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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22 entries · CSV
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13 February 2020 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume: „Werner Pirchner, der Vibrafonist“ (Musik aus allen Richtungen zum 80. Geburtstag des Tiroler Kosmopoliten)
Andreas Felber (Gestaltung)
Programme for Werner Pirchner’s 80th birthday on 13 February 2020. It describes the vibraphonist’s path and explains how the Jazz-Zwio with Harry Pepl brought the connection with the young Austrian jazz scene and the international career; the focus is on Pirchner.
Meanwhile, Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner also joined forces with the young Austrian jazz scene
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5 June 2020 · Radio · DE
Ö1, In Concert: „Harry Pepls „Hip Jargon“ plus Werner Pirchner anno 1975“
Helmut Jasbar (Gestaltung)
Programme with a concert recording from the ORF radio archive: on 25 September 1975 Pepl played in the Large Broadcasting Hall of the Vienna Funkhaus with his trio Hip Jargon (Wayne Darling, double bass; Fritz Ozmec, drums); the guest was Werner Pirchner on vibraphone. The programme calls Hip Jargon the nucleus of the Jazz-Zwio. The programme features “Wirf an” and “Wohl oder übel” by Pirchner as well as “Pfifferling”, “Squirrel Dance”, “Down At The Ticky Toe” and an excerpt from “Radler” by Pepl and Pirchner, almost 78 minutes in all.
The nucleus of the famous “Jazz-Zwio”: Hip Jargon
The music has overwhelming impact, raw and direct, with a concentrated energy that makes the recording sound as if it had been made yesterday.
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25 September 2020 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume Nachtausgabe: „Der unvergessene Jazzgitarrist Harry Pepl“
Klaus Wienerroither (Gestaltung)
Programme for his 75th birthday on 10 September 2020, broadcast on Friday, 25 September 2020, at 22:25 and repeated on 26 September 2020 at 00:05. Guests include the music producer Daniel Pepl, the drummer Wolfgang Reisinger and the pianist Anna Maurer, who is working on a solo piano album of Pepl’s compositions.
His Austrian-American quartet Airmail was probably one of the best jazz groups of Austrian provenance.
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25 September 2020 · Radio · DE
Ö1, In Concert: „Fünf Österreicher und eine Cool-Jazz-Legende“ (Das Harald-Neuwirth-Konsort mit Lee Konitz 1976 im Wiener Funkhaus)
Helmut Jasbar (Gestaltung)
Programme with a historic concert document from the ORF archive: on 14 June 1976 the Harald Neuwirth Konsort performed in the Large Broadcasting Hall of the Vienna Funkhaus, with Harry Pepl (guitar), Werner Pirchner (vibraphone), Wolfgang Wüst (double bass) and Fritz Ozmec (drums) and the guest Lee Konitz. The programme was broadcast on 25 September 2020 at 14:05.
The members of the ensemble were guitarist Harry Pepl, vibraphonist Werner Pirchner, double bassist Wolfgang Wüst and drummer Fritz Ozmec
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28 January 2022 · Interview
The San Diego Union-Tribune (Online): „Austrian jazz guitar star Wolfgang Muthspiel jazzed about pending San Diego debut concert“
George Varga
Interview with Wolfgang Muthspiel ahead of his first concert in San Diego. Asked about Austrian role models, he names, besides Joe Zawinul, his teacher Harry Pepl: an important guitarist with a sound of his own, a heavy player with a great sense of time, to him an international figure with his own voice.
There was also an important guitar player by the name of Harry Pepl, who was my teacher. He had a unique sound and was a heavy player, with a great sense of time.
Wolfgang Muthspiel
I think he was an international figure and definitely had his own voice.
Wolfgang Muthspiel
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23 September 2022 · Encyclopaedia
ZOTZin Guitar Lessons (Online): „The Most Complete List of Jazz Guitarists“
Extensive list of jazz guitarists on the website of an American guitar school, published in 2022 and last updated on 29 March 2026. Harry Pepl appears as number 741, described as the godfather of all Austrian jazz guitarists and a legend.
