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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2010 · Encyclopaedia · DE
mica music austria, music database: Stefan Heckel (Eintrag mit dem Harry-Pepl-Preis 2010)
Entry in the mica (Austria's music information centre) music database on the Styrian pianist, accordionist and composer Stefan Heckel. The biography calls him a holder of the Harry Pepl Jazz Prize 2010, and the list of awards gives the Harry Pepl Prize 2010 at gamsbART's Austrian Soundcheck festival in Graz, Austria.
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2010 · Other · DE
Land Niederösterreich, Festschrift „Kultur im Spiegel der Zeit. 1960–2010 Kulturpreise Niederösterreich“: „Musik. Eine Kulturgeschichte der Möglichkeiten und Unmöglichkeiten“
Irene Suchy
Music essay “Musik. Eine Kulturgeschichte der Möglichkeiten und Unmöglichkeiten” (“Music: a cultural history of possibilities and impossibilities”) by the Ö1 editor Irene Suchy in the commemorative volume “Kultur im Spiegel der Zeit. 1960–2010 Kulturpreise Niederösterreich”. Suchy describes the work of the juries, who may also “highlight what has been overlooked”, citing as an example Harry Pepl, whom the jury honoured shortly before his death; she links his career with the “legendary ORF Big Band”. In the list of prizewinners Pepl appears with the promotion prize of 1991 and the Lower Austrian prize of honour.
the great instrumentalist and composer Harry Pepl
Pepl’s career with the legendary ORF Big Band
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6 May 2010 · Portrait · DE
mica – music austria (Online): „Porträt: Wolfgang Reisinger“
Portrait of the drummer Wolfgang Reisinger at mica – music austria (Austria’s music information centre). Besides Part Of Art, he names Air Mail with Wolfgang Puschnig, Mike Richmond and Harry Pepl as the second important band of his own during his time in the Vienna Art Orchestra. Pepl, he says, was the first of the great musicians from whom he could learn a lot, “a real genius”. He recounts how John Scofield called out “I’ll kill you!” to Pepl as they changed over on stage, and mentions tapes of a live performance that are almost better than the two studio albums.
Time and again I have had the good fortune to meet great musicians from whom you could really learn a lot, and the first of them was definitely Harry Pepl. He was a real genius and a great guitarist, with an energy and seriousness that showed you where things could go.
Wolfgang Reisinger
I still remember well how we once came off the stage, John Scofield went on, and in passing he said to Harry, ‘I’ll kill you!’. Those are the little experiences you don’t forget. That really was a totally hot band back then.
Wolfgang Reisinger
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8 July 2010 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „Adelhard Roidinger: Schattseite (ECM 1221)“
Tyran Grillo
Review of Adelhard Roidinger's only ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, recorded in November 1981 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, with Heinz Sauer, Bob Degen, Harry Pepl, Werner Pirchner, Aina Kemanis and Michael DiPasqua. Grillo praises the airy, atmospheric sound, Pepl's soft guitar licks in the opening track and the Metheny-like picking in “Loveland”, and calls urgently for a reissue.
The fantastic sax solo and Metheny-esque picking lend even more elegance to the track’s progressive sound.
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17 September 2010 · Report · DE
mica music austria: „STUDIO FAN, das Abonnementprogramm des Ensembles Studio Dan“
Presentation of the subscription series of the Viennese ensemble Studio Dan with a short biography of its leader Daniel Riegler. For 2008 it lists his leadership of the Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) stage band and the Harry Pepl Prize 2008.
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2011 · Portrait
musicexport.at: „Harry Sokal“ (Porträt)
Michael Ternai
Portrait of the saxophonist Harry Sokal for the Austrian music export office. Among his partners it names Harry Pepl, Daniel Humair, Gene Jackson, Andy McKee and Idris Muhammad.
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20 December 2011 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „Pirchner/Pepl/DeJohnette: s/t (ECM 1237)“
Tyran Grillo
Mixed review of the 1983 ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, recorded in June 1982 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, with Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Jack DeJohnette. The chorus effect of the Ovation guitar and the lack of rapport among the three musicians are criticised; Pepl’s solos and the closing piece “Better Times In Sight” are regarded as strengths. The page shows 10 February 2015 as the date of the update. Almost a year later, on 13 November 2012, Grillo revised his verdict in “A second look”.
