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Harry Pepl * 1945  † 2005

Press archive

What was written and broadcast about Harry Pepl: reviews, portraits, interviews and obituaries, with summary and source. The originals are protected by copyright and kept in the archive; we provide them to researchers and the press on request.

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  1. June 1988 · Review · DE

    Jazz Podium (vol. 37, no. 6, June 1988, p. 48): „Joos-Pepl-Christensen“ new

    Robert Urmann

    Concert review by Robert Urmann in the German jazz magazine Jazz Podium on the trio with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen, whose album “Cracked Mirrors” appeared on ECM, the renowned European jazz label, in the same year. Listed in the Jazz Index of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt, Germany; the archive does not hold the text.

  2. April 1988 · Review

    Wire Magazine (heute The Wire), no. 50: Kritik zu „Volver“ (ECM 1343) in der Rubrik „Soundcheck“, Abschnitt „Fast Licks“

    Mike Fish

    Short review in the 50th issue of the British music magazine Wire (now The Wire), in the “Soundcheck” section under “Fast Licks”. Mike Fish reviews “Volver”, the album by the quintet of Enrico Rava (trumpet) and Dino Saluzzi (bandoneon) on ECM, the renowned European jazz label, with Harry Pepl (guitar), Furio Di Castri (bass) and Bruce Ditmas (drums). Saluzzi draws real lyricism from the bandoneon; together with Rava’s elegant trumpet and Pepl’s reverberant guitar, the result is music full of empathy and enthusiasm, and in “Minguito” the band plays very hot.

    when matched with the grandee elegance of Rava’s style, and Pepl’s reverberant guitar, the music that results has a redemptive empathy and enthusiasm

    Sometimes, as in “Minguito”, they blow very hot indeed.

  3. July 1986 · Review · FR

    Jazz Hot, no. 432: „Amiens : le temps du jazz“

    Franck Bergerot

    Festival report by Franck Bergerot in the July/August issue of Jazz Hot, the French jazz magazine founded in 1935, on the “Le temps du jazz” festival in Amiens (France) from 13 to 24 May 1986, at which the festival also launched its record label, Label Bleu. Under the heading “Coup de chaleur” (roughly: a heatwave) he describes Air Mail's concert: fired up by Wolfgang Puschnig, driven by Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger, shaken up by an utterly unexpected Harry Pepl. To Bergerot it sounded as if Pepl wanted to pay tribute to the guitarist Joseph Dejean, who had died ten years earlier; in his playing he found again the thread of a history of the guitar that he had thought lost. The music was free, fresh, uninhibited and full of energy, and he had not enjoyed himself so much in a long time. The report gives no date for the concert. Thirty-five years later Bergerot paid tribute to Pepl again in Jazz Magazine, as “the late Austrian jazz guitarist”.

    Air Mail, fired up by Wolfgang Puschnig, driven by the rhythm section of Mike Richmond / Wolfgang Reisinger and shaken up by an utterly unexpected Harry Pepl.

    Franck Bergerot in Jazz Hot on Air Mail's concert at the “Le temps du jazz” festival in Amiens, France, in May 1986, under the heading “Coup de chaleur” (roughly: a heatwave)

    There I found again the thread of a history of the guitar that I feared I had lost for good.

    Franck Bergerot on Pepl's guitar playing at Air Mail's concert in Amiens, France, in May 1986; just before, he writes that had Pepl wanted to pay tribute to the guitarist Joseph Dejean, who had died ten years earlier, he could not have gone about it any differently

  4. July 1986 · Review · FR

    Jazz Hot, no. 432: „Du jazz sous les pommiers“

    Alain Guerrini

    Festival report by Alain Guerrini in the July/August issue of Jazz Hot, the French jazz magazine founded in 1935, on the 5th Jazz sous les pommiers in Coutances (Normandy, France) from 3 to 10 May 1986. On the closing night, at the theatre, Guerrini discovered Air Mail with Wolfgang Puschnig, Harry Pepl, Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger as “un groupe prodigieux”, a prodigious group: from the Berlin ballad to hard rock, their music brought almost a century of music history back to life. As the most telling piece he names “Halley Comet”, probably Pepl's “The Halley's Comet Light Blue Blues”. The Eddy Louiss Big Band closed the evening. Jazz Hot names Puschnig as the band's leader; according to Daniel Pepl, Air Mail had no leader, and the statement is an error in the report. Guerrini gives 10 p.m. as the starting time, the festival archive 9 p.m.

    There I discovered a prodigious group: Air Mail

    Alain Guerrini in Jazz Hot on the closing night of the Jazz sous les pommiers festival in Coutances, France, on Saturday, 10 May 1986, according to the festival programme, Air Mail's first concert in France

    “Halley Comet” is the most telling piece of this cosmic quartet.

    Alain Guerrini on Air Mail's concert in Coutances, France, in May 1986; “Halley Comet” is probably Pepl's “The Halley's Comet Light Blue Blues”, later the title track of Air Mail's album “Light Blues” (1988)

  5. April 1985 · Review · DE

    Jazz Podium (vol. 34, no. 4, April 1985, p. 27): „Hang zur Poesie“ (Air Mail) new

    Robert Urmann

    Concert review by Robert Urmann in the German jazz magazine Jazz Podium on Air Mail with Harry Pepl, Wolfgang Puschnig, Wolfgang Reisinger and Mike Richmond. Listed in the Jazz Index of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt, Germany; the archive does not hold the text.

  6. 16 March 1985 · Review

    Billboard (US-Musikfachzeitschrift mit den Branchen-Charts, gegründet 1894): Album Reviews, Jazz-Fusion: „Werner Pirchner / Harry Pepl / Jack DeJohnette“ (Recommended)

    In its issue of Saturday, 16 March 1985 (vol. 97, no. 11), Billboard, the US music trade magazine founded in 1894 and home of the industry’s leading charts, reviews the ECM album (ECM 1237, via PolyGram Special Imports) on p. 66 in its Album Reviews under Jazz-Fusion and rates it “Recommended”, Billboard’s label for new releases the editors expect to chart in their format and for albums of superior quality. The unsigned capsule review calls Pirchner a mallet stylist, Pepl an acoustic guitarist and DeJohnette a timemaster, and describes a delicate, mood-rich chamber jazz record that recalls the strongest early productions in this vein by Manfred Eicher, founder and producer of ECM. At the same time, DownBeat presented the album on a full page in its April 1985 issue; this has its own entry in the press archive.

    a delicate chamber jazz set rich in moods; recalls producer Eicher’s strongest early forays into this stream

    Unsigned capsule review in the Album Reviews under Jazz-Fusion, rated “Recommended”, of the ECM album by Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Jack DeJohnette; Manfred Eicher is the founder and producer of ECM

    1983 date teaming mallet stylist Pirchner, acoustic guitarist Pepl and timemaster DeJohnette

    Unsigned capsule review in the Album Reviews under Jazz-Fusion, rated “Recommended”, of the ECM album by Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Jack DeJohnette