Born in Berkeley, CA in 1960, Peter Apfelbaum began playing drums at age three, and by eleven years he had learned piano and saxophone as well. A product of the Berkeley Schools' pioneering Jazz Project, he began working professionally while in his early teens, forming the impovisational quartet Berkeley Arts Company in 1975. In 1977, Apfelbaum founded the 17-piece Hieroglyphics Ensemble, which would become his main vehicle for composing and combining traditional and non-traditional forms of music for the next two decades. The Ensemble, which helped launch the careers of fellow Berkeley High alumno Benny Green, Craig Handy and Joshua Redman, gradually began attracting international attention not only because of its size but also for its unique sound, which is generally credited as having presaged "World Music" or "World Beat", with its polyrhythmic mix of Aftican and Western elements.

In 1988 Apfelbaum began an association with the legendary trumpeter Don Cherry, who appeared frequently with the Hieroglyphics Ensemble and featured the group on his album "Multikulti" (A&M 1990). Cherry also formed the Multikulti quartet with Apfelbaum and Hieroglyphics colleagues Bo Freeman (bass) and Josh Jones (drums), which toured extensively in Europe, North America and Japan.

Between 1990 and 1992 the Hieroglyphics Ensemble recorded two albums for Antilles/Polygram, "Signs of Life" and "Jodoji Brightness". During this period the band also opened for the Greatful Dead, won the Down Beat critics' poll for Big Band Deserving Wider Recognition, and appeared at major festivals in the U.S. and abroad, Apfelbaum received a Grammy nomination in 1991 for the composition "Candles and Stones", and was commissioned to write for the Kronos Quartet, the Bay Area Jazz Composters Orchestra and the National Swedish Radio Orchestra. In 1994 Apfelbaum formed his Sextet, comprising trombonist Jeff Cressman, guitarist Will Bernard, bassist John Shifflett and drummer/percussionists Deszon Claiborne and Josh Jones. This group can be heard on Apfelbaum's most recent CD, "Luminous Charms" (Gramavision/Ryko).

Apfelbaum's plans for 1998 include a Hieroglyphics Ensemble 20th anniversary tour, preformances with the Sextet, solo piano recitals and further collaborations with electronics pioneer Don Buchla, with whom he toured Italy in September. He is also a founding member of Jai Uttal's Pagan Love Orchestra and performs frequently with Ann Dyer's No Good Time Fairies. He now resides in Brooklyn, New York.