A standard from Austria
“If there are classics of Austrian jazz, here is one!”, wrote the Kronen Zeitung (Austrian daily newspaper) in 2009 about the Jazzzwio's concert recordings.1 It meant above all this piece. “Air, Love & Vitamins” has what makes a standard: a melody you can sing along to after one hearing, harmony that invites improvisation and a form that holds up in any line-up, as a duo of guitar and vibraphone just as well as in a piano trio, with trombone, violin or electric bass.
How the piece came about
Harry Pepl wrote “Air, Love & Vitamins” in the early 1980s. With a dash of self-irony, the title was meant to express something fundamentally positive: air, love and something more, vitamins as well. Among friends Pepl first announced the piece, jokingly, as “the down-on-his-luck wanderer”.2 It was particularly close to his heart: “It's a really sweet song with a sweet, simple melody that actually calls for a voice or a saxophone, something that comes along with long notes.”3
The first recording: ECM, 1983
In June 1982 the Jazzzwio, Pepl's duo with the vibraphonist Werner Pirchner, recorded for ECM (Munich jazz label founded by Manfred Eicher), joined by the American drummer Jack DeJohnette. The album “Werner Pirchner / Harry Pepl / Jack DeJohnette” appeared in 1983 and received the German Record Critics' Award.4 With it, “Air, Love & Vitamins” became known beyond Austria.
Harry Pepl plays his piece
Pepl played the piece again and again in new ways. In the same year as the ECM record, the Jazzzwio made this recording for ORF (Austria's public broadcaster):
Jazzzwio: “Air, Love & Vitamins”, ORF 1983
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
Further versions with Pepl survive on record: the Jazzzwio in 1985 at the Viennese club Miles Smiles with Georg Polansky on drums (“Live At Miles Smiles”, 2003), Pepl's band Air Mail in 1988 at the ORF studio in Graz, Austria (“Light Blues”, reissue 2001) and the Jazzzwio in Montreux and Innsbruck (“Live In Concerts”, 2009).
Interpretations on record
- 2004: Wolfgang Muthspiel, Pepl's former student at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, names his trio album with Marc Johnson and Brian Blade after the piece: “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
- 2007: The Christian Muthspiel Trio with Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid devotes the album “Against The Wind” to the repertoire of Pirchner and Pepl.
- 2020: Franck Tortiller and Misja Fitzgerald-Michel play the piece as a vibraphone and guitar duo on “Les Heures Propices”.
- 2025: Tim Collins and Martin Gasselsberger record it on “Songs From The Treehouse”.
On stage and online
How far the piece has travelled is shown by the versions of other musicians that can be found online.
Christian Muthspiel Trio: “Air, Love & Vitamins”
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
Franck Tortiller and Misja Fitzgerald-Michel: “Air, Love and Vitamins”
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
Klemens Bittmann at the Zbigniew Seifert Competition 2014
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
Robert Riegler and Primus Sitter, Porgy & Bess, Vienna, 2012
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
Bass cover from Japan
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
Pizsebpaulo: “Air, Love & Vitamins”
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
Philipp Tröstl: “Air, Love & Vitamins”
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
Jazz Martyrs: “Air, Love & Vitamins”
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
Bump Trio: “Air, Love & Vitamins”
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
Rob Spieler: “Air, Love and Vitamins”
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
For musicians
We are happy to provide the lead sheet for concerts, teaching and recordings. If you perform or record the piece, please register it with the AKM (Austria's collecting society for composers, lyricists and music publishers) under work number 947102, ISWC T-001.036.052-7, publisher Pepl Daniel Musikverlag (Fullmax Publishing). We welcome new versions and recordings; they will find their place here.
Request the lead sheet or report a version
More about the work, with all its data, is on the work page.
Notes and sources (4)
- Kronen Zeitung, 20 March 2009, p. 36, short review of “Live In Concerts”. ↩
- Former website harrypepl.com, page “Air, Love & Vitamins” (Daniel Pepl). ↩
- Harry Pepl in conversation with Nikolaus Kohler, Kohler 2006, pp. 78 to 79 (interview 6-4). ↩
- Kohler 2006, pp. 78 to 79; Wochenpresse, 9 December 1988. ↩
Last updated: 16 Oct 2026