Derrick Hodge
Encyclopedia
Derrick Hodge is an American bassist
, composer
, and music producer. He is also the founder of Son of Knowledge Music and Son of Knowledge Entertainment.
at the age of 7, inspired by the playing of West Philadelphia’s Beulah Baptist Church choir’s 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. And for jazz band, he just 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 Bachelor’s 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 others.
Aside from Hodge’s performing side, he has always had a passion for music composition. 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. Over the past few years, Hodge has been developing his writing skills for extended music scoring and film music. Understudying with Grammy-nominated composer Terence Blanchard
, Hodge has been afforded the opportunity to learn about the film industry and writing process. He has also received on the job training while working as an instrumentalist on many of Blanchard’s films including She Hate Me
, Waist Deep
, and Inside Man
.
Currently, Hodge servers as musical director for the artist, Maxwell and has begun recording his first personal recording project featuring all original compositions.
, Kanye West
, Timbaland
, Jill Scott
, Mos Def
, Musiq Soulchild, Floetry
, Gerald Levert
, The Experiment Band (with Robert Glasper
, Chris Dave, 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
. He appeared on and composed for the extremely successful albums of the latter, Flow
, and A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) (2007), which were nominated for a total of 4 Grammy Award
s, 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.
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 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
, as well as The Black Candle
directed by M. K. Asante, Jr.
. He has also written various compositions including "Infinite Reflections", which was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and arranged for small brass ensemble.
As composer
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and music producer. He is also the founder of Son of Knowledge Music and Son of Knowledge Entertainment.
Biography
Derrick Hodge began studying electric guitarElectric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
at the age of 7, inspired by the playing of West Philadelphia’s Beulah Baptist Church choir’s 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
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
. 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. And for jazz band, he just 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
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, R&B and emerging hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
scene. He also credits mentors such as James Poyser
James Poyser
James Poyser in Sheffield, England is a multi-Grammy winning songwriter, musician and multi-platinum producer.Poyser has written and produced songs for various legendary and award-winning artists including Erykah Badu, Mariah Carey, John Legend, Lauryn Hill, Common, Anthony Hamilton, D'Angelo,...
, Jethaniel Nixon, and others throughout his teenage years.
Hodge received his Bachelor’s degree in music from Temple University Ester Boyer College of Music where he studied Jazz Composition and Performance. He studied acoustic
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
and electric bass privately with Vince Fay. He was also involved in the Temple University Jazz Band and Small Ensemble, conducted by Terell Stafford
Terell Stafford
Terell Stafford is a professional jazz trumpet player and current Director of Jazz Studies at Temple University.Terell Stafford born in Miami, Florida and raised in both Chicago, Illinois and Silver Spring, Maryland. He went on to get a degree in music education from University of Maryland in 1988...
, 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
Christian McBride
Christian McBride is an American jazz bassist. His father, Lee Smith, and his great uncle, Howard Cooper, are well known Philadelphia bassists who served as McBride's early mentors...
and Loren Schoenberg
Loren Schoenberg
Loren Schoenberg is a jazz historian, writer of liner notes, and tenor saxophonist. He began playing tenor saxophone in 1974 and by the late 1970s he was playing professionally with Benny Goodman...
. Along with formal collegiate training and experience, he performed with the Temple University Gospel Choir, amongst others.
Aside from Hodge’s performing side, he has always had a passion for music composition. 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
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and R&B. Over the past few years, Hodge has been developing his writing skills for extended music scoring and film music. Understudying with Grammy-nominated composer Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
, Hodge has been afforded the opportunity to learn about the film industry and writing process. He has also received on the job training while working as an instrumentalist on many of Blanchard’s films including She Hate Me
She Hate Me
She Hate Me is a 2004 independent comedy-drama film directed by Spike Lee and starring Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Ellen Barkin, Monica Bellucci, Brian Dennehy, Woody Harrelson, Bai Ling and John Turturro....
, Waist Deep
Waist Deep
Waist Deep is a 2006 drama-action film directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall, starring Tyrese Gibson and Meagan Good. It is loosely based on the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, including some similar subplots including the two main characters on the road, trying to avoid police, and committing bank...
, and Inside Man
Inside Man
Inside Man is a 2006 crime-drama film directed by Spike Lee. It stars Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Willem Dafoe and Jodie Foster. The film's screenplay was written by Russell Gewirtz and produced by Brian Grazer...
.
Currently, Hodge servers as musical director for the artist, Maxwell and has begun recording his first personal recording project featuring all original compositions.