When soloing, however, it sounds fantastic
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16 January 2012 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „Pepl/Joos/Christensen: Cracked Mirrors (ECM 1356)“
Tyran Grillo
Review of the 1988 ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album with Harry Pepl (guitar, Roland MIDI guitar system, piano), Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen. The reviewer calls the album a far better showcase for Pepl’s innovative playing than the ECM record with Pirchner and DeJohnette and highlights Joos’s “Wolkenbilder”, the MIDI passages and Pepl’s piano on the closing piece. The page shows 18 July 2021 as the date of the update. Here Grillo himself calls his first impression of the album with Pirchner and DeJohnette “faulty impressions”.
a far better showcase for Pepl’s innovative talents
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13 November 2012 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „A second look: Pirchner/Pepl/DeJohnette (ECM 1237)“
Tyran Grillo
Reassessment of the 1983 ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, almost a year after his own critical review of 20 December 2011. After readers objected, Grillo writes, he kept returning to the album and had not initially given it the attention it needed. He now highlights the depth of Pepl's talent, the interplay between Pepl and Pirchner as the core of the trio and Pepl's solos, and calls the record “this curious little gem”; only on the processing of the Ovation guitar does he stand by his first opinion.
I simply did not give this date the attention it deserves.
The depth of Pepl’s talent, now that I’m more familiar with it, is immediately evident in the spaciousness of his evocations.
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21 November 2013 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „Schon gehört?“: „Schon gehört?“ (Kulturtipps vom 21. November 2013)
Cultural tips from the radio station Ö1 (the ORF's cultural radio channel): the Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz), a cooperation between the jazz department of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and gamsbART (Graz concert promoter), devotes an evening at the Dom im Berg in Graz, Austria, billed as “Super Sax”, to the saxophone, among others with the trio of Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer and Peter Primus Frosch. On 22 November Salesny receives the Harry Pepl Prize, awarded this year for the fourth time.
On 22 November this encouragement prize goes to the alto saxophonist Clemens Salesny.
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25 November 2013 · Report · DE
mica music austria: „Clemens Salesny erhält den Harry Pepl Preis“
News item on the fourth presentation of the Harry Pepl Prize at the Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz) in Graz: the encouragement prize went in 2013 to the alto saxophonist Clemens Salesny. The article briefly introduces Salesny and his projects.
This year the Harry Pepl Prize was awarded for the fourth time as part of the “Austrian Soundcheck” in Graz.
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26 March 2014 · Report · DE
Falter 13/2014 (arts section): „Erinnerungen an Werner Pirchner, den Frank Zappa aus Hall in Tirol“
Klaus Nüchtern
Review of the film “D.U.D.A.!” by Werner Ludin about Werner Pirchner. The text mentions Pirchner’s collaboration with the guitarist Harry Pepl, through which he became an internationally sought-after jazz virtuoso; the focus is on Pirchner.
Through his collaboration with the guitarist Harry Pepl he rose to become an internationally sought-after jazz virtuoso
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11 September 2014 · Interview
London Jazz News: „Interview: Wolfgang Muthspiel“
Interview with Wolfgang Muthspiel. He introduces “Air Love and Vitamins” as a piece by his former guitar teacher in Graz, Harry Pepl, and recommends Pepl especially for his rhythm.
He is an interesting musician to check out, especially in the rhythmical field.
Wolfgang Muthspiel
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2015 · Other
riegler.weblog.mur.at (Website Daniel Riegler): Biography Daniel Riegler, Trombone, Composition
Daniel Riegler
English biography on the website of the trombonist and composer Daniel Riegler, born in 1977 in Graz, Austria, with a tabular overview up to 2015. For 2008 it lists his leadership of the Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) stage band Studio Dan and the Harry Pepl Prize 2008.
