Ellnora Guitar Festival

Two weeks ago, I got on a plane with Victor Jones and Harvie S, two of the most talented jazz musicians in the world. We were headed however, to my gig, at the Ellnora Guitar Festival.

The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana Illinois, associated with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a marvelous place. It has four huge beautiful halls, designed for classical music, plays, jazz, small stage theatre and ballet. I attended high school only a few blocks away from Krannert, and once in a while, a university band or high school competition would be held there, so I'd get a chance to perform on one of the stages.

Halfway through my Berklee career, the Krannert center hosted the Wall to Wall Guitar Festival, and several of my all-time icons, like Pat Metheny performed. It was amazing, and I vowed to be a part of it someday. This year, it was re-incarnated as the Ellnora Guitar Festival, named for Ellnora Krannert, the founding donor for the center.

So, we found ourselves, for a few days, in the company of Bill Frisell, Ani DiFranco, Derek Trucks, and dozens of others. We played our hearts out and had an amazing crowd. It was so great to see so many old friends and have the support of the town I grew up in. The press was amazing, and getting the chance to bring such a fabulous band from New York City, back "home with me", was something I'll never forget.

I've posted the footage on youtube, and right here, on www.jakehertzog.com/video so for those who were there, you can check it out. Thank you so much to everybody, new friends and old, and total strangers, that came out, checked out the music, bought CDs, hung out and supported me at my officially 2nd major festival:)

Thanks to all, enjoy the concert here again, and I will keep you posted on the new record being made this fall with my two heros, Harvie S and Victor Jones.

JH