Grammy-Winning Bassist and Orchestra Conductor Derrick Hodge Creates a Powerful Legacy Through Sound

Not every musician boasts credits for the Super Bowl (the 2022 pre-game “Lift Every Voice” performance by Mary Mary and the L.A. Phil’s Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), Academy Awards, and Grammys in one year, let alone a lifetime. Yet, Grammy Award-winning bassist and orchestra conductor Derrick Hodge has accomplished all such milestones this year, and now he’s onto the next pivotal career juncture.

On June 19, Hodge will make history co-conducting the Re-Collective Orchestra, marking the first-ever performance of an all-Black orchestra in the iconic Hollywood Bowl’s 100-year existence. The event, titled Juneteenth: A Global Celebration of Freedom, features performances by Khalid, Earth, Wind & Fire, Jhené Aiko, Robert Glasper, Killer Mike, Billy Porter, Mary Mary, Michelle Williams, The Roots, Mickey Guyton, the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, and many other A-list artists.

Although Hodge has achieved much success, it hasn’t been without challenges, such as the pandemic. “My album, Color of Noize, was released a couple of months into the Covid-19 shutdown," Hodge told Oprah Daily. "But I decided to still believe in the vision, like, Okay, let me let this melting pot of influences and sounds that are still in my mind continue to speak to me. So I just kept writing. Then the writing side just kicked in, almost where it was like a sign to just keep going. Every time I thought something was subtracting in my life, something else that fills in another avenue of my purpose would kick in. Who would have thought the pandemic would have sparked all of this?”

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The Colorado-based musician hopes his story motivates rising artists to speak their unique truths by living out their passions. “What’s real for me is what's allowing these opportunities to continue to happen, and to have the responsibility to not just speak for my voice, but the voice of our own. It's not even about me anymore,” says Hodge. “If anything, these opportunities encourage me to continuously be unapologetically in the moment.”

Ahead of the Juneteenth bash at Hollywood Bowl, Hodge shares his artistry, vision, and purpose.

Your upcoming Juneteenth showcase will be the first time in Hollywood Bowl history that an all-Black orchestra will take the stage. June is also Black Music Month. What does that significance mean to you?

All I wanted was to be connected to something with purpose for me, and hopefully, that translates to what I can give to this world. To be blessed with the opportunity to feature an all-Black orchestra for the first time on a stage of such significance, as well as drawing from the voices of so many incredible Black performers, musicians, composers, and conductors who came before me, is just a moment that's been hitting me. I feel like our ancestors are with us.

Let’s talk about your musical background. Your classical training started at 6 years old, right?

I've loved that sound since I was 6. My mother always played music for me. I would wake up listening to music and go to sleep listening to music. That, honestly, is what informed my whole life's path of just being a dreamer and being unafraid to try things. So before the training came, the sound was already speaking to me. Going into middle school and high school, then college, even though there were all these other sounds around me—gospel and everything else—being in the classical world was never something foreign to me, or I didn't feel displaced from the sound that should be a part of my story. I just felt like, Why not?

At what point did you realize, Hey, this is something I want to pursue?

I knew early, as a child, that the way music speaks to me empowers me to believe in what is possible. I knew I didn’t want to let go of that feeling, and I think that informed my life choices more than anything. I felt lucky that a career was shaped out of it. I feel like God and the universe honored that decision. It was just a life of dreaming and knowing that power spoke to me and spoke to hope of what is possible, even if what’s right in front of me is maybe faces that might not see that journey for me as possible. It didn’t matter. I knew how it helped me, so I decided never to abandon it.

In seventh grade, I learned the violin and hardly saw any Black conductors or arrangers. It’s not too common. So, in what ways have you overcome some of the challenges associated with being a minority in classical music?

I’m from Philadelphia, but I grew up in Willingboro, New Jersey, an all-Black, incredible hotbed of talent and sound and dreamers like myself. We had each other, but we knew around us was another environment of people who didn't necessarily look like us or always thought like us or thought that we should be thinking and hoping and dreaming the way we should be thinking. That was a reality, but for whatever reason, that never deterred me.

My mother is my biggest influence. She put on the radio, and I learned that’s all you need—to just be exposed to something and try it. The radio became my biggest influence, and going to the library and checking out scores for myself became the thing to do. So it didn’t matter what I didn’t see, because honestly, I didn’t see much of it, but I said, “Let me just start pursuing the sound, learn the names of people doing it, and approach it as if it's my music too. Who are some of the African American musicians? Terence Blanchard? Okay, let me meet him and bombard him with questions.” That’s what I did, and I got in his band. One of my favorite bassists was the great Mr. John Clayton, who was a benchmark because he also wrote Whitney Houston’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” I thought, If he can do it, we can. I didn’t need many influences. I have people like them championing for me to go for it, so I just did.

To your point, all it takes is that one example.

It’s just human nature, but sometimes people want to sensationalize what’s perceived as a negative and what others don’t believe in, but you’d be surprised how little sometimes you need to keep going. All I need is a spark, and let’s go. For me, it only took a few.

You strike me as someone with a strong purpose. How would you say knowing your purpose, within music or otherwise, has helped drive you as a creative person?

The biggest thing, especially now being in the industry and the business side of music for over 20 years, was looking back like, Wait, everything turned out okay. I’m still fearless, unapologetic, and going for what I believe in, even if it wasn't a popular choice here or there. I'm happy. I feel like that’s part of why these opportunities are opening for me. It’s not to name-drop and get attention. If I have these amazing platforms, like speaking with you right now, it is to hopefully let my voice be that one spark that somebody needs. They’ll be able to see me, hear my story, and be able to relate. They'll be able to know that neighborhood I came from. If it’s possible for me, I’m telling you, you can do it.

Throughout your storied career, you’ve collaborated with Kanye West, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, André 3000, and the list goes on. What have you learned about yourself from working with such dynamic artists?

We're all connected creatively in more ways than I realized. I've been blessed to be connected to amazing artists who care about saying something great, special, and representing our people in American culture—my connection to Common, the early Kanye, André 3000, Robert Glasper, and so many people. We all tried to be in that moment, for better or worse.

With Common, I spoke about hope, belief, and possibilities. I knew of no symphony that wanted to hire me yet. So I would write backstage before going onstage with Common. He noticed that, which is how I ended up orchestrating for his records [2005’s Be and 2007’s Finding Forever], because they just saw me doing it before the opportunity even manifested. We’re all connected in that hope, belief, moment, and uplifting each other. My story is not that different from a few others.

With the Juneteenth performance underway, what are you hoping the audience walks away feeling?

I hope, and I believe wholeheartedly, that they’ll feel it’s representing their music. It’s representative of all of our stories, not just mine, not even just the stories of the incredible musicians that’ll be playing and the other artists that are giving their time to be there and to celebrate that moment. So I hope that those watching feel the same connection to the moment and the sound as they did from “Lift Every Voice” at the Super Bowl. I hope they feel connected to the sound that is speaking to them, and it feels like their music.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.