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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26 March 1975 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (p. 42, ANNO-Seite): Jazzkonzert des Erich-Kleinschuster-Sextetts in Eisenstadt
Photo caption to the announcement of a jazz concert on 7 April 1975 at the Pädagogische Akademie Eisenstadt, organised by the Musical Youth of Austria and ORF Studio Burgenland (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster).
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The Erich Kleinschuster Sextet plays with Harald Pepl on guitar; the ORF records the concert for the Ö3 (the ORF's pop radio channel) series “Jazz mit Erich Kleinschuster”. The form “Harald Pepl” matches his baptismal name.
Harald Pepl (guitar)
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1 December 1976 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 44, ANNO-p. 36): „Damaskus: Neue Besetzung ab Jänner“ (Beat und Pop)
Note from the “Beat und Pop” page about a Burgenland band with a new line-up. Pepl appears only as a teacher: the guitarist Otto Artner is described as his student.
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Großpetersdorf guitarist and Harry Pepl student Otto Artner
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5 January 1977 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 32, ANNO-p. 24): Konzertankündigung Erich-Kleinschuster-Sextett (Beat und Pop)
Announcement of a jazz concert by the Erich Kleinschuster Sextet in Burgenland, starting at 8 pm.
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The line-up is given as Erich Kleinschuster, Christof Lauer, Harry Pepl (guitar), Fritz Pauer, Heinz Jäger and Fritz Ozmec; the text adds that the group was completed by Fritz Pauer (piano) and Harry Pepl.
The group is completed by Fritz Pauer (p) and Harry Pepl (g).
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2 March 1977 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 42, ANNO-p. 34): „5. März: Erich-Kleinschuster-Sextett in der Jazzgalerie“
Announcement of a concert by the Erich Kleinschuster Sextet on 5 March 1977 at Hans Falb’s Jazzgalerie in Nickelsdorf. The line-up names Kleinschuster (trombone), Christof Lauer, Harry Pepl (guitar), Fritz Pauer, Heinz Jäger and Fritz Ozmec.
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9 March 1977 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 42, ANNO-p. 34): „Dick Sells mit neuer Gruppe“ (Beat und Pop)
News item about a new group of the guitarist and harmonica player Dick Sells, a new Burgenlander, who was formerly with Milestone and Hedgehodge.
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Peter Ponger, Harry Pepl and the drummer Janis Dudli play with him; Pepl, it says, is already known to visitors of the jazz pub.
also no stranger to the visitors of the jazz pub
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10 August 1977 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 35, ANNO-p. 27): „Neues kurz“ (Beat und Pop)
Contemporary note from August 1977: Pepl, it says, is leaving the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) and moving to Graz, where he is to receive a teaching appointment at the jazz department of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.
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The guitarist Olaf Weitzer is being discussed as his successor in the band; most recently Pepl could be heard with his jazz-rock group “Hedgehog” at the three-day festival in Kohfidisch.
will leave the ORF Big Band and move to Graz, where he will get a teaching appointment at the jazz department of the MHS
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14 February 1979 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 36, ANNO-p. 28): „Konzerttermine“ (Beat und Pop)
Concert notice for an evening on 14 February 1979 in Vienna with the Dutch guitarist Harry Sacksioni.
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The opening act is provided by Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner; the text recalls Pirchner’s album “Ein halbes Doppelalbum” and the fact that Pepl had already been a guest in Wiesen.
The opening act is provided by two well-known Austrians
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3 May 1979 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 44, ANNO-p. 36): Ankündigung eines Konzerts mit Friedrich Gulda (Beat und Pop)
Short news item about a „Konzert der Superlative“ [“concert of superlatives”] with Friedrich Gulda on piano and the two former ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) musicians Wayne Darling (bass) and Harry Pepl (guitar).
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It is announced for early May 1979 at the Münzgrabenheim in Graz.
A concert of superlatives, with Friedrich Gulda on piano
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27 June 1979 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 48, ANNO-p. 40): „Art Orchester“ in Nickelsdorf
Announcement of the appearance of the “Wiener Art Orchester” (Vienna Art Orchestra) on Saturday, 30 June 1979, at the Jazz-Galerie Nickelsdorf.
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Werner Pirchner (vibraphone) and Harry Pepl (guitar) appear as guest soloists; the text describes the orchestra, founded in 1977, and its participants.
Werner Pirchner (vibes) and Harry Pepl (gtr) appear as guest soloists.
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18 July 1979 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 35, ANNO-p. 27): „Jazz International: Am Wochenende Superfestival in Wiesen!“
Programme preview of the jazz festival in Wiesen, Burgenland, in July 1979. Among the bands announced is the Erich Kleinschuster Sextet with Kleinschuster, Karl Drewo, Harry Pepl (guitar), Harald Neuwirth and Heinz Jäger.
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30 April 1980 · Report · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 52, ANNO-p. 44): „Jazz aktuell“ bei Jeunesses Musicales
Short report on the “Jazz aktuell” concert of the Musical Youth on 21 April 1980 in the assembly hall of the Pädagogische Akademie Eisenstadt.
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The quintet “5 Neighbours”, led by the pianist Dieter Glawischnig, was joined as soloists by Werner Pirchner on vibraphone and Harry Pepl on guitar.
Vibraphone and Harry Pepl on guitar demonstrated convincingly
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15 November 1980 · Other · DE
Brief aus Bangkok: „Benny Goodman war nach dem 2. Konzert voll des Lobes“: Brief an Harry Pepl nach den Berliner Goodman-Konzerten
Kurt A. Müller
Typewritten letter from Bangkok to Harry Pepl in Hernstein, a week after the concerts with Benny Goodman at the Berlin Philharmonie (7 and 8 November 1980).
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According to the family archive, the sender was Goodman's manager Kurt A. Müller, the Swiss friend of Goodman living in Bangkok who co-organised the concerts, chose the musicians in Europe and made the recordings. He reports that Goodman was full of praise after the second concert; during Pepl's solo at the start of the second concert Goodman got going as he had not done for years, and the whole quintet jammed as in Goodman's early years. Goodman's only regret was that Pepl did not play an acoustic guitar. Full text (translated from the German, address omitted): “Mr Harry Pepl, [address], 2560 Hernstein, Lower Austria. 15 November 1980. Dear Mr Pepl, My wife and I have now arrived safely back in Bangkok and still think back often and fondly to the swinging days in Berlin. After the second concert Benny Goodman was full of praise for you and your colleagues. I myself was also glad that everything went so well, because whoever plays with Benny Goodman has to be good, otherwise things can get uncomfortable, since Benny is an absolute perfectionist and demands a great deal of perfection from his musicians too. When you took off with your solo at the start of the second concert, Benny really got going, in a way I had not seen him for many years; Charly, Peter and Don Haas swung along and the whole quintet ‘jammed’ as was only the case in Benny Goodman's early years. He confirmed this to me afterwards too and was in the best of moods. The only thing he regretted was that you did not have a natural guitar, because he would have liked that even better, he said, but it was fine as it was. So once again many thanks for your fine contribution, it was truly a delight for all of us, and the audience went wild, as you can hear again on the tape recordings. The photos are being copied and I will send them to you in a few days. I would be glad to hear from you soon; perhaps you could send me a tape on which you play swinging music, I would then copy it for Benny, if you allow. Warm regards, also from my wife, and all the best. Yours, [signature]”
After the second concert Benny Goodman was full of praise for you and your colleagues.