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)Q-Tip (rapper)
Kamaal Ibn John Fareed , better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is an American hip hop artist, producer, singer, and actor from St. Albans, Queens, New York, part of the critically acclaimed group A Tribe Called Quest...
, Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
, Timbaland
Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....
, Jill Scott
Jill Scott
Jill Scott is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, poet, and actress. In 2007, Scott made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog and in Tyler Perry's feature film, Why Did I Get Married? That year, her third studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3, was released on...
, Mos Def
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
, Musiq Soulchild, Floetry
Floetry
Floetry was a British R&B duo comprising Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart . The group recorded two studio albums, one live album, and sold over 800,000 records worldwide. Formed in 1999, Floetry started on the performance poetry stage.In 2002, the duo released their first album entitled, Floetic...
, Gerald Levert
Gerald Levert
Gerald Levert was an American R&B singer. Gerald Levert sang with his brother, Sean Levert, and friend Marc Gordon in the R&B trio LeVert. He was also a part of LSG, an R&B supergroup comprising Keith Sweat, Johnny Gill, and Levert...
, The Experiment Band (with Robert Glasper
Robert Glasper
Robert Glasper in Houston, Texas is an American jazz pianist and record producer.-Career:Glasper’s earliest musical influence was his mother, Kim Yvette Glasper, who sang jazz and blues professionally. She would bring him with her to club dates rather than leave her son with babysitters...
, Chris Dave, and Casey Benjamin), Anthony Hamilton
Anthony Hamilton (musician)
Anthony Hamilton is an American R&B, and soul singer-songwriter, and record producer who rose to fame with his platinum-selling second studio album Comin' from Where I'm From , which featured the singles "Comin' from Where I'm From" and "Charlene."-Life and career:Hamilton was born in Charlotte,...
, James Moore
James Moore (gospel singer)
Reverend James Moore Sr. , born James Leslie Moore in Detroit, Michigan, was a gospel artist well known throughout the gospel recording industry for his powerful vocal abilities. Moore had a genuine love for the traditional sounds of the church, but came to appreciate the uprising contemporary form...
, Donnie McClurkin
Donnie McClurkin
Donald Andrew McClurkin, Jr. is an American gospel music singer and minister. He has won three Grammy awards, ten Stellar awards, two BET awards, two Soul Train awards, one Dove award and one NAACP Image award for his work....
, Grammy award winning classical composer Osvaldo Golijov
Osvaldo Golijov
Osvaldo Noé Golijov is a Grammy award–winning composer of classical music.-Biography:Osvaldo Golijov was born in and grew up in La Plata, Argentina, in a Jewish family that had emigrated to Argentina in the 1920s from Romania and Russia.Golijov has developed a rich musical language, the result of...
, and others. He has also toured and recorded with jazz artists including Clark Terry, Mulgrew Miller
Mulgrew Miller
Mulgrew Miller is an American jazz pianist who performs in a number of jazz idioms. He began his career as member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.-Biography:...
, Terell Stafford
Terell Stafford
Terell Stafford is a professional jazz trumpet player and current Director of Jazz Studies at Temple University.Terell Stafford born in Miami, Florida and raised in both Chicago, Illinois and Silver Spring, Maryland. He went on to get a degree in music education from University of Maryland in 1988...
, and Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
. He appeared on and composed for the extremely successful albums of the latter, Flow
Flow (Terence Blanchard album)
Flow is a 2005 jazz album by Grammy winning trumpeter Terence Blanchard, released through Blue Note, and was nominated for a Grammy Award "Best Jazz Instrumental Album" in 2005.-Background:...
, and A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) (2007), which were nominated for a total of 4 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s, winning one for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. He also appeared on rapper Common
Common (rapper)
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....
's albums Be and Finding Forever, which also won a Grammy Award, playing bass and producing two tracks.
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
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
, 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 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
Edet Belzberg
- Biography :Belzberg received a B.A. in 1991 from the University of Colorado, Boulder and an M.A. in 1997 from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. She received the Columbia University School of Journalism's John M...
, as well as The Black Candle
The Black Candle
The Black Candle is a 2008 documentary film about Kwanzaa directed by M. K. Asante and narrated by Maya Angelou.-Synopsis:The Black Candle uses Kwanzaa as a vehicle to explore and celebrate the African-American experience....
directed by M. K. Asante, Jr.
M. K. Asante, Jr.
MK Asante is an African-American author, filmmaker, and professor. He has been described by the Philadelphia Inquirer as "a rare, remarkable talent that brings to mind the great artists of the Harlem Renaissance." He was described by CNN as "a master storyteller and major creative force." He is...
. He has also written various compositions including "Infinite Reflections", which was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and arranged for small brass ensemble.
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