Derrick Hodge is a celebrated composer, producer, and bassist equally adept on both electric and upright instruments. While he is best-known as a member of
the Robert Glasper Experiment, he is an accomplished session musician who has worked extensively across the jazz, cinematic, and R&B genres. He’s been a go-to collaborator not only for Glasper, but also for
Maxwell,
Terence Blanchard, and
Common alike; he played on Grammy-winning albums by all four. His five years with
Blanchard included performing on and writing for the score to
Spike Lee's
A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina). Other artists who have enlisted
Hodge as a collaborator include
Bilal Oliver,
Gretchen Parlato,
Mulgrew Miller,
Terri Lyne Carrington,
Stefon Harris,
Helen Sung, and
Karriem Riggins, to name a few.
Hodge stepped out with his debut solo offering Live Today in 2013 to great acclaim. He followed it with
The Second in 2016, while also continuing his work with Glasper on
Artscience (also 2016) and
Fuck Yo Feelings (2020).
Hodge was born in Philadelphia and first began playing electric guitar before switching to electric bass while still in elementary school. He played in his school's concert band and orchestra. He was introduced to the contrabass in junior high, but had no formal instruction on the instrument when he undertook it. He taught himself by using his electric techniques and adapted them by watching the other string players in the orchestra. While in high school,
Hodge performed in the orchestra and spent his spare time working on the many different kinds of music that were bubbling up in and around Philadelphia, from R&B and hip-hop to gospel and jazz. During this crucial period, he counted
James Poyser and
Jethaniel Nixon as primary influences.
Hodge attended Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music. He not only studied jazz composition and performance, but also took private lessons on both the upright and electric basses from Vince Fay. He was a member of
the Temple University Jazz Band and Small Ensemble under
Terell Stafford, but also
the Temple University Symphony Orchestra and New Music Chamber Orchestra. Outside of school, he studied with
Christian McBride at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Academy.
While still in school,
Hodge began recording with a slew of Philly R&B and hip-hop talent, including
Jill Scott,
Musiq (Soulchild), and
Floetry. He joined pianist
Mulgrew Miller's live and recording group in 2003. In 2005 he was the featured bassist on
Common's hit recording
Be. The same year he began his compositions. Time spent understudying with
Terence Blanchard was important because in addition to playing and composing,
Hodge began studying film composition. He contributed cues to
Blanchard's score for
Spike Lee's film When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, as well as tunes to the trumpeter/composer's
A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina) in 2006. That year
Hodge also played on
Stefon Harris' celebrated
African Tarantella album. In 2007,
Hodge contributed music, bass, and production to
Common's
Finding Forever (he also played on two of the rapper's subsequent albums). Other R&B and hip-hop artists sought him out as well, including
Timbaland,
Mos Def,
Q-Tip,
Kanye West, and
Gerald Levert.
The bassist composed the score to Dawn Logsdon and Lolis Eric Elie's documentary Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans in 2008. That same year,
Hodge joined
the Robert Glasper Experiment with
Chris Dave and
Casey Benjamin, and composed the score for the Edet Belzberg film The Recruiter. The
RGE made their recorded debut on the 2009 album
Double Booked, and
Hodge was bandleader and musical director on
Maxwell's
BLACKsummers'night, and played on
Blanchard's
Choices, and
Gretchen Parlato's
In a Dream. In 2011,
Hodge was busy recording and touring with
the RGE. Later in the year they cut the monumental jazz-R&B-pop crossover hit Black Radio, which was released in February of 2012; they toured for the rest of year and into 2013. Also in 2012, M.K. Asante's documentary The Black Candle, featuring a score by the bassist, made its debut on the Starz cable television network.
Hodge signed to Blue Note Records and began to record his solo debut during tour breaks. In early 2013, Black Radio won the Grammy for Best R&B Album.
Hodge's self-produced record Live Today arrived in August, with appearances by all members of
the RGE, as well as
Common,
Poyser,
Aaron Parks, and others; the recording hit the jazz charts and resonated long after. Though still occupied with touring with Glasper,
Hodge cut another solo album. Serving as composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, he finished
Second in early 2016.
Hodge played almost all instruments and did his own vocals. Drummer
Mark Colenburg appeared on three tracks, and the horn section of trumpeter
Keyon Harrold, trombonist
Corey King, and tenor saxophonist
Marcus Strickland appeared on another.
Second was released at the end of August, three weeks before the
Robert Glasper Experiment issued its third studio album,
Artscience. In addition to touring to support the release, the bassist worked feverishly on other projects. He appeared on
Karriem Riggins'
Headnod Suite in 2017, with Glasper's
R+R=NOW on Collagically Speaking in 2018, with
Terri Lyne Carrington on Waiting Game, and with
Philip Bailey on his acclaimed
Love Will Find a Way (his first studio album in 18 years). The bassist continued his long collaboration with Glasper on the pianist's mixtape-esque solo offering
Fuck Yo Feelings.
In June of 2020,
Hodge released his third solo offering,
Color of Noize. Not only an album title, it also marked the name of his new band. Co-produced with Blue Note boss
Don Was, it was the bassist's first album to use a live band in the studio whose core included
Jahari Stampley and
Michael Aaberg on keyboards, Mike Mitchell and
Justin Tyson on drums, and
DJ Jahi Sundance on turntables.
Hodge played bass, keys, guitar, and voice. The music reflected the bassist's fusion of aesthetic influences and experiences via an innate sense of jazz's immediacy and flow. He and the band melded that approach with hip-hop grooves and sophisticated spiritual soul into an organic whole. ~ Thom Jurek