Derrick Hodge

Derrick Hodge - © www.myspace.com/derrickhodge

born on 5/7/1979 in Philadelphia, PA, United States

Derrick Hodge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Derrick Hodge

Derrick Hodge (Born July 5, 1979 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American bassist, composer, and music producer. He is also the founder of Son of Knowledge Entertainment.

Biography

Derrick Hodge began studying electric guitar at the age of 7, inspired by the playing of West Philadelphias Beulah Baptist Church choirs bassist, Joel Ruffiin. A year later, Hodge switched to electric bass guitar and began playing in the elementary school concert band and orchestra. In junior high, he was introduced to the upright contrabass. At the time, there were no bass instructors so Hodge learned the instrument by using his electric bass technique and by watching the first and second violins sitting across from him. For jazz band, he played the upright bass as if it were an electric bass, disallowing the lack of instructional resources to be his hindrance. He considers himself a product of a hotbed of talent from the greater Philadelphia region which had a thriving gospel, jazz, classical, R&B and emerging hip hop scene. He also credits mentors such as James Poyser, Jethaniel Nixon, and others throughout his teenage years.

Hodge received his Bachelors degree in music from Temple University Ester Boyer College of Music where he studied Jazz Composition and Performance. He studied acoustic and electric bass privately with Vince Fay. He was also involved in the Temple University Jazz Band and Small Ensemble, conducted by Terell Stafford, and was the first jazz major to participate in the Temple University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Luis Biava, and New Music Chamber Orchestra. He was also a student at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Academy, under the instruction of Christian McBride and Loren Schoenberg. Along with formal collegiate training and experience, he performed with the Temple University Gospel Choir, amongst other.

Aside from Hodges performing side, he is also known as a songwriter and composer for film and other extended works. Being granted the opportunities to write for artists in the past has enabled him to be identified as a writer in various genres of music ranging from jazz and orchestral chamber music to pop and R&B. Hodge cultivated his writing skills for extended music scoring and film music while understudying with Grammy-nominated composer Terence Blanchard, where he also received on the job training while working as an instrumentalist on many of Blanchards films including She Hate Me, Waist Deep, and Inside Man.

Career

Known as a hybrid bassist as well as a solo artist, Derrick has performed and recorded with various artists including Common, Q-Tip (rapper), Kanye West, Timbaland, Jill Scott, Mos Def, Musiq Soulchild, Floetry, Gerald Levert, The Robert Glasper Experiment (Robert Glasper, Mark Colenburg, and Casey Benjamin), Anthony Hamilton, James Moore, Donnie McClurkin, Grammy award winning classical composer Osvaldo Golijov, and others. He has also toured and recorded with jazz artists including Clark Terry, Mulgrew Miller, Terell Stafford, and Terence Blanchard.[1] He appeared on and composed for the extremely successful albums of the latter, Flow,[2] and A Tale of Gods Will (A Requiem for Katrina) (2007), which were nominated for a total of 4 Grammy Awards, winning one for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. He also appeared on rapper Common's albums Be and Finding Forever, which also won a Grammy Award, playing bass and producing two tracks. Hodge has also served as musical director for R&B singer Maxwell from 2009 until present (2013), and was featured as bassist on Maxwell's Columbia Records release in 2009, BLACKsummers'night, which peaked at #1 on US Billboard 200 and US Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums as well as winning a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album in 2010. Hodge also won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album in 2013 with the highly acclaimed Robert Glasper Experiment for the 2012 Blue Note Records release, Black Radio.

Derrick was a contributing composer for the original musical score of When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, an HBO documentary produced by Spike Lee, aired in August 2006, as well as choral arranger for the ending credits of "Miracle At St. Anna" also directed by Lee. He was sole composer of the score for the documentary film Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans[3] directed by Dawn Logsdon, co-directed/written by Lolis Eric Elie and released in 2008. Other film credits include music composer for The Recruiter directed by Edet Belzberg, The Black Candle directed by M. K. Asante, Jr., as well as various scores for director and playwright, David E. Talbert. Hodge has also written various other compositions including "Infinite Reflections", which was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and arranged for small brass ensemble, among other commissioned works, string arrangements, and theatrical music scores.

Hodge was signed to Blue Note Records after meeting record producer, and new Blue Note Records president Don Was in September 2011. On August 6, 2013, Hodge's first solo album, Live Today, was released in the United States, with various international release dates to follow through September 2013. Live Today features Hodge on multiple instruments, as well as guest appearances from Common ("Live Today" title track), vocalist Alan Hampton ("Holding Onto You"), Robert Glasper ("Live Today" title track), Chris Dave, Mark Colenburg, keyboardist and music producer Travis Sayles, Trumpeter and music producer Keyon Harrold, Aaron Parks and others. Known as a hybrid album that fuses various musical styles and influences, Live Today also features all original compositions written by Hodge, excluding "Doxology, (I Remember)", which features Hodge on bass guitar and double bass, as well as Travis Sayles on the hammond organ, and is an arrangement of Thomas Ken's hymnal, "Doxology".

Filmography

As musician
  • Inside Man
  • She Hate Me
  • Yours, Mine, and Ours
  • When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
  • Talk to Me
  • Miracle at St. Anna
  • Cadillac Records
  • Waist Deep
  • Play Your Cards Right
As composer
  • Faubourg Treme: A Story of Black New Orleans
  • Who the !@#% Is Jackson Pollock
  • The Recruiter a.k.a. An American Soldier
  • The Black Candle
  • Land Of Opportunity
  • Come Hell Or High Water

References

  1. Ouellette, Dan (4 November 2006). "Blanchard goes with the flow". Billboard.
  2. Olson, Paul (6 June 2005). Terence Blanchard: Flow (2005). All About Jazz. Retrieved on 13 July 2011.
  3. Faubourg Treme - The Untold Story of Black New Orleans. Tremedoc.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-10.

External links

  • Derrick Hodge's official site
  • International Movie Database
  • Derrick Hodge's Blue Note Records Artist Link
  • Derrick Hodge's interview with OnTheGig.com
This page was last modified 17.11.2013 17:15:44

This article uses material from the article Derrick Hodge from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.