When you took off with your solo at the start of the second concert, Benny really got going, in a way I had not seen him for many years
Letter from Kurt A. Müller, manager of Benny Goodman, the “King of Swing”, after the second concert at the Berlin Philharmonie in November 1980
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20 May 1982 · Report · DE
Steirerkrone (Neue Kronen Zeitung, Styria edition): „Star mit Witz: Larry Coryell“
Ronnie Herbolzheimer
Report on the concert of the American guitarist Larry Coryell with the Polish violinist Michal Urbaniak at the Münzl in Graz.
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The afternoon before, Coryell visited the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, showed the students some new tricks and played a jam session with Harry Pepl, who, according to the report, greatly impressed him.
to play a jam session with Harry Pepl, by whom he was very impressed.
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1 October 1982 · Programme booklet · DE
Ars Electronica 1982, Programmbuch: „Jazz und Elektronik“ mit dem Ars-Electronica-Workshop-Ensemble
Programme of the concert on Friday, 1 October 1982, 8 p.m., in the Large Hall of the Brucknerhaus in Linz: the workshop ensemble with François Jeanneau, Wolfgang Dauner, Jasper van't Hof, Harry Pepl, Adelhard Roidinger and Daniel Humair, conceived by Robert Urmann, together with the quartet of Alphonse Mouzon. The workshop in the afternoon was open to the public. The photograph of Pepl in the programme is by Rainer Rygalyk.
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recognised as one of Europe's leading jazz guitarists
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1984 · Portrait · DE
Jazzlive (österreichisches Jazzmagazin): „Harry Pepl (Gitarre)“, Porträt mit Titelbild
Multi-page portrait with a cover (“Portrait: Harry Pepl”). It reports that Pepl had been voted the third-best Austrian jazz musician of the year the year before, with the same ranking among guitarists, behind Pat Metheny and James Blood Ulmer.
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It mentions a concert with Werner Pirchner, the Family of Percussion and Steve Swallow in Hamburg, Germany, a seminar by Peter Giger in Wengen, Switzerland, with Ronald Shannon Jackson, and a performance in Moers, Germany, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Wolfgang Reisinger and Mike Richmond. The performances mentioned, Moers in May 1984 and the jazz workshop of the NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the public broadcaster for northern Germany) in Hamburg, date the issue to 1984; Nikolaus Kohler cites the collaboration with the Family of Percussion from Jazzlive no. 14, September 1984. It is one of two Jazzlive covers featuring Pepl; the second shows him with Air Mail (no. 20, April 1985).
There is no doubt that Harry Pepl must today be counted among the leading jazz guitarists in Europe.
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17 January 1984 · Review · FR
Le Monde: „Berio, Aperghis et Portal: les anges et les démons“
Concert report in Le Monde on a programme with works by Luciano Berio and Georges Aperghis and a performance by Michel Portal. Pepl played in Portal’s group during these years.
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1985 · Portrait · DE
Sterz, Zeitschrift für Literatur, Kunst und Kulturpolitik (Graz), no. 32: „Der Riese aus dem Fuchsloch. Eine Anbiederung an Werner Pirchner, hingehudelt“
Heimo Steps
Portrait of Werner Pirchner by Heimo Steps, founder of gamsbART (Graz concert promoter), in the Graz magazine “Sterz”.
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Steps calls Harry Pepl Pirchner’s “musical alter ego”, quotes Le Monde (“a giant of improvisation”), praises the Jazzzwio’s Montreux record and “Air, Love & Vitamins”, and reports that Steve Swallow toured Europe with Pirchner and Pepl in the summer of 1984. He recalls a night after a concert at the Graz jazz club M 59 around 1977, when he philosophised with the two in the empty hall until dawn. Online on the website of the Edition Werner Pirchner.
Harry Pepl: the giant from Hernstein in Lower Austria, “a giant of improvisation” (Le Monde), W.P.’s musical alter ego.
The Pirchner-Pepl JazzZwio has long had a permanent place in the apocryphal pantheon of music.
“Live in Montreux”, a hammer for heart and brain, if you let heart and brain be the anvil.
Heimo Steps in 1985 in Sterz, a literary magazine from Graz, on the Jazzzwio album “Live in Montreux”; a play on hammer and anvil
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20 March 1985 · Review · FR
Le Monde: „Au Théâtre de la Ville, Michel Portal double jeu“
Concert report in Le Monde on Michel Portal at the Théâtre de la Ville (Paris, France), where Pepl played with Portal in March 1985.
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May 1985 · Report
Austrian Information (Austrian Press and Information Service, New York): „Beyond the Sound of Music. New Austria / New York, May 15th – May 19th 1985“, Volume 38, Nr. 4, S. 3 bis 4
Peter Vujica
Lead article on the festival “Beyond the Sound of Music. New Austria / New York” (15 to 19 May 1985), staged in New York by steirischer herbst (Styrian Autumn, the festival of contemporary art in Graz, Austria) together with the Austrian Institute and the New York art space The Kitchen to mark the 40th anniversary of Austria’s regained independence. Festival director Peter Vujica (translated by Donald Friedman) describes steirischer herbst as a festival of resistance against routine and repression and lists the New York artists who had appeared in Graz, from Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass and Steve Reich to Robert Wilson, Trisha Brown, Nam June Paik, Carla Bley and the Art Ensemble of Chicago; New York, he writes, is now the long overdue return visit. The opening concert on 15 May at the Ohio Theater is given by Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner with Don Moye. Then come readings by H. C. Artmann (Viennese poet), Wolfgang Bauer (Graz playwright), Ingeborg Day, Alfred Kolleritsch (editor of the Graz literary magazine manuskripte) and Jürg Laederach, presented by the American novelists John Irving and Walter Abish, Rhys Chatham with the Graz group Blizz Frizz, the K und K Experimentalstudio with songs based on poems by Selma Meerbaum, as well as exhibitions of photography and architecture and films. The cover shows the 1972 poster “Auf, zum steirischen herbst!” (“Off to the Styrian Autumn!”).
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The opening event on May 15th at the Ohio Theater will be shared by the Jazz Musicians, Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner
Artists from Styria and all over Austria meet with their friends in New York.
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May 1985 · Other
The New Yorker: „Goings On About Town“: Ohio Theatre, Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl’s „Zwio“
The New Yorker’s listings announce the programmes by Austrian artists at the Ohio Theatre (66 Wooster Street, SoHo), presented by The Kitchen and the Austrian Institute: first “Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl’s ‘Zwio’ (jazz)” on Wednesday, 15 May, at 8:30 pm, followed by readings with John Irving and Walter Abish, performances, a film by Ernst Schmidt Jr. and Blizz Frizz with Rhys Chatham.
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May 1985 · Programme booklet
Austrian Information (Austrian Press and Information Service, New York): Programm „Beyond the Sound of Music. New Austria / New York“ mit Fotos, Volume 38, Nr. 4, S. 5 bis 6
Picture page and daily programme of the New York festival. On Wednesday, 15 May 1985, at 7.30 p.m. at the Ohio Theater (66 Wooster Street, SoHo, New York), Hartmut Skerbisch (Austrian sculptor) shows his installation “Container”, Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Don Moye as guest play jazz, and the Viennese composer Otto M. Zykan performs “Samples”. Further events: readings by Austrian writers on 13 and 14 May at the Deutsches Haus, 13 Austrian architects at the Austrian Institute (until 31 May), six photographers at the Arbitrage Gallery (until 8 June), the reading hosted by John Irving and Walter Abish (16 May), Dieter Kaufmann and Gunda König of the K und K Experimentalstudio (17 May), Ernst Schmidt Jr. with “Vienna Film 1896-1976”, Blizz Frizz with the New York guitarist Rhys Chatham, Armin Medosch with the ballet “The Warrior” (18 May), Austrian short films at the Millennium and Heinz Cibulka with “Metabolism/Rot.Weiss.Rot” (19 May), plus “Grid” actions by Othmar Krenn. The photo page shows Pepl with his guitar, Pirchner at the vibraphone and Moye in stage costume; the programme misprints Pirchner’s name as “Pircher”.