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14 February 2015 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Die Lange Nacht des Werner Pirchner: „Die Lange Nacht des Werner Pirchner“
Albert Hosp (Gestaltung)
A “Lange Nacht” (long night) programme for the 75th birthday of the vibraphonist and composer Werner Pirchner. The programme mentions the duo with Harry Pepl at the Montreux Jazz Festival (renowned jazz festival in Switzerland) and thereby shows the connection between the two musicians; the focus is on Pirchner.
in a duo with the guitarist Harry Pepl
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31 August 2015 · Report · DE
Die Presse (Online): „Saalfelden: Schmerz an der Heimat, Störung der Jazz-Idylle“
Samir H. Köck
Festival report from Jazzfest Saalfelden 2015 (major jazz festival in the Salzburg region). The festival recalled Werner Pirchner’s 75th birthday and also commemorated the guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005.
also commemorated the guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005
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19 September 2015 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „Die Ö1 Jazznacht“: „Erinnerungen an Harry Pepl“
Christian Bakonyi
Broadcast for the 70th birthday on Saturday, 19 September 2015, 23:03 to 24:00, with the studio guests Daniel Pepl, Agnes Heginger and Clemens Salesny. Also played is an archive find of the trio with Herbert Joos and Tony Oxley from Tamsweg, dated 15 December 1988.
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26 October 2015 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume Spezial: „Heimat bis Du großer...“ (Würdigung von Harry Pepl zum Nationalfeiertag)
Klaus Wienerroither (Gestaltung)
Programme for the Austrian National Day, Monday, 26 October 2015, 5.10 pm, commemorating the guitarist and composer almost ten years after Pepl’s death. The title alludes to the line „Heimat bist du großer Söhne“ [“Homeland of great sons”] of the Austrian national anthem; the programme opens with “In this case it really is one of the sons” and calls Air Mail “probably one of the best jazz groups of Austrian origin”. Playlist: Air Mail with “Shifting People” and “The Halley’s Comet / Light Blue Blues”, “Salt and Pepl” with the ORF Big Band under Richard Österreicher, “Harry Pepl’s Blues” with Benny Goodman, “Against The Wind” live with the Jazzzwio, “Eastern Island Ears” with Dave Liebman and Wolfgang Reisinger, a part of “Anspannen, Überspannen, Abspannen” with STUDIO PERCUSSION graz, Peter Alexander’s “Sag’ mir quando, sag’ mir wann” (Pepl as studio guitarist) and finally “Air, Love & Vitamins” with Werner Pirchner and Jack DeJohnette.
The tribute to an individualist.
In this case it really is one of the sons.
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18 November 2015 · Report · DE
Falter 47/2015 (Rubrik Steiermark): „Steiermark kurz“
Short news from Styria. One item reports that the Harry Pepl Prize, endowed with 5,000 euros, went for the first time to a female musician at the Austria Soundcheck (festival in Graz), the composer and saxophonist Viola Falb.
the Harry Pepl Prize to the composer and saxophonist Viola Falb
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3 December 2015 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume: „Spielräume“ vom 3. Dezember 2015 (Musik aus allen Richtungen, Harry Pepls Wiederkehr)
Andreas Felber (Gestaltung)
Programme of 3 December 2015, 17:30, on the occasion of Pepl’s 70th birthday and the tenth anniversary of his death: Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger perform Pepl’s music (5 December 2015, Porgy & Bess, Vienna jazz club). It also covers new CDs of Austrian production.
Agnes Heginger, Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer and Peter Primus Frosch play Harry Pepl
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24 December 2015 · Report · DE
NÖN (Online, Hollabrunn): „Viola Falb, die erste Frau im Jazz“
Report on the saxophonist and composer Viola Falb from the Hollabrunn district in Lower Austria: at the opening of this year's Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz) in Graz, Austria, she received the fifth Harry Pepl Prize. Only the beginning of the article is freely available online.
Viola Falb, the district's exceptional artist, received the 5th Harry Pepl Prize in Graz.
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12 May 2016 · Report · DE
Der Standard (Online): „Inntöne-Festival: Session mit der Historie“
Preview of the INNtöne festival (jazz festival in Diersbach, Upper Austria). The saxophonist Clemens Salesny, the guitarist Martin Bayer, the drummer Peter Primus Frosch and the singer Agnes Heginger interpret pieces by Harry Pepl on the Saturday, improvise on them and respond to recordings that Pepl improvised for his Lonely Single Swinger Band: guitar, synthesizer, piano, vocals and drums, all recorded by himself at home. Der Standard calls this a formidable example of an engagement with history that yields “delicate results”.
