Press on Jack DeJohnette
What was written and broadcast about Harry Pepl and Jack DeJohnette: reviews, portraits, interviews and obituaries, with summary and source.
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25 February 1986 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Harry Pepls Sessions in Frankreich“
initials „hmf/fwi“
Short report by the Austria Presse Agentur on Austrian jazz musicians abroad: Pepl was to play sets in Paris and Grenoble in early March 1986, and recordings with Michel Portal and Jack DeJohnette were planned.
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Recordings with Michel Portal and Jack DeJohnette are also planned.
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7 April 1987 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Jazz-Splitter“
initials „hmf/fwi“
Short report: Pepl had been in the studio with the trumpeter and flugelhorn player Herbert Joos (the result became “Cracked Mirrors”), sessions in France with Jack DeJohnette, Michel Portal and Mino Cinelu would follow in May, and a trio record with DeJohnette and Dave Holland was in preparation. Pepl is introduced as guitar professor at the jazz department of the Graz music academy (today the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz).
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A trio record with Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland is in preparation.
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16 June 1987 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Erfolg für Harry Pepl in Frankreich“
initials „hmf/fwi“
Short report from Paris: Pepl was successful at several concerts in France, including sessions with Jack DeJohnette and Dave Liebman in Paris.
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Praise came from the guitarist John Abercrombie; several record productions were in preparation, among them an album with Herbert Joos.
There was praise, too, from a prominent colleague, the guitarist John Abercrombie.
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24 May 1994 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 17): Kurzkritik vom Innviertler Jazzfestival in Raab
initials „CT“ (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
Report from the third day (Sunday, 22 May 1994) of the Innviertel jazz festival in the Rothuberhalle in Raab: Jack DeJohnette spontaneously joins Idris Muhammad’s Afro Beat and later plays a duo with Pepl, who holds dialogues on guitar synthesizer with DeJohnette on piano and drums.
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Alternating between piano and drums, he engaged in dialogues with Harry Pepl on guitar synthesizer.
These were sound meditations between expansive and concentrated, in lyrical solitude and orchestral fullness of sound.
Kürzel CT (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
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24 May 1994 · Review · DE
Der Standard (p. 10): „Zwischen Räucherstäbchen-Blues und festlicher Marching-Band-Tarnung“
Ljubiša Tošić
Festival review from Raab with Dr. John, Ray Anderson and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Beyond the nostalgic acts, Tošić singles out the live session of Jack DeJohnette (drums and piano) and Harry Pepl.
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Drummer and pianist Jack DeJohnette and guitarist Harry Pepl, for instance, gave a live session there.
after all, there were moments of intensity that one would not have wanted to miss on any account
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26 May 1994 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 8): „Neue Symptome einer Krankheit“ (Das Jazzfestival in Raab ist als „Innviertler Jazzfestival“ wiederauferstanden)
Wolfgang Lamprecht
Review of the first Innviertel jazz festival, which Paul Zauner continued with his own association after the end of the association Kunst und Kultur Raab.
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Lamprecht highlights Jack DeJohnette, who appeared above all as a pianist and played an intimate duo with Pepl on drums.
as a kindred-spirited improviser on drums in a thrillingly intimate dialogue with the string electronics player and creative sound colourist Harry Pepl
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26 July 1994 · Report · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 18): „Musikalischer Grenzgänger lehrt an ‚NÖ Jazzakademie‘“
initials „D. S.“
Preview of the sixth Lower Austrian Jazz Academy at Zeillern Castle (31 July to 6 August 1994), a further-training seminar for aspiring professional musicians.
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Pepl is introduced as the most prominent teacher; with his quartet he plays the opening concert on Sunday, 31 July, at 9 pm.
Guitarist and composer Harry Pepl is regarded as a musical border-crosser and has played with jazz greats such as Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Dave Liebman and Jack DeJohnette.
The top-class musician will also play the opening concert with his quartet on 31 July from 9 p.m.
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24 December 1996 · Report · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 4, column „Jazzignal“): „Swinging Christmas!“
Christian Rösner
Christmas survey among Austrian jazz musicians about their music for Christmas Eve, among them Peter Legat, Andy Manndorff, Harry Sokal, Art Farmer and Christian Muthspiel.
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The „Supergitarrero“ [“super guitarist”] Pepl spontaneously answers “Silent Night” and also names Sting, Jack DeJohnette, Weather Report and classical music.
What do I listen to at Christmas? Well, Silent Night!