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Werner Pircher, Harry Pepl, and F. Don Moye as guest play jazz
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18 May 1985 · Review
The New York Times (Section 1, p. 10): „MUSIC: AUSTRIAN AVANT-GARDE“
John Rockwell
Review of the opening night of the festival “Beyond the Sound of Music: New Austria/New York” at the Ohio Theater in SoHo, at which the Jazzzwio with Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner performed together with the drummer Don Moye.
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Rockwell heard the first set, 40 minutes long, and found the music pleasant but not significant enough for the opening of a festival series; the evening began about an hour late. The Wednesday of the festival week was 15 May 1985.
relaxed and cool, in the ECM Records manner
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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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15 April 1986 · Other · FR
Tempo (Paris), no. 3: „En concert: tous les programmes jusqu’à fin juin“
Issue 3 of the free Paris concert paper “Tempo” (concerts and records) with listings up to the end of June 1986.
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Under the jazz club New Morning, the “Harry Pepl quartet” is announced for 14 May 1986, with Wolfgang Puschnig (soprano saxophone), Mike Richmond (bass) and Wolfgang Reisinger (drums), i.e. the Air Mail line-up. Digitised by the “Archives du punk en France” of the University of Tours, p. 7.
On the 14th: Harry Pepl quartet: Wolfgang Puschnig, soprano sax; Mike Richmond, bass; Wolfgang Reisinger, drums.
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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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2 June 1987 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Programm für das ‚Jazzianer-Fort‘ in Wiesen fixiert“
initials „hmf/fwi/wm“
Programme preview of the festival at the “Jazzianer-Fort” in Wiesen, Burgenland (3 to 5 July 1987).
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On Sunday, 5 July, Air Mail was billed alongside George Russell’s big band, the Johnny Griffin Quartet and Duo Due; the agency announced the band with „Österreichs erstem Gitarristen“ [“Austria’s foremost guitarist”].
AirMail with Austria’s foremost guitarist Harry Pepl
APA JAZZ NEWS (Austria Presse Agentur)
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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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1988 · Other · DE
press review (Collage, compiler not named): „Cracked Mirrors“: Kritiken aus Deutschland, Österreich, Frankreich, Großbritannien und Japan
various (incl. Ken Hyder, Christa Wörner, Robert Urman)
Collage of reviews of “Cracked Mirrors” arranged around a concert photo of Harry Pepl: the review „Ausdrucksstark“ [“Expressive”] with the note on the quarterly list of the German Record Critics’ Award (German award for outstanding recordings, chosen by a jury of critics), concert reviews from Esslingen and Linz, a French review, an English one by Ken Hyder (“a marvellous feel of understatement”) and a Japanese CD review. This collection is the source of the often-quoted verdict on Pepl as one of the most innovative guitarists in Europe.
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Harry PEPL’s natural and attractive playing on his MIDI guitar creates constant “aha” moments and marks him out as one of the most innovative guitarists in the whole of Europe.
The jazz guitarist Harry Pepl proves to be a master of sound painting with his new album “Cracked Mirrors”
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1988 · Review
Fanfare (US-Magazin für Plattenkritik): Kritik zu „Volver“ (ECM 1343), Fanfare Band 12, Nr. 1
Edward Strickland
In Fanfare, the American record review magazine, the critic Edward Strickland reviews the ECM album “Volver” by Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi.
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Rava’s contribution to the title track is appropriately subdued, his muted trumpet briefly recalling Miles Davis; Pepl’s guitar adds a great deal to the mood, and the support from Furio Di Castri (bass) and Bruce Ditmas (drums) is understated and exemplary. He recommends the record.
Harry Pepl’s guitar adds greatly to the moody mix
The American critic Edward Strickland in 1988 in Fanfare magazine on the ECM album “Volver” by the Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava and the Argentine bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi (recorded in October 1986), on which Pepl plays guitar
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10 January 1988 · Portrait · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Feldzug mit der Gitarre“
Otmar Klammer
Portrait on page 18 of the Graz guitar professor who, according to the newspaper Le Monde, was called a „Gigant der Improvisation“ [“giant of improvisation”].
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It traces his path from the Austrian Aces through commercial bands, the Fledermaus bar and the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) to the professorship, and mentions recordings with DeJohnette, Holland, Saluzzi and Portal. Remarks by Scofield and Abercrombie about Pepl are also on record.
The guitar professor in Graz is regarded internationally as one of the best in his field.
He's great, he's like a machine gun
The American jazz guitarist John Abercrombie (ECM) on Pepl’s blistering speed, meant as praise; reported in the Kleine Zeitung, a daily from Graz, in 1988
John Abercrombie
Giant of improvisation
Le Monde
internationally sought-after master of improvisation
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8 March 1988 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Jazz aus Österreich“
initials „hmf/fwi/ca“
Record column on Austrian jazz: Air Mail with Wolfgang Puschnig, Harry Pepl, Wolfgang Reisinger and Mike Richmond, successful abroad as well, releases “Light Blues” on PolyGram.
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“Cracked Mirrors” with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen was initiated and co-financed by the Graz arts association gamsbART and taken over by ECM (the renowned European jazz label).
“Cracked Mirrors” is the name of the LP featuring the three jazz musicians in truly outstanding form.
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April 1988 · Review · DE
daily newspaper (title not preserved): „Versierte Gefährten“ (Musikantendreieck der Extraklasse im Posthof)
-a-
Concert review of the appearance of Harry Pepl with Jon Christensen and Herbert Joos at the Posthof in Linz on 20 April 1988.
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The author praises the intensity, sensuality and sharpness of the compositions, the compellingly played solos and the astonishing use of electronics, and announces the trio’s forthcoming ECM (the renowned European jazz label) record. With a photo by Nöbauer.
Austrian jazz’s guitar great, of a standing that helps to set the tone not only in Europe
Harry Pepl brings electronics into play in an astonishing way.
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22 April 1988 · Review · DE
daily newspaper (title not preserved): „Glanzvolle Dreieinigkeit“
Robert Urman
Review of the concert at the Posthof in Linz: the new trinity around Harry Pepl with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen.
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Urman describes breathtaking string artistry, birdsong and synthetic flute sounds, lovingly coloured poetry down to a hint of Gil Evans, and an electronically generated fullness of sound on an orchestral scale. On the day of publication, a Friday, the trio was still playing at the Hotel Mader in Katsdorf.
Gems of contemporary jazz, wittily crafted by a top-class trio
The three offered breathtaking string artistry, virtuosically realised visions of wilful electronic mobilisation
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May 1988 · Press release · DE
ECM Records, Munich (press release): Harry Pepl / Herbert Joos / Jon Christensen: „Cracked Mirrors“
ECM Records
Two-page press information from the label on the album (ECM 1356, CD 833 472-2, LP 833 472-1), with the line-up: Pepl on guitar, Roland MIDI guitar system and piano, Joos on flugelhorn, Christensen on drums.
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The text describes the album as a sequence of broken genres, from parodied pianistic bliss and alienated Alpine folk music to free jazz in the spirit of Ornette Coleman, and emphasises the evidently meaningful use of electronics.
three musicians meet who are able to improvise with a great deal of sensuality and warmth even in advanced playing techniques.
This album certainly runs completely against the wind of the zeitgeist.
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14 June 1988 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Erfolge für Harry Pepl“
initials „A“
Report on the international response to “Cracked Mirrors” with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen and to the LP “Volver” with Dino Saluzzi and Enrico Rava.
