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 April 2000 · Programme booklet · DE
Sammlung Essl, programme Schömer-Haus: Studio Percussion graz: Xenakis, Pepl, Hölszky
Programme of the concert by Studio Percussion graz under Günter Meinhart at the Schömer-Haus of the Essl Collection in Klosterneuburg on 1 April 2000, with works by Iannis Xenakis and Adriana Hölszky and the world premiere of Pepl's “Zeitraffer”. With a note on the work by Pepl and a short biography covering his teaching in Graz, the International Jazz Academy in St. Pölten and the Lower Austrian Jazz Academy in Zeillern.
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28 July 2004 · Encyclopaedia · DE
Österreichisches Musiklexikon online: Pepl, Harry
Peter Stachel
Encyclopaedia entry on his life and work: jazz musician, composer and music educator, guitar at the conservatory and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, self-taught in jazz. It covers the collaboration with the Vienna Art Orchestra and the ORF Big Band, the Jazzzwio with Werner Pirchner, his teaching in Graz and the principle of Real-time and Instant Composing. As awards it lists nominations for the German Record Critics’ Award in 1983 and 1988 as well as Lower Austrian state prizes.
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17 September 2004 · Other · DE
IG Jazz Wien, Blue-Tomato-Archiv: „Rainer Rygalyk / Harry Pepl: Habanero-Slide-Show“
Event announcement for Friday, 17 September 2004 at the Blue Tomato in Vienna: presentation of photographs by the jazz photographer Rainer Rygalyk from the series “Jazzarts” with a video projection to which Pepl has added an acoustic layer of original compositions. Clemens Salesny and Wolfgang Schiftner improvise to the pictures and to Pepl’s CD.
one of Austria’s most creative jazz musicians
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December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Der Standard: „Harry Pepl 1945 - 2005“ (Komplexer Improvisator: Harry Pepl)
Ljubiša Tošić
Short obituary from Wiener Neustadt that honours Pepl as a complex improviser who experimented with piano and drums in his private studio. It names Erich Kleinschuster, the ORF Big Band, the duo with Werner Pirchner, Dave Liebman, Jack DeJohnette, Benny Goodman and the Real-time Composing method with the Kronos Quartet.
was, in his active phase, one of the most important guitarists in the world
created a furore internationally between Berlin and Montreux with a subtle and intense form of chamber music
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December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Die Presse (p. 34): „Er musste spielen“ (Zum Tod des Wiener Jazzgitarristen Harry Pepl)
initials „sam“
Obituary with the headline quotation „Man könnte Klavierspielen müssen“ [“One might have to play the piano”] from the Concerto interview. It describes Real-time Composing, names Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall as well as Schoenberg and Webern as influences, and lists Erich Kleinschuster, the ORF Big Band, JazzZwio, Jack DeJohnette, Art Farmer and Michel Portal as fellow musicians.
The virtuoso, who seemed so introverted on the outside, was bubbling away inside when he played.
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December 2005 · Obituary · DE
cultural information centre of the German Cultural Council / neue musikzeitung (nmz-red/leipzig, source: orf.at): „Jazz-Gitarrist Harry Pepl gestorben“
nmz-red/leipzig
Short news item based on an ORF source, giving his life dates and his teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (contract lecturer from 1977, full professor from 1984 to 1995). The rector Otto Kolleritsch pays tribute to Pepl as a gifted guitarist and an exceptional figure. Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi, Jon Christensen, Werner Pirchner and Dave Liebman are named.
The guitarist Harry Pepl was one of those musicians who shaped and influenced Austrian jazz at home and abroad.
neue musikzeitung, nach ORF
One of Europe’s leading jazz guitarists
neue musikzeitung, nach ORF
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5 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
ORF Wien (oesterreich.ORF.at): „Jazzgitarrist Harry Pepl gestorben“ (Stilprägend)
Short obituary from the day of his death: Pepl, one of Europe’s leading jazz guitarists, has died at the age of 60 and became known through the Jazz-Zwio with Werner Pirchner. The text names Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi, Jon Christensen and Dave Liebman as partners, as well as his commissioned compositions for numerous ensembles and his teaching in Graz, with Wolfgang Muthspiel among his students. The neue musikzeitung took over the item with the note “Source: orf.at”.
The guitarist Harry Pepl was one of those musicians who shaped and influenced Austrian jazz at home and abroad.
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5 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Der Standard (Online, APA-Meldung): „Jazzgitarrist Harry Pepl ist tot“
APA
APA report from the day of his death, put online on the afternoon of 5 December 2005: the report states that Pepl died early on Monday in Wiener Neustadt, aged 60. The text calls him a guitarist known far beyond Austria who had worked, among others, with the Benny Goodman Quintet, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi and Michel Portal. It is not the print article by Ljubiša Tošić of 6 December 2005.
