Derrick Hodge

Derrick Hodge is one of contemporary music’s most multifaceted artists, among the most accomplished bassists and composers working today, equally at home in a jazz club, a film scoring suite, or on the conductor’s podium at the Hollywood Bowl. Raised near Philadelphia in the crucible of the city’s neo-soul, gospel, and jazz scene, he studied at Temple University before building a career that spans virtually every corner of American music.

His solo work on Blue Note Records, Live Today (2013), The Second (2016), and Color of Noize (2020), reveals a composer who moves between intimate acoustic meditation and orchestral grandeur with equal authority. As a key member of the Robert Glasper Experiment, he earned Best R&B Album at the 55th Grammys and Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 57th, while his work with R+R=Now and alongside Jill Scott, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Terence Blanchard, Mulgrew Miller, and Donald Byrd placed him at the center of multiple musical movements. His decade-long tenure as Maxwell’s musical director (2009–2019) and production work alongside Quincy Jones further cemented his range.

Hodge’s milestones read like a series of firsts. In 2014, he became the first African American composer to create hip-hop arrangements for the National Symphony Orchestra, staging the twentieth-anniversary celebration of Nas’s Illmatic at the Kennedy Center. In 2022, he served as lead orchestrator and conductor of the 94th Academy Awards, arranged for Nas at the 64th Grammys, and conducted the first all-African American orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl for CNN’s Juneteenth concert. His bassline on Common’s BE has been recognized among the top ten bass lines in hip-hop history. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture commissioned his work for its permanent collection, and he composed the score for The Black Candle, the first Kwanzaa feature film, narrated by Maya Angelou.

In June 2024, Hodge premiered his Color of Noize Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl Juneteenth celebration, expanding his vision from the rhythm section to the full orchestral stage. He has arranged and conducted for Anderson .Paak and WILLOW, continuing to reshape not just how music sounds but where and for whom it is performed.