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Appearances at Scandinavian festivals and concerts in Japan are announced for the following year. Pepl says he began playing without any concrete idea of the sound.
His new album “Cracked Mirrors”, recorded with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen, has caught the attention of international critics.
created, as it were, out of nothing
Harry Pepl
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30 August 1988 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Schallplattenpreis für Harry Pepls ‚Cracked Mirrors‘“
initials „hmf/fwi“
Report: the ECM album “Cracked Mirrors” with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen received the German Record Critics’ Award (German award for outstanding recordings, chosen by a jury of critics) in the jazz category of the quarterly list.
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The last Austrian jazz musician honoured in this way before Pepl was Werner Pirchner for the double album “EU”.
Great success for the guitarist Harry Pepl, a lot of attention for Austrian jazz.
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8 September 1988 · Portrait · DE
Die Steirische: „Vitaler Klangmaler“ (Das Künstlerporträt: Harry Pepl)
Heimo Steps
Portrait on page 12 by the manager of gamsbART (Graz concert promoter), written on the occasion of the German Record Critics’ Award (German award for outstanding recordings, chosen by a jury of critics) for “Cracked Mirrors”.
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Among other things, it tells of the time with DeJohnette in Paris, the film music with Benny Goodman and planned projects in Graz.
His musical paintings are a pleasure to listen to, not least because sensuality and warmth are inherent in them.
He is one of my favourites
Having grown up with the accordion, he does not deny our own musical tradition and lets it flow into his music.
The great stylistic diversity and his unmistakably idiosyncratic playing, not to mention his perfect command of the instrument, make even the most prominent fellow musicians rave.
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4 October 1988 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Große Konzertreihe mit Jazz und zeitgenössischer Musik in Graz“
initials „hmf/fwi“
Preview of the autumn programme of gamsbART (Graz concert promoter, directed by Heimo Steps) at the Catholic student centre Münzgraben.
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The December programme includes a “special evening” with Pepl, Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen, who received the German Record Critics’ Award for “Cracked Mirrors”, initiated by gamsbART (the text inconsistently gives 16 November). Pepl is also named as a guest on Wolfgang Puschnig’s album “Pieces Of The Dream”.
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9 December 1988 · Interview · DE
Wochenpresse (no. 49): „Saitensprünge“
Wolfgang Kralicek
Two-page portrait with an interview around Pepl’s Austrian tour in December 1988.
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It describes how “Cracked Mirrors” came about in the Wachau studio, with the drums added afterwards in Oslo, the Montreux and ECM (the renowned European jazz label) period with Pirchner and DeJohnette, and Pepl’s work in his home studio in Hernstein. The albums of 1988 are named.
I couldn’t care less that it’s called jazz.
“Wurscht” (literally “sausage”) is Viennese for “it makes no difference”. Said in an interview during his Austrian tour in December 1988, about his music being labelled jazz
Harry Pepl
The Austrian musician Harry Pepl is a man in demand internationally.
They were all thrilled. A sensation, really.
On the Jazzzwio’s performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland, in 1981, in an interview in 1988
Harry Pepl
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15 December 1988 · Review · DE
Stuttgarter Zeitung: „Jazz im Zauberspiegel“ (Dieselstraße: Joos-Pepl-Oxley)
lind
Concert review of the trio of Herbert Joos, Harry Pepl and Tony Oxley at the Dieselstraße culture and communication centre in Esslingen.
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The author begins with critical questions about volume, the playback tape and hidden themes and then describes a bewildering game of free jazz and balladic romanticism, in which the audience accepted Pepl’s guitar synthesiser as an enrichment; he refers to the record “Cracked Mirrors”.
accepted Harry Pepl’s guitar synthesiser as an imaginative enrichment of the sound
in a piece like “Schikaneders Delight” there was also quite definitely a Mozartean cheerfulness at play.
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17 December 1988 · Review · DE
Eßlinger Zeitung (weekend edition): „Perkussives“ (Joos, Pepl und Oxley)
Christa Wörner
Review of the year-end concert of the series “Jazz in der Dieselstraße” with Herbert Joos, Harry Pepl and Tony Oxley: catchy melodies and folk-song-like passages frame abstract structures, played with and against the electronics.
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By way of his guitar, Pepl also plays trumpet and piano and manages a drum solo on the guitar; Joos recalls Chet Baker, and Oxley shapes the European character of the music.
European jazz? The trio of Herbert Joos, Harry Pepl and Tony Oxley provided an example of it.
In this way Pepl managed to play a dazzling drum solo on the guitar.
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19 December 1988 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Jahresrückblick „Pop, Rock, Jazz“: „Österreichs Jazz wurde international“
initials „hmf/fwi/ca“
Review of the year by the Austria Presse Agentur: in 1988 Austrian jazz had finally become international.
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First place goes to Pepl’s German Record Critics’ Award for “Cracked Mirrors”, followed by Wolfgang Puschnig’s “Pieces Of The Dream”, Karl “Bumi” Fian and the Muthspiel brothers.
Austrian jazz has finally become international. Guitarist Harry Pepl received the German Record Critics’ Award for “Cracked Mirrors”, recorded with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen.
Austria Presse Agentur
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17 January 1989 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Jazz im Radio“
initials „hmf/fwi/ca“
Programme note: on Saturday, 21 January 1989, the Ö1 Jazzstudio (ORF’s cultural radio station) devoted a feature to the Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl.
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A feature in the Ö1 Jazzstudio on 21 January is devoted to the Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl.
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16 March 1989 · Programme booklet · DE
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, programme booklet, Brahms-Saal (series „Freude an Musik“, concert 3): Ensemble Wien, Donnerstag, 16. März 1989, 18.30 Uhr
editor: Teresa Reichenberger
Programme booklet of the concert in which the Ensemble Wien plays Pepl’s “Ballade for Mr.
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Dinozo” for two violins, viola and double bass. The note on Pepl summarises critics’ comments and mentions his jazz trio with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen as well as the Jazzzwio in Montreux. Pepl is wrongly described there as a Tyrolean guitarist.
one of the most innovative guitarists across the whole of Europe
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30 August 1989 · Press release · DE
OTS (Originaltext-Service der APA), Aussendung des Landes Niederösterreich: „Niederösterreichische Jazzakademie von 2. - 9. September“
Press release on the first Lower Austrian Jazz Academy at Zeillern Castle near Amstetten (2 to 9 September 1989), founded by Gottfried Zawichowski and Albert Kreuzer as further training for jazz musicians without access to jazz studies.
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Pepl teaches guitar in the international faculty.
Guitar: Harry Pepl, Hernstein
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1990 · Other
Amadeo (CD-Booklet): Liner Notes und Credits zu „Schönberg Improvations“
Harry Lachner
Harry Lachner's English booklet text for the CD “Schönberg Improvations” (Amadeo 843 086-2, PolyGram Vienna, 1990).
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Lachner describes the record's paradox: Pepl, once recognisable by a modified Ovation guitar, later worked with samples on the MIDI guitar; here, however, he plays a real Bösendorfer grand piano from the guitar, and only “The Last Bars Of Mankind” sounds different. He calls this “a most radical use of technology” and quotes Dave Liebman on the urge to go beyond the limits of the instrument. The piano track is completely improvised, inspired by recordings of Arnold Schoenberg's piano works; the lyricism of “Alone Is A Golden Stone” and the trance-like 4/4 groove of “Magnet Resonance” stand amid highly abstract, atonal pieces. It closes with Glenn Gould as another source of inspiration. Plus the credits: recorded in November 1989 at the Sing Sang studio, Vienna, recording engineer Richard Österreicher jun., digital editing “Ton Eichinger”, produced by Harry Pepl, executive producer Wulf Müller, published by Antenna Music; thanks to Peter Lemell and the technicians of Bösendorfer and to AKG; front cover concept Marie-Luise Rausch, photography and design Wolfgang Plenk, booklet photos Fischnaller. The scan lacks one page of text between “(hence” and “deconstruction of old and worn-out musical patterns”.
a most radical use of technology: to play on a midi guitar connected to a computer just to return to a natural, acoustic sound
The simulation is complete, the circle is fullfilled and we should not be puzzled by the technical method but by the musical result.
Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl has gone a long and imperturbable way.
And yet, it is not a sampled sound, it's a Bösendorfer grand piano - played on the guitar.
the lyricism of "Alone Is A Golden Stone", the trance like 4/4 groove of "Magnet Resonance" are organically embedded into a context of highly abstract, atonal pieces.
If you're a great instrumentalist, you want to be able to express anything of the instrument, even beyond the instrument. It's not an instrument any more but an expression.
Dave Liebman
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30 January 1990 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Harry Pepl mit Schönberg-Improvisationen“
initials „hmf/fwi“
Report on a record project in progress: on a guitar equipped with MIDI computers and synthesizers, Pepl plays Schoenberg improvisations which after recording are given the sound quality of a concert grand.
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Hardly any difference from piano acoustics can be heard.
Although it is played on the guitar, there is hardly any difference from the acoustic sound of a piano.
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February 1990 · Report · DE
Tschin Bumm (music magazine, technology column, p. 52): „Harry Pepl im Studio: Das Bösendorfer-Projekt“
Studio report on the recordings for “Schönberg Improvations” (PolyGram) at the SingSang studio in Vienna: six studio days, pieces averaging 15 minutes with borrowings from Arnold Schoenberg, entirely without guitar tone, on the Bösendorfer (Vienna piano maker) computer grand piano, with David Liebman, Mino Cinelu and Wolfgang Reisinger. Pepl had played in the parts at home on the Roland MIDI guitar; the studio head Richie Österreicher jr. explains the technology. Only page 52 has survived; the continuation is missing from the scan.
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Harry Pepl is a man like Albert Einstein, a genius whom probably only a handful of people can still follow in his work.
Richie Österreicher jr.
The latest LP by the guitarist, acclaimed worldwide, is: a piano record.
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27 February 1990 · Programme booklet · DE
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, programme booklet, Brahms-Saal (special society concert): Komponistenportrait Harry Pepl, Dienstag, 27. Februar 1990, 19.30 Uhr
editor: Teresa Hrdlicka
Programme booklet for the composer portrait with the Ensemble Kontrapunkte under Peter Keuschnig, with Christine Whittlesey, Pepl on guitar and guitar-to-MIDI system, Josef Pitzek and Rainer Keuschnig; the piano sound comes from the Bösendorfer (Vienna piano maker) computer grand piano. Fifteen pieces were played. The note on the work explains “Instant composing” and names “Grogos” as a commission from the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (the Vienna Musikverein, historic concert hall of the Society of Friends of Music).
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free process of composition, in which the work is already fixed in writing at the very moment in which it is invented
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1991 · Portrait · DE
Kulturpreis des Landes Niederösterreich (Broschüre 1991, Preisträgerdatenbank): „Spontane Klangerlebnisse“ (Anerkennungspreis 1991, Sparte Musik)
Tribute text from the 1991 culture prize brochure on the Lower Austrian Recognition Prize in the music category, now online in the state's database of prizewinners.
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It presents Pepl as a professor in Graz and a composer in demand: a piece for the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet is about to be premiered in Graz in the autumn of 1991, another for the Artis Quartet is planned. For two years he has been composing with his “instant” or “real-time composing”. Pepl admires Mozart, Schoenberg's piano works and Giacinto Scelsi, and has analysed the rhythmic precision of a Bach recording by Glenn Gould on his computer. The text also mentions his two years at Gerhard Bronner's “Fledermaus” bar, the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster), several wins in the Jazz Live readers' poll and Le Monde calling him a “giant of improvisation”.
It is hard to place Harry Pepl anywhere musically, and strictly speaking it is not even necessary.
Pepl, and he leaves no doubt about this in this conversation either, is a musician of the moment.
the leading French newspaper Le Monde crowned him, without further ado, a “giant of improvisation”
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3 August 1991 · Interview · DE
Der Standard (p. 13): „Harrys Schloß der Töne“
Ljubiša Tošić
Preview of the opening concert of the Lower Austrian Jazz Academy at Zeillern Castle on Sunday, 4 August 1991, in which Pepl appears with a quartet.
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Pepl says the programme is still open, perhaps it will be an entirely free affair, and enthuses about the seminar, where music is made all day long in the castle.
I like it when things stay open until the very last moment
In conversation before the opening concert of the jazz academy in Zeillern, Lower Austria, 1991
Harry Pepl
What did I want to avoid? Simply playing any old standards.
Harry Pepl
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25 September 1991 · Press release · DE
OTS (Originaltext-Service der APA), Aussendung des Landes Niederösterreich: „noe kulturpreise 1991 beschlossen: preisueberreichung im stadtsaal zwettl“
The Lower Austrian state government confirmed the state’s culture prizes for 1991 the day before.
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Harry Pepl is listed in the music category among the Förderungspreise (promotion prizes, 25,000 schillings each); the presentation was scheduled at the Stadtsaal in Zwettl.
The following Förderungspreise (encouragement prizes, 25,000 schillings each) were awarded: music: Harry Pepl
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2 December 1991 · Press release · DE
OTS (Originaltext-Service der APA), Niederösterreichische Landeskorrespondenz: „Außergewöhnlicheskonzert zum Abschluß“ (ZeitgeNÖssischer Herbst wurde Publikumserfolg)
Results of the third concert series “ZeitgeNÖssischer Herbst” of the state of Lower Austria (20 September to 28 November 1991, around 11,000 visitors, some 40 premieres).
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The series ended with a highly successful concert by the 1991 Lower Austrian culture prize winner Harry Pepl, whom the release calls a jazz pianist.
It came to a close with a hugely successful concert by this year’s winner of the Lower Austrian Culture Prize, the jazz pianist Harry Pepl.
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6 December 1991 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 11): „NÖ. Herbst: Erfolge mit Neuer Musik“
initials „ws“
Short review of the 1991 ZeitgeNÖssischer Herbst (77 concerts, around 11,000 listeners). Der Standard names as highlights the premiere of Horst Ebenhöh’s “Pfaffenberger Nacht” and the closing concert with Harry Pepl.
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The highlights were the premiere of Horst Ebenhöh’s scenic humoresque “Pfaffenberger Nacht” and the closing concert with Harry Pepl.
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2 April 1992 · Other
Knitting Factory Works, New York (letter): Einladung an das Harry Pepl Quartet für den 2. Juni 1992
Michael Dorf, Director
Letter from the Knitting Factory to Harry Pepl in Hernstein: on behalf of the club management, Michael Dorf invites the Harry Pepl Quartet to perform on 2 June 1992 at 11 p.m. at the club, which he describes as the first venue for avant-garde jazz in New York.
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Shortly afterwards the album “N.Y.C. Impressure” was made in New York.
We think this will be an invaluable opportunity to expose your music to a New York audience.
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12 August 1992 · Report · DE
Kurier (p. 6): „Jazzakademie im Schloß lockt internationale Stars“
Manfred L. Fritscher
Report on the Lower Austrian Jazz Academy at Zeillern Castle, with students mainly from Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Italy.
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Among the teachers, the Kurier names Pepl first, alongside Martin Fuss, Michael Starch, Ines Reiger, Claus Stötter, Joris Dudli, Bobby Dodge and Albert Kreuzer; on Wednesday, 12 August 1992, the teachers play a concert in the castle.