He was a guitarist known far beyond Austria
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7 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
JazzEcho (Universal Classics, Online): „Ade Harry Pepl!“
Online obituary of 7 December 2005. It names the duo with Werner Pirchner from 1977 as his most important project, the professorship in Graz from 1984 with the support of students such as Wolfgang Muthspiel, Dino Saluzzi, Jack DeJohnette, the Vienna Art Orchestra and the CD “Air Mail – Light Blues” (2001).
one of the defining instrumentalists of the European jazz scene
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8 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (no. 286, p. 39, arts section): „Schnelle Finger“ (Jazzgitarrist Harry Pepl gestorben)
Short obituary with its own dates: it wrongly gives 1944 as the year of birth, and names 1977 for the appointment to the teaching staff of the Jazz Institute in Graz and 1984 for the professorship. From 1977 to 1984 Pepl formed the Jazzzwio with Werner Pirchner; Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Lee Konitz, Art Farmer, Dave Liebman and Jack DeJohnette are also named.
with his rhythmic incisiveness, his surprising chord progressions and his metallic, sitar-like sound, one of the most stimulating stylists on both the acoustic and the electric instrument
one of the most stimulating stylists on both the acoustic and the electric instrument
In the seventies there was hardly a faster jazz guitarist in Europe than the Austrian Harry Pepl.
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8 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Jazz thing (News, Online): „Gestorben: Harry Pepl“
Martin Laurentius and Axel Stinshoff (compilation)
Short news item of 8 December 2005 giving 6 December as the date of death, which contradicts the other sources (5 December). It quotes Joachim-Ernst Berendt on the duo with Pirchner, names Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi and Dave Liebman, and gives the professorship as 1984 to 1995.
With his metallic, clear sound and his surprising chord progressions, Pepl developed into one of the most distinctive guitarists in Europe
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9 December 2005 · Obituary
organissimo (Jazzforum, Online): „Harry Pepl R.I.P.“
mikeweil (Moderator)
Post on the death of Harry Pepl in an English-language jazz forum. The moderator calls him one of Austria's most original jazz guitarists and recalls the Jazzzwio with Werner Pirchner, the ECM album with Jack DeJohnette and Air Mail with Mike Richmond.
one of Austria's most original jazz guitarists
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19 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Musikergilde (Online): „Harry Pepl - ein Nachruf“
Peter Paul Skrepek
Detailed obituary by the guitarist Peter Paul Skrepek, who met Pepl in the ORF Big Band in 1974. It describes his training, his ORF studio job, the Jazzzwio, Air Mail and the time with Benny Goodman, names students such as Wolfgang Muthspiel and Peter Havlicek, and gives Monday, 5 December 2005, as the date of death. The rector Otto Kolleritsch is quoted; readers’ letters supplement the text.
Divinely gifted guitarist and an exceptional phenomenon
Otto Kolleritsch
an unmistakable musician from Vienna, recognised all over the world
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2006 · Obituary · DE
Jazzzeitung (p. 6): „Ciao Habanero“ (Harry Pepl 1945 bis 2005)
Rainer Rygalyk
Personal obituary by the jazz photographer Rainer Rygalyk. Wolfgang Puschnig and Wolfgang Reisinger recall the years with Air Mail; Rygalyk describes Pepl’s last major public appearance in 2004 at the Jazz Festival in Salzburg, with playback of eight Composings and live musicians in front of his pictures.
He is the European jazz guitarist par excellence.
I simply learned his musical language.
Wolfgang Puschnig
It was an extreme pull. Suddenly playing with someone who stands up there, two floors above us, steps on the gas so confidently and carries everything along with him.
Wolfgang Reisinger
To me he was a Franz Schubert kind of guy: incredibly beautiful songs, but of the highest quality, and the next moment completely bizarre and jagged.
Wolfgang Reisinger
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2006 · Encyclopaedia · DE
mica music austria, music database: Wolfgang Schiftner (Eintrag mit dem Harry-Pepl-Preis 2006)
Entry in the mica music database on the saxophonist Wolfgang Schiftner, born in 1982, co-founder of the JazzWerkstatt Wien. Among his awards it lists the Harry Pepl Prize 2006 at the Austrian Soundcheck in Graz, Austria, which makes Schiftner the first winner.
