adam and Jake met in their early years as professors at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, with Adam heading up the School of Art's Experimental Media Program and Jake directing that institution's new jazz program. Hertzog, whose eclectic career so far has included a collaborations with artists as diverse as Ivan Neville, Barry Alschul, Randy Brecker, and Cory Glover, in addition to long association with Victor Jones and Harvie S, as well as experimental solo and duo guitar recordings, stated: "I've always sought out people who inspire me and Adam is that rare artist who elevates his art form by imagining sounds that have never been heard". Hogan's diverse career has included work in cinematography, spatial audio, and extensive collaborations with musicians, film makers, and artists. His work and collaborations have been featured in numerous national and international festivals, exhibitions and collections including: Ars Electronica, ISEA, Cyfest13, Smithsonian Institution, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Berlinale, Athens Digital Arts Festival, DOC NYC, and BioBAT NYC among others. The new album a turn of events blend arts, improvisation, and technology, drawing inspiration from jazz pioneers such as Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor who elevated "free" jazz in both acoustic and electric settings for their generation and current practitioners, such as Dan Tepfer. The project's lineage and influences include electroacoustic composers such Juan Pampin, and Joseph Anderson, and acousmatic pioneers Bernard Parmegiani and the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theater. Utilizing free jazz improvisational techniques, a turn of events' music conceptualizes the ambisonic soundfield and granular synthesis as live instruments capable of advanced spatial, musical, and timbral improvisation. "I think both of us really had to learn how to play all over again on this project", said Hertzog, "and we want to carry the listener with us through that journey." BIOS: Jake Hertzog 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, the role of higher education in arts ecosystems, and entrepreneurial pedagogy. Hertzog's research has been published in Artivate, and Jazz Education in Research and Practice. Adam Hogan Dr. Adam Hogan is a media artist, cinematographer, composer, researcher, and advocate for film and media preservation. His work engages experimental approaches to moving image and sound by using the mediums themselves through production and development to explore how media technologies shape our perception and relationships to spaces and histories. As a cinematographer and director of photography, he has been all over the country and to many parts of the world to create images. This work spans traditional production, but also includes experimental collaborations with artists, choreographers, musicians and composers. His work and collaborations have been featured in numerous national and international festivals, exhibitions and collections including Ars Electronica, ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic Art), Cyfest13, Smithsonian Institution, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Berlinale, Athens Digital Arts Festival, DOC NYC, BioBAT NYC, and more. His work with spatial and immersive audio began as an extension of surround sound formats in a cinematic and expanded cinema context and evolved during his time at DXARTS in Seattle. Along with Laura Stayton, he developed a collaborative project that strives to save media works, experimental films, and rare cinematic treasures through preservation, digital restoration and migration; publication/exhibitions of these restored works include Criterion Collection, Anthology Film Archives, Fridman Gallery, Il Cinema Ritrovato, and others. Hogan holds a Ph.D. from University of Washington, Seattle in Digital Arts and Experimental Media and a MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. write your comments about the article :: © 2023 Jazz News :: home page |