Old master Harry Pepl, guitar guru of the Austrian jazz scene
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13 November 1992 · Report · DE
Der Standard (Seite A9): „Bauernbub spielt im Sweet Basil“
Johann Skocek
Record column on the trombonist Paul Zauner and his Blue Brass Connection. In passing, Skocek reports that a few weeks earlier Zauner had recorded two albums in New York with a new, more contemporary band including Harry Pepl and Harry Sokal.
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That is yet another new band, in which the Austrians Harry Pepl and Harry Sokal, among others, are fiddling along.
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December 1992 · Report · DE
Jazzlive (vol. 10, no. 99/1992): Titelbild Harry Pepl; „Soundknitting. Die farbenfrohen Klangmuster der New Yorker Knitting Factory“
Hannes Schweiger (article); Rainer Rygalyk (cover photo)
The Viennese jazz magazine shows Harry Pepl on its cover, photographed by the publisher Rainer Rygalyk.
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In the issue, Hannes Schweiger describes the history and programme of the New York club Knitting Factory (New York music club for jazz and the avant-garde) and reports that in summer 1992 Pepl played there for an evening with his quartet (Klaus Stötter, Paul Nowinski, JoJo Mayer). Pepl describes how the pace of New York changed the way he plays.
I noticed myself that I play completely differently there than at home.
On his performance at the Knitting Factory, New York’s avant-garde club, in summer 1992
Harry Pepl
The ambience of the club is rather plain. Playing there was really an experience.
On the Knitting Factory, New York’s avant-garde club, where he played in summer 1992
Harry Pepl
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6 May 1993 · Programme booklet · DE
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, programme booklet, Brahms-Saal (Vienna Spring Festival 1993, Artis Quartet, concert 3): Artis-Quartett mit Stefan Vladar, Donnerstag, 6. Mai 1993, 19.30 Uhr
editor: Joachim Reiber
Programme booklet for the evening with Beethoven (Op. 18/4), the world premiere of Pepl’s string quartet “Über kurz oder lang, von der Weite und der Enge” and Brahms’s Piano Quintet.
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The discussion of the work lists commissions, festivals and awards and describes the quartet, written in February 1993, in three parts. The ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) broadcast the concert on Ö1 (the ORF's cultural radio channel) on 12 May.
from Pepl one may only expect the unexpected
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9 May 1993 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 22): „Pepl-Uraufführung beim Artis-Quartett-Zyklus“
Werner Schuster
Concert review of the Artis-Quartett evening in the Brahms Hall, with Brahms’s Piano Quintet and the world premiere of Pepl’s string quartet between Beethoven and Brahms.
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The critic praises the Artis-Quartett and considers the fragile work too good to serve as an interlude between the great pieces.
his work, hesitantly starting again and again, fragile, conveying grief, is too good for use as a sandwich filler
his hesitant, ever re-beginning, fragile work conveying grief is too good to be a sandwich filling.
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19 May 1993 · Report · DE
Der Standard (Seite S5, column „Veranstaltungen zum Vorausplanen“): „Frische Luftpost“
Ljubiša Tošić (initials „tos“)
Listings tip: Air Mail, one of the most successful Austrian bands, has re-formed after a long break, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Harry Pepl, Wolfgang Reisinger and Palle Danielsson on double bass. Concert at the Vienna jazz venue Reigen.
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“Air Mail” was one of the most successful Austrian bands.
Almost everything this country has to offer in jazz of international quality is gathered here.
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30 May 1993 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 21): „Raab-mood - eine Suche“
Peter Klimitsch
Mood report from the first day of the Whitsun jazz festival in Raab (Friday, 28, to Sunday, 30 May 1993) with the Gary Bartz Quartet and Horace Parlan.
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Air Mail played with Jean-Paul Celea (called “Jean-Pierre” in the text) instead of Palle Danielsson on double bass; Pepl is described as „Gitarren-Mastermind“ [“guitar mastermind”].
Airmail, with Jean-Pierre Celea instead of Palle Danielsson on double bass, was devoted to guitar mastermind Harry Pepl.
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17 September 1993 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 10): „Schwarz & hart, erdig & kantig“ (Komponist Paul Zauner erkundet „Die Innviertler Seele“ musikalisch)
Christian Schachinger
Preview of the project “Die Innviertler Seele” at the Festival der Regionen: Paul Zauner brings American and Viennese jazz musicians, among them George Lewis, Gene Jackson, Harry Pepl and Christian Radovan, together with Innviertel zither music and a traditional brass band. Dates: 23 September 1993 at the Gasthof Zwink in Aspach, 24 September at the multi-purpose hall in Obernberg and 25 September at Zell an der Pram Castle.
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Among others, the US trombonist George Lewis, Gene Jackson, who works with Herbie Hancock, as well as the guitarist Harry Pepl and the trombonist Christian Radovan will be exposed to a very special kind of culture clash.
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1994 · Review · DE
magazine (title not preserved), record review: Harry Pepl Quartet: „N.Y.C. Impressure“
Record review of “N.Y.C. Impressure” (Extraplatte (Vienna independent label) EX 203-2, recorded 6/92 at the Active Recording Studio, New York): according to the review, Pepl, a native of Lower Austria, has been experimenting with the MIDI guitar for years, and his new hobbyhorse is real-time composing. The album is said to reflect the mood, colours and rhythmic density of New York, realised with Claus Stötter, Paul Nowinski and Jojo Mayer. Rating (8).
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The Lower Austrian Harry Pepl loves the battle with “Bits and Bytes”.
His latest hobby-horse goes by the name of “real-time-composing”.
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1994 · Other
Amadeo, Vienna (CD-Booklet, 523 570-2): Abstract Truth: „Beginnings“ (Booklet)
Booklet of the CD “Beginnings” with all eight tracks, timings, composers and line-ups: Harry Pepl (guitar, guitar synthesiser), John Purcell (tenor saxophone, flute, saxello), Kenny Davis (bass), Ronnie Burrage (drums, synthesiser), Paul Zauner (trombone).
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It also contains Colette Oswald’s band photo on the Bow Bridge in Central Park, New York, a cover painting by Margit Taus, design by Andreas Ortag, a long list of thanks (state of Upper Austria, Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs, American Music Project, musicians such as George Lewis and Harry Sokal), a remembrance of George Adams and Carter Jefferson and the note “Harry Pepl plays PRS guitars and Tomastik strings”. No recording date is given.
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1994 · Review · DE
Buchkultur (Vienna): Musiktipp „Harry Pepl Quartet: N. Y. C. imPressure“
The Viennese magazine Buchkultur recommends the album “N.Y.C.
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Impressure” by the Harry Pepl Quartet: recorded after a concert in New York City, it conveys the impressions of the four musicians. The tip appears next to new releases by the Austrian singer-songwriter Hans Söllner and the band Hole.
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16 February 1994 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur): „‚Strings‘ - Ein Jazzfestival der Saiten“
initials „hmf/gg“
Programme presentation of the Graz jazz festival “Graz Meeting ’94” (19 to 21 April 1994, Orpheum) on the theme of string instruments, with Joe Pass, John Abercrombie, Bill Frisell, Derek Bailey, the String Trio of New York, Wolfgang Muthspiel and the trio Kühn, Jenny-Clark, Humair. Pepl plays in a quartet with Wolfgang Puschnig.
