Peter Apfelbaum and the New York Hieroglyphics

Sat., Nov. 14, 8 p.m., $25, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., 215-925-9914, paintedbride.org.

by Shaun Brady

Most kids leave high school with little idea what they want to do with their lives, but by his senior year Peter Apfelbaum had not only discerned his goal but had founded the band that would express it. Apfelbaum formed the first incarnation of his Hieroglyphics Ensemble as a 17-piece band at Berkeley High in 1977, which remarkably contained a few classmates who would continue to be important collaborators and innovators in their own right for the next three decades. Wide-ranging on his own — he plays piano, sax and percussion in the group — Apfelbaum intended the band to explore a variety of music, marrying jazz with sounds from other cultures. He took the idea to the East Coast in 1998, when he moved to Brooklyn. The current New York edition of the ensemble includes Malian vocalist Abdoulaye Diabate, Cuban-born drummer Dafnis Prieto, French bassist Patrice Blanchard and a host of NY's finest.

Sat., Nov. 14, 8 p.m., $25, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., 215-925-9914, paintedbride.org.