His spontaneous answer to a Christmas survey of jazz musicians by the Wiener Zeitung, a Vienna daily, in 1996; he also named Sting, Jack DeJohnette, Weather Report and classical music
Harry Pepl
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10 February 1998 · Interview · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 4, column „Jazzignal“): „Echtzeitkompositionen“
Christian Rösner
Portrait with interview on the piano album “Flow” (PAO Records).
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After his second brain haemorrhage and a break, Pepl has made the piano his instrument and developed his real-time composing further. He tells how for the recording he sat down in a Vienna concert hall (the article names the Bösendorfer hall), played a note and let himself be guided by the acoustics, and recalls an unprepared festival concert with Jack DeJohnette.
The guitarist and composer Harry Pepl may well be called Austria’s most independent and at the same time most uncompromising jazz voice.
What mattered to me was to play music that really comes from within and that happens in the moment
In 1998, on Real-time Composing at the piano
Harry Pepl
I played one note, then the second, and by the third at the latest Jack knew exactly where I was, and we were together.
On a festival concert with Jack DeJohnette without any joint preparation, in conversation in 1998
Harry Pepl
Pepl’s flowing real-time compositions on “Flow” are in any case full of energy and honesty; understandable in expression and eloquent.
Music is my life, and I cannot not play
Talking to the Wiener Zeitung, a Vienna daily, in 1998 about the time after his second brain haemorrhage in 1994: playing the guitar was out of the question at first, so he turned to the piano, which led to the album “Flow”; the double negative is deliberate
Harry Pepl
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15 August 2001 · Report · DE
Falter (p. 49, culture): „Leben nach dem Tod“ (Werner Pirchner, 1940 bis 2001)
Obituary of Werner Pirchner. It pays tribute to the Jazzzwio with Pepl as a duo successful far beyond Austria, with appearances at the festivals in Berlin and Montreux, duo records, a recording with Jack DeJohnette and the quartet Austria Drei with Adelhard Roidinger.
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Above all, however, he formed with the guitarist Harry Pepl the “Jazz-Zwio”, which was successful far beyond Austria’s borders.
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24 July 2002 · Portrait · DE
Falter (p. 55, culture): „Leiwand oder ned leiwand“ (Doppelporträt Muthspiel & Muthspiel und Jazzzwio)
Klaus Taschwer
Double portrait ahead of the premiere of the programme “Muthspiel & Muthspiel play Pepl/Pirchner” at the Glatt & Verkehrt festival.
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Wolfgang Muthspiel, who studied guitar with Pepl in Graz, remembers lessons “like an extended concert” and Pepl’s laconic verdict, either “leiwand” (Viennese for great) or “net leiwand”; for Christian Muthspiel the Jazzzwio came “like a liberation”.
Pepl was one of the most interesting guitarists in jazz. Great musicians like Dave Liebman or Jack DeJohnette say so too.
The guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, once Pepl’s student in Graz; the title of the Falter article, “Leiwand oder ned leiwand”, is Viennese for “great or not great”
Wolfgang Muthspiel
The lessons with him at the conservatory were like an extended concert.
Wolfgang Muthspiel
Pepl and Pirchner showed us that you can make exactly the music you want to make.
The trombonist and composer Christian Muthspiel on the Jazzzwio as a model for his generation; the title of the Falter article, “Leiwand oder ned leiwand”, is Viennese for “great or not great”
Christian Muthspiel
listening again now, I noticed once more how magnificently Pepl and Pirchner played. That was improvisation in the best sense.
Wolfgang Muthspiel
He played something to me, I had to play along, and every few bars he commented on how it was going. In his words that was, laconically, either ‘leiwand’ or ‘net leiwand’ [Viennese for ‘great’ or ‘not great’].
Wolfgang Muthspiel
The time I studied with Pepl was very formative. The lessons with him at the conservatory were like an extended concert.
Wolfgang Muthspiel
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6 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
OÖ Nachrichten (p. 22, culture): „Jazzer Harry Pepl gestorben“ (Meldung unter „Harry bleibt vorne“)
Short obituary that counts Pepl among the best guitarists of the present day and recalls Le Monde’s phrase “giant of improvisation”.
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It stresses that despite his international reputation Pepl remained loyal to regional jazz festivals in Upper Austria such as Raab; it wrongly gives a Vienna hospital as the place of death.
He was one of the best guitarists of our time and was often called a “giant of improvisation” (in Le Monde, among others)
Despite his international reputation he always remained committed and loyal to regional jazz festivals in Upper Austria (such as Raab).