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Nor must one of the most experimental and versatile Austrian jazz guitarists be missing: Harry Pepl
Austria Presse Agentur
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7 May 1994 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Verständigungen über den Gartenzaun“ (Jazz-Gitarristen: Harry Pepls Comeback, Ray Cooder, Doctor Blocher, Bill Frisell)
Wolfgang Gratzer
Short review of the new album: the reviewer writes that Pepl, one of the continent’s most individual guitarists, is stepping out of his seclusion with his quartet recorded in New York (Claus Stöttner, Paul Nowinski, Jojo Mayer).
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Thanks to cleverly pre-planned pieces and compelling solos, the author counts the record among the most exciting things produced in Austria in recent years.
The Viennese Harry Pepl, who counts among the most distinctive guitarists on the continent
is among the most exciting things produced in this country in recent years.
recorded an album which, thanks to its so cleverly conceived tracks, ploughed through with compelling solos, ranks among the most exciting things produced in this country in recent years.
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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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27 May 1994 · Review · DE
Der Standard: „Der Groove-Professor gibt sich recht unberechenbar“
Ljubiša Tošić
Record review of “N.Y.C. Impressure”: the funky rhythm section plays flat out, and after years dominated by play with sound, Pepl’s guitar is again recognisable as a guitar sound, with the MIDI guitar serving only as an atmospheric addition.
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Tošić hears a groovy affair with a rock-style distorted tone and highly individual phrasing; sound quality very good.
On N.Y.C. Impressure his guitar sound is once again recognisable as such.
Of course his phrasing is once again highly individual, which means: appealing and pleasantly unpredictable.
And so it may well happen that the guitar professor shines with a rock-distorted sound.
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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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28 July 1994 · Portrait · DE
Neue Kronen-Zeitung (Styria edition, p. 22): „Rastloser Grenzgänger“
Bernd Schmidt
Short portrait on the CD “N.Y.C. Im-Pressure” with Claus Stötter, Paul Nowinski and Jojo Mayer. Pepl explains his Real-time Composing, mentions projects with Günter Meinhart and STUDIO PERCUSSION and talks about his studio in Hernstein.
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Versatility is as much a part of Pepl as his turn to different (compositional) techniques.
In doing so, while playing the instrument, I record what is present in my consciousness during the creative process.
In 1994, on his Real-time Composing, in a portrait in the Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s largest-circulation daily
Harry Pepl
He remains a crosser of borders, this Harry Pepl.
only influenced by the New York street noises, by the loud life in this gigantic city.
On how his album “N.Y.C. Impressure” came about, 1994
Harry Pepl
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24 December 1994 · Report · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 7): „Österreichs Jazz hält seine Freunde auf Trab“
Wolfgang Lamprecht
Annual review of Austrian jazz in 1994, covering Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club), labels and CD productions. Pepl appears only in a subordinate clause: the author names “N.Y.C. impressure” his jazz album of the year.
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the (for the author of these lines) Austrian jazz album of the year, “N.Y.C. impressure”, by and with Harry Pepl
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28 December 1994 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Jazz-Splitter“
initials „hmf/gg“
Short report: for his band Abstract Truth the trombonist Paul Zauner has recruited John Purcell, Kenny Davis, Ronnie Burrage and Harry Pepl; the album “Beginnings” ranges from fusion to avant-garde.
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The result, from fusion to avant-garde: “Beginnings”.
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19 August 1995 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Könnte Jazz sein“ (Neues von Österreichern)
Wolfgang Gratzer
CD column on Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Wolfgang Mitterer.
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Gratzer recalls a Jeunesse evening by the Jazzzwio, which made it as far as the Montreux Jazz Festival, calls the album “Gegenwind” a collector’s item and reviews Pepl’s roughly 20-minute commissioned work “Anspannen, Überspannen, Abspannen” for STUDIO PERCUSSION graz (Extraplatte 242-2), underlaid with a tape Pepl recorded on MIDI guitar.
were, in their day, attuned to one another in the most original improvising manner
Thus five sound pictures open up whose colourful motion exerts a considerable pull
were back then attuned to each other in the most original improvising way. Their “Gegenwind” album now turns out to be a collector’s item.
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5 November 1995 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 26): Plattenkritik zu „Abstract Truth - Beginnings“
initials „CT“ (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
Review of the CD “Beginnings” by Abstract Truth (PAO Records, Taufkirchen an der Pram, supported by the state of Upper Austria): music for quiet hours, in which Pepl shapes the two-part melody group and electronically steers his instrument from vibraphone to organ registers.
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In the two-part melody group, guitarist Harry Pepl is the defining creative force.
Kürzel CT (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
He controls his instrument electronically, from the vibraphone to the organ register.
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1996 · Press release · DE
information sheet (press kit, 5 pages): Infos Harry PEPL
Undated biographical information sheet, produced in 1996 at the earliest.
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It contains a short biography, collaborations, festivals and a discography, the method of Real-time Composing and a list of works with premieres for Ensemble Wien, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, Kronos Quartet, STUDIO PERCUSSION and Artis-Quartett.
has come to the fore since 1984 as a composer of European contemporary art music
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1996 · Other
PAO Records (CD-Booklet, CD 10140-2): Booklettext zu „Flow“
Stephen Ferguson
English liner notes by the pianist and composer Stephen Ferguson for Harry Pepl’s solo piano album “Flow”, recorded digitally in a single take on Sunday, 10 March 1996, in the Brahms Hall of the Vienna Musikverein.
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Ferguson calls Pepl “a musician who hears”, who immediately translates what he hears into music from his own fingers and his own voice; on the guitar he is “one of Europe’s undisputed jazz masters”, on the piano a virtual stranger, which is exactly what gives the music its magic. He hears “a dream played awake”, a pure music played without technique, only with musicality and flow, a response to the big black Steinway in the acoustics of the Musikverein, and in it the pianistic heroes Gould, Jarrett, Debussy, Cecil Taylor, Bach, Schoenberg and Schubert. Pepl has the jazz man’s joy of real-time composition; the titles are chosen for personal reasons (childhood, “High Noon”, Gould). It closes with the master of the strings as “a masterly novice full of music”. The booklet also names Ferguson as editor (with Daniel Pepl) and as translator of Georg Pepl’s text. The text is available as a text PDF for signed-in users.
his very own instrument–the guitar–where he is one of Europe’s undisputed jazz masters
Harry Pepl is a musician who hears. He has that seldom gift–to immediately translate what he hears into music coming from his own fingers, into music coming from his own voice.
It is a dream played awake, full of snatches of music, gestures, spaces.
he is simply unafraid of any musical task, and has the jazz man’s joy of real time composition.
Let us simply enjoy the novelty and richness of this master of the strings becoming a novice at the keyboard, a masterly novice full of music, in a fast stream of rhythms and thematic lines, flowing.
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1996 · Other · DE
PAO Records (CD-Booklet, CD 10140-2): Booklettext zu „Flow“
Georg Pepl
Liner notes by Georg Pepl, musicologist and Harry Pepl’s elder son, for the solo piano album “Flow” (recorded on Sunday, 10 March 1996, in the Brahms Hall of the Vienna Musikverein), printed in the booklet also in Stephen Ferguson’s English translation.
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The text presents the improviser at the piano as an image of isolation and of freedom and draws a line from Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s free fantasias via Mozart and Beethoven to jazz, which built dams against the “flood of improvisation”. He reads the flowing that gives the album its name through Rousseau’s “Reveries of the Solitary Walker”, Goethe’s “Werther”, Freud’s “oceanic feeling” and Herbert Marcuse. At the piano Pepl enjoys losing himself in the moment, the notes stream out “all by themselves, as silent water or as a flow”; in “Grace & Gary” and “2 Klavierpianos” he improvised a second piano track over the first. On the titles: “Man könnte Klavierspielen müssen” as a reminiscence of Glenn Gould, “Improv 2” of Schubert’s impromptus, “Grace & Gary” of the film “High Noon”; on “3 Mo” he quotes Pepl himself (“mothy, momenty, minory”). The German text is freely available as a text PDF, Ferguson’s English version for signed-in users.
