Accolades

“A visionary, galvanic composer like few others of his time.” 
-CMJ New Music Report

“This band works well together because over the years it has played Apfelbaum’s absorbing music with dedication and admiration; the band members think like him.” 
-San Francisco Chronicle

“Apfelbaum’s genius was not in appropriating, but, like any true jazz composer, synthesizing the possibilities that were around him and creating structures for improvisation.” 
-Berkeley Daily Planet

“There’s no denying the deep musicianship of the leader and his band, but what’s most striking here is Apfelbaum's genre-mashing ambition as he blends jazz with a host of world music influences to form a powerfully grooving sound that’s utterly benign, even beatific: large ensemble, horn-heavy music that’s tailor-made for the jamband set, yet free of the more cloying elements that often dog that genre.” 
-All About Jazz

“Catch Peter Apfelbaum at the Freight on Saturday. The multitalented multi-instrumentalist teams with his 11-piece world/jazz band the New York Hieroglyphics as well as Malian singer Abdoulaye Diabate for a night that will be fascinating, if not mind-blowing.” 
-Contra Costa Times

It Is Written (ACT Music/High Note)

“It Is Written is the product of an older and wiser head, no over-long solos, more focused writing with solos more integrated into the ensembles and the result announces the return of one of the most original bands in American jazz today…a joy from start to finish.” 
-Jazzwise (London)

“The CD’s nine tracks showcase the saxophonist/bandleader’s prowess in writing and conducting complex compositions and meticulous arrangements, steeped in an invigorating brew of jazz, funk and world music.” 
-Billboard

“Peter Apfelbaum's New York Hieroglyphics Ensemble is positively fire-spitting…it is the flowering complexity of Apfelbaum's pen that makes ‘It Is Written’ a standout disc of 2005.” 
-JazzTimes

“Apfelbaum's structures are subtle and well thought through. Transitions from loose blowing sequences to crisply notated passages take place without strain – a tribute to the unselfconscious way in which the leader integrates his writing technique with the rhythm section's uncluttered grooves…The result is an album of intelligent compositions with an appealing world music dimension, but one that never compromises its integrity as first-class jazz.” 
-The Guardian (London)

“…what makes this music so appealing is its union of harmonic sophistication and rhythmic energy, charming you with layers of poetic counterpoint while flooring you with a ferocity of groove when appropriate. This is a triumphant return to recording for Apfelbaum, an important, somewhat undervalued figure in contemporary U.S. jazz.” 
-Echoes (UK)/Album of the Month

Jodoji Brightness (Antilles/Polygram)

“The second disc by the most exciting band of any sort that I’ve heard in five years…the music is nominally – and indeed recognizably – jazz, but the manner is so kaleidoscopic that the disc bursts with musical life and more unequivocal originality than jazz has seen in more than 10 years.” 
-Buffalo News

“An adventurous collection of ‘multikulti’ pieces that defy neat categorization…the music ranges in mood from the somber and mysterious to the whimsical and joyful…Apfelbaum is still playfully exploring sonic possibilities with his 17-piece Hieroglyphics Ensemble and, in the process, making some bold musical assertions about the future of jazz.” 
-DownBeat

“…Apfelbaum does the impossible again, with seventeen musicians who play their own brand of liberation orchestral music. Jodoji Brightness is…bucking the commercial odds that music this unusual will ever see the light of day on a major label…Apfelbaum spits in the eye of such adversity, offering unique and adventurous compositions.” 
-The Gavin Report

Signs of Life (Antilles/Island)

“This 10-selection-CD is a spectacular triumph – a surging, towering achievement in both composition and performance; and it is splendidly produced and recorded…some of the most imaginative and spirited instrumental ensemble structures ever recorded.” 
-San Francisco Examiner

“Saxist/multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum leads the 14-member Hieroglyphics Ensemble through the raucous frenetic, genre chomping Signs of Life. Eclectic is too weak and far too intellectual a word to describe what they’re up to. Pungent, slashing, visceral, funny, moving, troubled, thought-provoking, romping, hellacious, unpredictable – a few of those may be more like it. Oh yeah, don’t forget professional. For all the burning ferocity there’s a clear sense of intelligence at work. Kinda like life itself, at least on the better days.”
-Tower Pulse

“Imagine a world-music big band in which Sun Ra, Bob Marley, Hugh Masekela and Tito Puente get to trade fours, and you’ll have an inkling of what this exotic and captivating outfit is about.” 
-Playboy