Peter Apfelbaum and the Hieroglyphics Ensemble
Signs of Life (Antilles) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
This 15-piece Bay area band has been together for nearly a dozen years and has attracted growing attention of late for its work with avant jazz/world music pioneer, Don Cherry. Fela`s Afrobeat provides the inspiration for the opening ”Candles and Stones,” while highlife, world beat and Afropop color such tracks as ”Walk to the Mountain” and ”The World Is Gifted.” ”The Last Door” might best be described as Big Band Indibeat, while ”Forwarding, Parts 1 & 2” begins as funky reggae and evolves into adventurous fusion. Surprisingly, the pieces with the greatest range and change work best, while more static numbers (a Roy Buchanan-ish heavy blues called ”Grounding,” the avant-ballad ”Waiting” and ”Folksong 7,” a gallant but failed attempt at new urban folk in a fusion-funk remake of ”Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore”)
seem the most strained. The Hieroglyphics` major-label debut promises to be one of the major signposts pointing the way not only for Big Band jazz, but for the burgeoning world beat scene of the `90s.
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