While playing the piano Harry Pepl enjoys being able to elevate himself to the mood of the moment, or to plunge into a different sense of being. The notes are independent, streaming out all by themselves, as silent water or as a flow.
Just looking at the titles of his pieces one recognises that Pepl is a deeply musical and romantic artist. Musically his playing is related to language itself, he has listened to its rhythms and double meanings.
The improvising pianist flows out into the world of tones, the piano player melts into oneness with the piano, desists in his identity as a subjective entity.
3 Mo stands for mothy, momenty, minory. Mothy because the music sounds as if the moths are waiting to pounce.
Word play on his piano piece “3 Mo” from the album “Flow” (1996): three German adjectives beginning with “mo”, echoing Motten (moths), Moll (minor key) and Moment
Harry Pepl
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26 February 1996 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 16): „Mythos und Zielpunkte“
Review of two CDs by Günter Meinhart’s STUDIO PERCUSSION graz.
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Extraplatte 242, with pieces by Pepl, Wolfgang Muthspiel and Armin Pokorn, offers in the reviewer’s words colourful, electronically supported expression; Pepl wrote „albträumerische Filmmusik“ [“nightmarish film music”].
Richly coloured, electronically supported expression with an enormous range
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25 April 1996 · Interview · DE
Tiroler Tageszeitung (culture section): „Den Musikern vorsingen, mit ihnen atmen“ (Werner Pirchner feiert in Kufstein sein Debüt als Konzertdirigent)
Rainer Lepuschitz
Interview with Werner Pirchner before his debut as a concert conductor with the Camerata academica in Kufstein.
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The article recalls that exactly 20 years earlier Pirchner had given his first concert as a vibraphonist in Kufstein, with the Jazzzwio together with Harry Pepl.
For it was in Kufstein, exactly 20 years ago, that he also gave his first concert as a vibraphonist with the JazzZwio, together with Harry Pepl.
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18 October 1996 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 706): Veranstaltungstipp „Ballett“ (steirischer herbst: 13. Jugendmusikfest Deutschlandsberg)
initials „knei“
Listings note: at the 13th Jugendmusikfest Deutschlandsberg, part of the steirischer herbst (festival of contemporary art in Styria), Pepl’s “Exzentrik Egometrik” is premiered at the Laßnitzhaus on Saturday, 19 October 1996, and repeated on Sunday, 20 October, played by the Altenberg Trio. Afterwards the Österreichisches Ballett Theater presents Ernst Widmer’s “Die letzte Blume”.
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Harry Pepl’s “Exzentrik - Egometrik” will receive its premiere.
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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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11 November 1997 · Report · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 4, column „Jazzignal“): „Musikleckerbissen bei Inntönen“
Christian Rösner
Preview of Paul Zauner’s INNtöne festival at Zell an der Pram Castle (November and December 1997).
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The highlight on 5 and 6 December brings together Michel Portal, Alvin Batiste, Steve Shehan, Woody Schabata, Jon Christensen, David Gilmore and Harry Pepl, who has just released a CD on PAO Records on which he plays piano instead of guitar.
let it be said straight away, Pepl does not play guitar but piano
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9 December 1997 · Review · DE
OÖ Nachrichten (culture section): „Wiederholt wechselnde Bündnisse“
Robert Urmann
Review of the INNtöne festival weekend at Zell an der Pram Castle with some 26 musicians in around 14 changing line-ups.
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Urmann misses a concept but praises the Motus string quartet, the Gospel Harmoniers and Pepl, who played piano and drums and created outstanding moments on guitar with Michel Portal.
The piano and drum playing of the guitarist Harry Pepl attracted attention.
As a string player he created fabulous special moments with Michel Portal, who phrased with a keen sense of sound on bass clarinet and soprano.
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10 December 1997 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 28): „Gemeinsame Jazzsprache“
Chris Thommark
Review of INNtöne in the baroque hall of Zell an der Pram Castle: Alvin Batiste as the integrating figure, Michel Portal as mediator, Franz Hackl accompanying Pepl’s piano impressions on trumpet.
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Trumpeter Franz Hackl soulfully accentuated Harry Pepl’s piano impressions
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10 December 1997 · Review · DE
Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt (p. 28): „World Groove Music mitten im Innviertel“
Harald Liehmann
Report from the INNtöne weekend: on the first evening Pepl plays first piano, then drums with the trumpeter Franz Hackl; on the second evening he joins the session of Michel Portal and Stephen Kent with Wolfgang Reisinger and Steve Shehan on piano and guitar.
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After that Harry Pepl played, first on piano, then on drums, while Franz Hackl stayed with his trumpet.
Their joy in playing carried over seamlessly to the audience.
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1998 · Encyclopaedia · DE
Kulturpreis Niederösterreich (Preisträgerdatenbank des Landes): „Bewusster Grenzgänger“ (Harry Pepl, Würdigungspreis 1998 Musik)
Tribute text for the 1998 prize of honour for music. It traces Pepl as a boundary-crosser between jazz and New Music, from the Austrian Evergreens via the Fledermaus bar and the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) and the professorship in Graz to composing in real time.
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Exploring the limits was obviously always his endeavour.
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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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April 1998 · Interview · DE
Concerto (music magazine), issue 2/1998: „Man könnte Klavierspielen müssen“
Martin Schuster
Interview in the Café Museum in Vienna, conducted in connection with the solo piano CD “Flow”.
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Pepl talks about his beginnings, the Jazzzwio, the brief engagement with Benny Goodman, Real-time Composing and MIDI technology, and announces reissues of “Gegenwind” and “Montreux 81”.
I wanted you to be able to hear the room on the CD as well.
Harry Pepl
My main problem is my high blood pressure. Another contradiction: on the outside I may seem calm, but inside it races around in me like mad.
Talking to Martin Schuster of the Austrian music magazine Concerto in 1998, at the Café Museum in Vienna, around the time of his piano album “Flow”. Pepl speaks openly and with self-irony about the blood pressure that kept him off the stage from 1994/95, and about the contrast between outward calm and inner high voltage
Harry Pepl
I am a man of contrasts, often very funny or ironic and then very sad again. You can probably hear that in my playing too
Talking to Martin Schuster (Concerto, an Austrian music magazine) at the Café Museum in Vienna in 1998; the interviewer describes how Pepl speaks in a deep, gentle voice, giggles at a bon mot and turns serious again the next moment
Harry Pepl
For me music means emotions and memories. And even when I play something I don’t much like, my blood pressure goes up, because then it gets on my nerves.
In Concerto in 1998, about the guitar, which he did not touch for a long time after 1994 because he feared the excitement; „auf den Wecker gehen“ (literally “to get on one’s alarm clock”) is colloquial German for “to get on one’s nerves”, and the remark is self-ironic. At the piano he then found a new freedom
Harry Pepl
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8 September 1998 · Press release · DE
OTS (Originaltext-Service der APA), Niederösterreichische Landeskorrespondenz: „NÖ Landesregierung beschloß Kulturpreise 1998“
On Tuesday, 8 September 1998, the Lower Austrian state government decides the state’s culture prizes.
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In the music category Harry Pepl receives the Würdigungspreis (prize of honour, 150,000 schillings); recognition prizes go to Friedrich Keil and Elisabeth Schimana. The presentation is planned for 21 October at the Shedhalle in St. Pölten.
Music: Harry Pepl (Würdigungspreis, prize of honour)
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30 September 1998 · Press release · DE
OTS (Originaltext-Service der APA), