''Signs of Life'' is an album by the American musician

Peter Apfelbaum Peter Noah Apfelbaum (born August 21, 1960) is an American avant-garde jazz pianist, tenor saxophonist, drummer, and composer born in Berkeley, California. Career Apfelbaum formed the Hieroglyphics Ensemble in 1977. He performed with Carla Bley ...

, released in 1991. He is credited with his band the Hieroglyphics Ensemble. "Candles and Stone" was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for "Best Arrangement on an Instrumental". The album was nominated for a Bammie Award for "Outstanding Jazz Album".

Production

The album was produced by Hans Wendl and

Wayne Horvitz Wayne Horvitz (born September 1, 1955) is an American composer, keyboardist and record producer. He came to prominence in the Downtown scene of 1980s and '90s New York City, where he met his future wife, the singer, songwriter and pianist Robi ...

. More than 15 musicians contributed to the recording sessions, including

Will Bernard Will Bernard is a guitarist and band leader. He has led the Will Bernard Band, Will Bernard Trio, Will Bernard 4-tet, and Motherbug. Career In the 1980s Bernard was a member of the Hieroglyphics Ensemble led by Peter Apfelbaum. In the 1990s he f ...

on guitar and

Paul Hanson Paul Hanson is an American bassoonist, Saxophone, saxophonist, duduk player, and composer with roots in jazz and Classical music, classical music. Music career Paul Hanson was born in San Francisco, CA, on October 28, 1961. His parents were bo ...

on bassoon. "Folksong #7" is a reworking of the traditional spiritual "

Michael, Row the Boat Ashore "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" (also called "Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore", "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore", or "Michael, Row That Gospel Boat") is a traditional spiritual first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of ...

". "Grounding" is dominated by the interplay between bassoon and electric guitar.

Critical reception

The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' stated that "the pieces with the greatest range and change work best, while more static numbers ... seem the most strained." Fernando Gonzalez of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' included the album on his list of the 10 most notable albums of 1991 and wrote, "Wildly ambitious and fearless, reedman and composer Apfelbaum and his large ensemble mix extended forms, subtle colors, unusual instrumentation and a big punch." The ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' called the album "a dancing melange of Afro-Cuban, funk and reggae rhythms, jazz improvisation, gongs, bells and chanting voices." The ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

'' opined that "the band's earnest enthusiasm occasionally exceeds its abilities, and the lyrics hint at post-hippie pretension, but the spirit never wavers." The ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American conservative daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarde ...

'' included ''Signs of Life'' on its list of the best underheard albums of 1991. The ''

Tucson Citizen The ''Tucson Citizen'' was a daily newspaper in Tucson, Arizona. It was founded by Richard C. McCormick with John Wasson as publisher and editor on October 15, 1870, as the ''Arizona Citizen''. When it ceased printing on May 16, 2009, the dail ...

'' listed it as the 10th best jazz album of the year. In 2000, ''Signs of Life'' was included in ''The Essential Jazz Records, Volume 2: Modernism to Postmodernism''. In 2009, the ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

'' deemed it an "Essential Bay Area Jazz Album", praising "not only by the shear power of the big-group sound but the way Apfelbaum's delicate engineering of the tunes allows individual voice to shine through."

Track listing

References

{{reflist 1991 albums Antilles Records albums