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November 2006 · Programme booklet · DE
GamsbART-Post 5/2006 (GamsbART-Verein, Graz): programme November to December 2006: Harry Pepl Gedenkpreis, 14. Austrian Soundcheck, Katholisches Studentenhaus Münzgraben
Heimo Steps; Otmar Klammer
Programme booklet of the Graz festival with the first texts on the Harry Pepl Prize. The prize for musicians under 30, a scholarship of 5,000 euros from the City of Graz, is presented on 18 November 2006 during the evening “Tribute to Harry Pepl”. Heimo Steps describes how “Cracked Mirrors” came about; Otmar Klammer describes Pepl’s “real composing”.
an incorrigible musical visionary
Pepl was a guitarist of international reputation who, with his idiosyncratic, angular and complex improvisational style, offered a European alternative to the US guitarists
Otmar Klammer, GamsbART-Post
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17 November 2006 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung (Online, culture section): „Harry Pepl: Œuvre eines Kreativen“
Michael Tschida
Online article on the first presentation of the Harry Pepl Prize in Graz, seen as an impetus to safeguard Pepl’s musical estate. His work, it says, is stored in boxes at the house, with tapes, scores and technical oddities; gamsbART is said to have promised that future diploma scholarships should support the scholarly study of it.
to archive the work of an exceptionally creative person
Gerhard Kosel
How much the star guitarist still inspires jazz musicians even now should be shown by more than just today’s final of the “Austrian Soundcheck”. Hats off to Harry P.!
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22 November 2006 · Report · DE
Der Standard (culture, Printausgabe): „Jazzwohnzimmer Miles Smiles feiert“
felb
Short report on the 15th anniversary of the Viennese jazz club Miles Smiles in the Josefstadt, founded by Wulf Müller. The first concert in autumn 1981 was played by Bill Frisell and Eberhard Weber. Among those who recorded there were Aladár Pege, Jim Pepper and David Friesen, along with Austrian musicians down to Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl.
along with Austrian greats from Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl downwards
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6 December 2006 · Programme booklet · DE
Porgy & Bess (programme note, Online): „A Tribute to Harry Pepl“, Mittwoch, 06.12.2006, 20:00 Uhr
initials „CH“
Announcement of the tribute evening with Lorenz Raab and Raphael Preuschl, the Andy Manndorff Trio, the Koehne Quartet and Peter Ponger solo, plus the concert films of Benny Goodman and of the Jazzzwio in Montreux in 1981 and visuals by Rainer Rygalyk. The text pays tribute to Pepl and mentions the three-day series devoted to him at Porgy & Bess in 1994; the net proceeds went to the administration of his estate.
But it was Harry Pepl himself who was truly “ace”
When you talk to guitarists, e.g. to Abercrombie or Scofield, there was one constant question: “And how is Harry?”
As an original stylist who left a lasting impression on the international scene through his technical perfection, rhythmic incisiveness, harmonic variety and overflowing musical energy
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2007 · Press release · DE
Christian Muthspiel Trio, „Against The Wind“ (Linernotes): „Das Christian Muthspiel Trio spielt Werner Pirchner und Harry Pepl“
Andreas Felber
Liner notes to the album “Against The Wind” (2007) in German, English and French. Felber describes Pirchner and Pepl as “perfectionist characters” who played Europe's festivals as the “Jazz-Zwio” roughly between 1978 and 1985, and reports that the young improvisers of the JazzWerkstatt Wien elevate Pepl to the father figure of the Austrian scene. The basis was a project with Wolfgang Muthspiel for the “Glatt&Verkehrt” festival in 2002. The product page also carries press quotes from Die Weltwoche and the Salzburger Nachrichten.
Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl were perfectionist characters who never did anything by halves.
While the young improvisers of the JazzWerkstatt Wien, after Hans Koller, are now discovering Harry Pepl too and so elevating him to the father figure of the Austrian scene
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13 March 2007 · Radio · DE
Deutschlandfunk, Nachtradio (Playlist): „Milestones - Harry Pepl“ (Klassiker der Jazzgeschichte)
Playlist of a late-night radio programme on 13 March 2007 at 01:05, with “Live in Montreux 81”, the ECM album with Pirchner and DeJohnette and Air Mail’s “Light Blues”. It shows Pepl as an entry in a German series on classics of jazz history.
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3 December 2007 · Report · DE
mica music austria: „Tribute to Harry Pepl im Porgy“
Announcement of a tribute evening at Porgy & Bess in Vienna on 6 December 2007, two years after Pepl’s death. The text pays tribute to him as an internationally sought-after boundary-crosser and names collaborations with Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi, Jon Christensen and Dave Liebman. The evening is organised by former companions, prompted by the Graz platform Gamsb'Art, which awards the Harry Pepl Prize.
one of the most respected Austrian musicians
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16 November 2008 · Other · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 109, culture section, Styria): „18. AUSTRIAN SOUNDCHECK“ (Programmhinweis)
Listing for 17 November, 8 p.m., in Graz: presentation of the CD and DVD “Pepl/Pirchner Jazzzwio live in Montreux und Innsbruck” with the JazzWerkstatt Wien and award of the Harry Pepl Prize.