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6 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Kurier (p. 31, culture): „Harry Pepl gestorben“ (Rubrik „Überblick“)
Short obituary: after studying at the Vienna Academy of Music, Pepl quickly played his way into the first league of European guitarists.
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The Kurier sees his greatest period in the 1980s with the Pirchner-Pepl-JazzZwio, which because of its full sound bore the honorary title “jazz orchestra with two men”.
quickly played his way up into the first league of European guitarists
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6 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 55, culture): „Auch die 2. Hälfte vom ‚Jazzzwio‘ ist nicht mehr“
Michael Tschida
Obituary honouring Pepl as one of the jazz world’s “truly great”: from his first spurs in the ORF Big Band to appearances with Benny Goodman, Dino Saluzzi and Jack DeJohnette and the Jazzzwio with Werner Pirchner, his “brother in spirit”.
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Tschida describes how Pepl revolutionised guitar technique with real-time composing and recommends listening to “Pepl/Pirchner live in Montreux '81”.
With the Vienna-born musician the jazz world loses one of the truly great
We were both equally crazy and liked trying out funny things.
On the Jazzzwio, his duo with the vibraphonist Werner Pirchner, known for its wit and humour on stage
Harry Pepl
I am often very cheerful and then very sad again. You can probably hear that in my playing too
A description of himself, quoted in the obituary in the Kleine Zeitung, a daily from Graz, December 2005
Harry Pepl
The comic in jazz was never more serious.
On the humour of the Jazzzwio, Pepl’s duo with Werner Pirchner
a truly great one, who began as a teenager with dance arrangements and at his peak revolutionised guitar technique with “real time composing”
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7 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Süddeutsche Zeitung (p. 17, arts section): „Verstummte Saiten“ (Zum Tod des Wiener Jazzgitarristen Harry Pepl)
Ralf Dombrowski
Obituary from Munich (Germany): the Graz Academy of Music appointed Pepl in 1977, the same year in which the Zwio with Werner Pirchner began to attract attention beyond Austria; years with Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi, Charlie Mariano and Lee Konitz followed. Dombrowski describes a style with broad arcs of tension, unexpected harmonic progressions and clear, at times metallic sounds.
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Students such as Wolfgang Muthspiel still count him among the most important driving forces in recent European jazz history.
In dialogue the two took the small chamber-jazz form to a previously unimagined communicative intensity.
He shaped a playing style which, with expansive arcs of tension, unexpected harmonic progressions and clear, at times metallic sounds, expanded the expressive range of his instrument melodically and rhythmically.
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7 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 14, culture): „Gestorben: Harry Pepl“ (Rubrik „Gestorben“)
Obituary in the “Gestorben” (deaths) column: Pepl had long been regarded as one of the most independent and creative guitarists on the European jazz scene.
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It mentions the Zwio with Werner Pirchner, projects with Benny Goodman, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland and Dave Liebman, and real-time composing in the tradition of the Second Viennese School.
he had long been regarded as one of the most independent and creative guitarists on the European jazz scene
played with clichés of home in an original and sly way
In the “Zwio” with the composer and vibraphonist Werner Pirchner he disregarded musical conventions from the 1970s on and played originally and slyly with clichés of homeland.
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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.
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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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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.
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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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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).
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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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27 October 2025 · Obituary · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur, APA0208): „US-Jazz-Legende Jack DeJohnette 83-jährig gestorben“
APA (rie/bik/luw)
Agency report on the death of the US drummer Jack DeJohnette on Sunday, 26 October 2025, in Woodstock.
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It honours his work with Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett and Charles Lloyd and his appearances in Austria and, on information from Daniel Pepl, states that Harry Pepl was the only Austrian musician to record three albums with DeJohnette in the 1980s. The report also ran on kleinezeitung.at, noen.at, bvz.at, vienna.at, vol.at and msn.com.
The jazz guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005, is the only Austrian musician to have recorded three albums with DeJohnette, in the 1980s
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28 October 2025 · Obituary · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 9, culture): „Er gab im Jazz die Richtung vor: Jack DeJohnette ist tot“
Florian Oberhummer
Obituary of Jack DeJohnette tracing his work with Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett and the label ECM (the renowned European jazz label).
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For Austria, Oberhummer points to the ECM recordings with Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl and to DeJohnette’s appearances at the Saalfelden jazz festival since 1980. The text appeared online on sn.at on 27 October 2025.
In Austria the drummer leaves his mark not only on ECM albums alongside Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl