Pianist Frederick Hodges with film star Alice Faye and Dance band leader Phil Harris at Masons Restaurant, Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco. 18 May 1993. Photo by Jeff Gilbert.

California native Frederick Hodges specializes in the piano music and popular songs of the ragtime era, the 1920s, and the 1930s. Classically trained and groomed for a career as a concert pianist, he was happily lured away from this path after he discovered a stack of 1920s sheet music in this grandmother's piano bench.  Exposure to the rollicking rhythms of player pianos and 78 RPM phonograph records sealed his fate, and he set out to master the ragtime and novelty piano playing styles that had captivated him.

While  still an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, he was hired by Don Neely to serve as pianist and singer with the famed Royal Society Jazz Orchestra. Soon, Frederick was playing solo piano for society parties and holding down steady engagements at legendary Nob Hill establishments such as L'Etoile in the Huntington Hotel, Masons in the Fairmont Hotel, and the Ritz Carlton Hotel.  Frederick also plays piano with the Peter Mintun Orchestra and with jazz ensembles.

Frederick has displayed his unique piano playing and singing talents on stage, on television, and in Hollywood movies. He has had the honor of performing for stars of stage and screen, royalty, captains of industry, and  even Tin Pan Alley composers. He is a favorite at jazz festivals around the country.