The godfather of all Austrian jazz guitar players, a legend
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5 February 2024 · Portrait
Wulf Müller, Blog „European Jazz Masters Of The Past“: „European Jazz Masters Of The Past #2: Harry Pepl“
Wulf Müller
Detailed biographical essay by the former producer at PolyGram Austria and co-founder of “Jazz Live”, with photographs from the family collection. Müller first met Pepl in 1984 at an Air Mail concert in Vienna. He describes the Jazzzwio and the time with Benny Goodman, the making of the “Schönberg Improvations”, whose idea Pepl brought to his office, and the solo piano record “Flow” from 1996, recorded without corrections. Some biographical details, such as his birth and the start of his teaching in Graz, differ from the documented sources.
a very humble, charismatic and private person with a great sense of humour. Someone who was constantly looking for new ideas
While Harry was building his reputation as one of Europe’s most interesting and unique guitarists
He swings like hell
Harry Pepl on Benny Goodman
Musically, I still find this album exciting, challenging and powerful.
Harry sat down at the piano, which he never really learned to play, nor practised, and plays, let’s the music flow through him.
After a few moments I don’t feel time anymore. An emotion of happiness floats through me and the sounds stream on their own
Harry Pepl
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20 March 2024 · Interview · DE
mica music austria (Online): „Uns geht es darum, Gegensätze in unserer Musik zu manifestieren.“ (Raphael Preuschl, Fabulous Austrian Trio, im mica-Interview)
Michael Ternai
Interview with the bassist Raphael Preuschl on the 20th anniversary of the Fabulous Austrian Trio with Alex Machacek and Herbert Pirker. Speaking of Machacek's guitar playing, he says it seeks to lift the limits of a string instrument, and recalls Harry Pepl's piece “Man könnte Klavierspielen müssen”.
Harry Pepl once wrote the song ‘Man könnte Klavierspielen müssen’. I believe it is Alex's intention to lift the limitation of a string instrument and to take on the polyphonic freedom of a keyboard instrument.
Raphael Preuschl
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12 April 2024 · Report
Wulf Müller, Blog „European Jazz Masters Of The Past“: „European Jazz Masters Of The Past #3: Herbert Joos“
Wulf Müller
Biographical essay on Herbert Joos. Towards the end of the 1980s Joos went into the studio with Harry Pepl and Jon Christensen to record “Cracked Mirrors”, which was released in 1988 to critical acclaim.
he went into the studio with Austrian guitar master Harry Pepl and Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen to record ‘Cracked Mirrors’
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June 2024 · Other
Bandcamp (Kresten Osgood): „LIVE AT H15 STUDIO“ (Kresten Osgood Quintet)
Kresten Osgood Quintet
Release page of the album “Live At H15 Studio” (ILK Music, June 2024) by the Danish Kresten Osgood Quintet. Track 2 is “The Halleys Comet - Light Blue Blues” by Harry Pepl; the album was named Jazz Release of the Year at the Danish Music Awards Jazz in 2024.
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9 June 2024 · Review
Instagram (@ecm_vinylcollector): „Cracked Mirrors“ (Pepl/Joos/Christensen, ECM 1356)
Short review of “Cracked Mirrors” on the Instagram account of an ECM collector. The album, it says, is the most idiosyncratic of the ECM records of its time and hard to classify; Pepl breaks the material into a thousand pieces.
If you're Harry Pepl, you bust it into a thousand pieces and shoot it into the ether.
Cracked Mirrors … is easily the oddest of the bunch, a nearly unclassifiable record.
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10 December 2024 · Report
JazzDanmark: „DMA Jazz 2024 in Store VEGA: The winners are here!“
Report on the presentation of the Danish Music Awards Jazz 2024 at Store VEGA in Copenhagen. The album “Live at H15 Studio” by the Kresten Osgood Quintet (ILK Music), on which Pepl’s piece “The Halleys Comet - Light Blue Blues” can be heard, was named Jazz Release of the Year. The text itself does not mention Pepl.
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2025 · Press release · DE
Fullmax Recordings (press kit for the album, German, English, French, Polish): Harry Pepl 80: „Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band“, Live-Dialog mit einem Giganten der Improvisation
Fullmax Recordings (draft by Clemens Salesny)
Two-page press release for the 80th birthday and the album “Live”. The project combines Pepl’s original tracks from the Hernstein studio with Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Andi Schreiber and Valentin Duit. Page 2 contains the track list, instrumentation, recording locations and credits; versions exist in four languages.