There are, however, ways of engaging with history that yield delicate results. A formidable example can be experienced on Saturday at the Inntöne festival in Diersbach (which begins on Friday), when sounds by the guitarist Harry Pepl (who died in 2005) also ring out from the stage.
Guitar, synthesizer, piano, vocals, drums: Pepl once recorded everything himself at home.
Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger interpret Harry Pepl
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16 May 2016 · Report · DE
Die Presse (Online): „Resch, renitent: Der Sound des Sauwalds“
Samir H. Köck
Report on the 30th anniversary of the Inntöne festival in Diersbach. It also describes the performance of the homage to Harry Pepl, in which fragments of Pepl’s recordings were played in and which not everyone liked.
an artistic high-wire act in which fragments of Pepl’s recordings were also played in
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17 May 2016 · Report · DE
Der Standard (Online): „Inntöne: Expressive Gelassenheit“ (Al Foster und das Harry-Pepl-Projekt)
Festival report from the Inntöne in Diersbach. Only the teaser about the Al Foster Quartet is visible; the subtitle names the Harry Pepl project as a further item on the programme. The full text was not accessible.
Al Foster and the Harry Pepl project
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19 May 2016 · Interview · DE
Die Presse (Online): „Kärntner Jazzer mit langem Atem“
Samir H. Köck
Interview with Wolfgang Puschnig on his 60th birthday. Puschnig names the seven years with Airmail, Harry Pepl’s band, as one of the highlights of his career; Pepl is only a side topic of the conversation.
the seven years with Airmail, the band of the guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005
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19 May 2016 · Review · DE
Jazzpages (Online): „INNtöne 2016 – Rückschau mit Bildern“
Frank Schindelbeck
Festival report with photos from the INNtöne Jazzfestival 2016 on Paul Zauner's farm in Diersbach. As the highlight of the second festival day, the author describes the project of Agnes Heginger, Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer and Peter Primus Frosch, in which recordings from Pepl's home studio were played in and the band entered into a dialogue with them. He refers to the double CD on Fullmax Recordings.
The four musicians on stage played so excellently with Pepl's legacy that, without knowing the story behind it and with your eyes closed, there could have been a quintet on stage.
An extremely successful tribute to one of Austria's important jazz musicians.
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30 May 2016 · Radio · FR
France Musique (Radio France), „Jazz au Trésor“: „Jazz au Trésor: Benny Goodman: Berlin 1980“
Alex Dutilh
Programme on France Musique (Radio France’s culture station) about the TCB reissue of the Berlin Goodman recording, with daily tracks from 23 to 27 May 2016. According to Alex Dutilh, Goodman took only his pianist Don Haas to Europe and auditioned “the Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl”, Peter “Fifi” Witte and Charly Antolini only after arriving. None of the three spoke English, and the rehearsal was limited to two standards. Chancellor Helmut Schmidt attended the first of the two concerts at the Berlin Philharmonie (7 and 8 November 1980).
It was on arriving on European soil that he auditioned and hired the Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl, the German bassist Peter “Fifi” Witte and the Swiss drummer Charly Antolini.
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8 April 2017 · Report · DE
Ö1 (oe1.orf.at, article): „Pirchner und Pepl“ (Muthspiel Trio spielt „Against the Wind“)
Haide Tenner (Gesprächspartnerin)
Item on the CD “Against the Wind”, on which the Christian Muthspiel Trio plays works by Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner. In conversation with Haide Tenner on the “Klassik-Treffpunkt”, Muthspiel tells how the CD came about out of the commemoration of Pirchner and the programme “Pepl/Pirchner”.
The musicians play works by the composers Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner, who died early.
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11 September 2017 · Obituary · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (Online, APA): „Wiener Jazzgitarrist Andy Manndorff 60-jährig gestorben“
APA
APA obituary of the Viennese guitarist and composer Andy Manndorff (1957 to 2017). It quotes an interview with mica (Austria's music information centre) in which Manndorff names Harry Pepl as the only teacher who was able to teach him anything, and traces his stations in Amsterdam, New York and Vienna.
I was never a good student either; the only teacher who could teach me anything was Harry Pepl. And he gave me a spirit to take with me
Andy Manndorff
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20 September 2017 · Report · DE
Ö1 (oe1.orf.at, article): „Der Musiker Werner Pirchner“
Short portrait of Werner Pirchner (13 February 1940 to 10 August 2001) as a jazz musician and composer. It lists the Pirchner-Pepl-JazzZwio, founded in 1975, with its appearances until the mid-1980s, among others in Velden, Montreux and Saalfelden; the focus is on Pirchner.
With the guitarist Harry Pepl he founded the Pirchner-Pepl-JazzZwio in 1975
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10 October 2017 · Report · DE
Ö1 (oe1.orf.at, article): „Der Gratwanderer Werner Pirchner“
Article on Werner Pirchner for the tenth anniversary of his death, shown on the page with the date 10 October 2017 but referring in the text to 10 August 2011. It names the Jazz-Zwio with Harry Pepl as a stage that also made Pirchner known in the international jazz scene; the focus is on Pirchner.
together with Harry Pepl in the legendary JazzZwio
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27 October 2017 · Review · DE
Passauer Neue Presse (p. 21, local news, Passau city): „G'schmackiger Fusion-Eintopf“ (Gerald Gradwohl Group im Café Museum)
Christine Pierach
Concert report on the Gerald Gradwohl Group in Passau, which pays homage to the late Viennese jazz guitarist Harry Pepl. Gradwohl says that Pepl was underrated and that Pepl taught and inspired him; Pepl is a marginal note in the report.
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18 December 2017 · Review
Guitar Moderne (Online): „Harry Pepl: The One That Almost Got Away“
guitar moderne
Short piece in the American online magazine for adventurous guitarists. The author discovered Pepl in 1986 on the ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album “Volver” by Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi: his sound recalled Metheny, but with a harder attack and a freer sensibility. He recommends “Cracked Mirrors”, which still sounds fresh today.
His chorused sound and fluidity were reminiscent of Metheny, but his attack was harder and his sensibility was decidedly more “out.”
Check out “Cracked Mirror” to hear how his playing in 1988 sounds fresh even today.
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9 November 2018 · Press release · DE
APA-OTS (Presseaussendung von Fullmax Recordings, OTS0138): „Harry Pepl & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band“
Daniel Pepl (Fullmax Recordings)
Press release launching the live project: Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Andi Schreiber and Valentin Duit interact with previously unreleased recordings from Pepl's last creative period (1996 to 2005), which he had recorded instrument by instrument himself in his studio in Hernstein, Lower Austria; Markus Wallner handles sound and playback. Dates: Porgy & Bess Vienna (12 November 2018), Tube's Graz (13 November), Brauhaus Breznik Bleiburg (15 November), Jazzit Salzburg (16 November).
It is then as if Harry Pepl were still on stage, playing together with the live musicians.
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14 January 2019 · Radio · FR
France Musique (Radio France), „Les Grands entretiens“: „Michel Portal (1/5): Je me cachais la nuit pour écouter de la musique“
Yvan Amar
First episode of a five-part interview series by Yvan Amar with the clarinettist and saxophonist Michel Portal (27 minutes). Among the recordings played is Jack DeJohnette’s “Ahmad The Terrible” with Harry Pepl (guitar), Dave Liebman (soprano saxophone) and Michel Portal (tenor saxophone) from the album “Men’s Land” (Label Bleu).
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3 August 2019 · Interview
christianmuthspiel.com (ORjazzTRA Vienna, Interviews): Interview zum ORjazzTRA Vienna
Christian Muthspiel names four concerts in Graz that made him a jazz musician: Albert Mangelsdorff solo, the Carla Bley Big Band, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the duo of Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner.
And not to forget the fourth concert: Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner.
Christian Muthspiel
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13 September 2019 · Radio · DE
Ö1, In Concert: „Harry Sokal, Harry Pepl, Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark, Daniel Humair“ (Österreichisch-französisches Gipfeltreffen 1984 in Wien)
Klaus Wienerroither (Gestaltung)
Programme with an unreleased concert recording from the ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) archive: in 1984 the saxophonist Harry Sokal played in Vienna with the guitarist Harry Pepl, the bassist Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark and the drummer Daniel Humair. The programme was broadcast on 13 September 2019 at 14:05.
the Viennese guitar master Harry Pepl