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3 December 2008 · Press release · DE
Kunstuniversität Graz, Mitteilungsblatt 5 (Online): „Mitteilungen der Abteilung für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit“ (Harry-Pepl-Preis 2008 an Daniel Riegler)
The gazette of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz of 3 December 2008 announces that the trombonist and composer Daniel Riegler receives the Harry Pepl Prize 2008. The scholarship, endowed with 4,000 euros, requires an engagement with Pepl's work, the result of which is to be presented in 2009; the prize was awarded on 17 November 2008.
The scholarship, endowed with 4,000 euros, comes with the requirement to engage with the work of Pepl, the jazz guitarist and KUG professor who died in 2005
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18 January 2009 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 38, culture section): „JAZZZWIO: Harry Pepl & Werner Pirchner (Universal)“
initials „ros“
Short review of the reissue “Live in Concerts” with audio and video recordings from Montreux 1981 and Innsbruck 1984.
Two original home-grown musicians, both of whom had to go far too soon and are unforgotten
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February 2009 · Portrait · DE
Concerto (2/2009, p. 44): „Jazzzwio – ein markanter Name – bis heute“ (CD/DVD-Tipp „Live in Concerts“)
Thomas Hein
Report on the reissue of the Montreux recording together with the video, the preparation of which ran between summer 2007 and autumn 2008. Daniel Pepl describes the home studio “Bergwerk”, the rescue of the tapes and the plan to make his father’s complete work accessible.
While I try to be innovative within a framework, within a style, Harry always tried to cross the set boundaries and then go further.
Daniel Pepl
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6 February 2009 · Interview · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 31, Styria): „Ich glaube an innovative Kräfte“ (gamsbART-Manager Gerhard Kosel im Steirerkrone-Interview)
Interview with Gerhard Kosel about Graz jazz promoters and gamsbART, which was founded by Heimo Steps in 1984. Kosel says that Pepl is not honoured enough in the place that was his adopted home for many years, and describes the Harry Pepl Prize as a means of keeping his memory alive.
Our aim with the Harry Pepl Prize is to keep this flame burning until musicology in Graz also takes up the subject.
Gerhard Kosel
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13 February 2009 · Review · DE
Die Presse (Online): „Jazzzwio, Live In Concerts“ (Zwio Infernal)
Samir H. Köck
Short review of the reissue of the 1981 Montreux concert (EmArcy/Universal). The text pays tribute to the duo of guitar and vibraphone as unusual chamber music of the 1980s, whose cascades of sound, the text says, have stayed in the memory of contemporaries.
The superb guitarist Harry Pepl and his perfectly matched partner
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13 February 2009 · Review · DE
Der Standard (Online, Rubrik Musikrundschau): „Zwio und Trio“ (Neue Jazz-Alben von Werner Pirchner & Harry Pepl, Pablo Milanes & Chucho Valdes u. a.)
“Musikrundschau” (music roundup) with a short review of “Jazzzwio: Live in Concerts” (Universal): according to the text, Pirchner and Pepl are worth remembering, the duo of guitar and vibraphone having supplied model examples of heated chamber music. The DVD is called a must. The date, 13 February 2009, is derived from the article number.
Harry Pepl, a complex guitarist of truly international stature
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20 February 2009 · Review · DE
Die Presse (Online): „Wolfgang Schalk: Wanted“
Samir H. Köck
Short review of the album “Wanted” by the Styrian guitarist Wolfgang Schalk, recorded in Los Angeles. It singles out the piece “And Harry Said Goodbye”, which Schalk dedicated to Harry Pepl.
Particularly beautiful is ‘And Harry Said Goodbye’, dedicated to the unforgotten colleague Harry Pepl.
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24 February 2009 · Review · DE
Zeitschrift für Kultur und Gesellschaft (Kulturzeitschrift): „JazzZwio: Live in Concerts“ (CD-Tipp)
Peter Füssl
CD recommendation for the reissue of Montreux 1981 and Innsbruck 1984 as a CD/DVD double pack. The text recalls the performances of the JazzZwio between 1977 and 1985 and praises the recordings as testimony to a timeless duo.
Great moments of brilliantly offbeat music and gnarled humour
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20 March 2009 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 36, Styria): „Den Namen umweht Magie: JazzZwio hieß ein Duo, das in den 80-ern ...“
initials „MG“
Short review of “Live in Concerts” with DVD: JazzZwio with Pirchner and Pepl in Montreux in 1981, plus a live recording from Innsbruck. The closing sentence appears word for word as the page header on the old website page “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
If there are classics of Austrian jazz, here is one!