Now it can be experienced live again. I think that is unique in Europe
Daniel Pepl
Original (PDF) · DEOriginal (PDF) · ENOriginal (PDF) · FROriginal (PDF) · PL
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2025 · Other · DE
violafalb.com (Website Viola Falb): Biografie Viola Falb
Viola Falb
Biography on the website of the saxophonist and composer Viola Falb, covering her training, bands such as FALB FICTION and the saxophone quartet PHOEN, and a list of awards up to 2025. It lists the Harry Pepl Prize under 2016; the contemporary reports in Falter and NÖN document the award in November 2015.
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6 September 2025 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „Die Ö1 Jazznacht“: „Zum 80. Geburtstag von Gitarrist Harry Pepl“
Christian Bakonyi
Broadcast on Saturday, 6 September 2025, 23:03 to 24:00, with the guests Daniel Pepl, Clemens Salesny and Martin Bayer. The accompanying article mentions John Scofield and the MIDI guitar and points to the concert at Porgy & Bess on 28 September 2025.
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27 September 2025 · Review · DE
RONDO (Online): „Songs From The Treehouse“ (Tim Collins, Martin Gasselsberger)
Werner Stiefele
Review of the duo album by vibraphonist Tim Collins and pianist Martin Gasselsberger on GLM Music. Apart from Billie Eilish's “Everything I Wanted” and “Air, Love & Vitamins” from the repertoire of the Jazzzwio of Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner, the duo plays its own pieces; the reviewer places the line-up in the tradition of Gary Burton and Chick Corea.
“Air, Love & Vitamins” from the repertoire of the Austrian JazzZwio of Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner
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28 October 2025 · Encyclopaedia · DE
mica music austria, music database: Harry Pepl
Database entry with biography, activities, awards, commissions, performance venues and a list of works (64 works); last updated 28 October 2025. The entry counts Pepl among the guitarists who have shaped Austrian jazz nationally and internationally, and records 2nd place at the Austrian Jazz Award 2025.
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November 2025 · Report · DE
ORF Kärnten (Online): Bericht über den Österreichischen Jazzpreis 2025
Report on the presentation of the Austrian Jazz Award 2025 at Casino Velden, with the ranking in the Best Album category: Kenji Herbert Trio ahead of Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band and the Tobias Meissl Trio.
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26 November 2025 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „On stage Spezial“: Österreichischer Jazzpreis 2025, live aus dem Casino Velden
Andreas Felber
Live broadcast of the award ceremony on Wednesday, 26 November 2025, 19:30. The playlist includes “Hernstein Blues” from the album “Live” (Pepl and Salesny, 8:10).
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26 November 2025 · Report · DE
Fullmax Recordings (Website): Beitrag zum Österreichischen Jazzpreis 2025, Best Album
Post on the album “Live” taking 2nd place in the Best Album category at the Austrian Jazz Award 2025. The Jazz Academy consists of 149 experts, there were over 170 submissions and a seven-member expert jury; the award ceremony took place at Casino Velden.
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18 December 2025 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 51, culture, column „Open Music im Grazer Stockwerk“): „Im Spiel mit der Wiener Gitarristenlegende“
Robert Tendl
Report on the evening by Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band at the Stockwerk in Graz. Pepl left behind a great deal of material from his home studio; Salesny, Bayer, Schreiber, Duit and the technician Markus Wallner bring the audio tracks onto the stage via amplifier and loudspeakers and improvise along with them.
A surprisingly lively, highly musical result emerges
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18 December 2025 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 42, culture): „Die Schemen eines Lebenden“ (Stockwerk Graz: Harry Pepl's Lonely Single Swinger Band blinzelt ins Jenseits)
F. Jureček
Concert review of the performance in Graz: a quintet around Clemens Salesny and the sound engineer Markus Wallner shapes an evening of improvisation from multitrack recordings by the guitarist, who died in 2005. Pepl’s audio tracks are heard as sounds dynamically processed at the mixing desk, with Andi Schreiber, Martin Bayer and Valentin Duit playing along.
Archive material gives rise to the shadowy outlines of a living man.
Not many musicians release new CDs 20 years after their death.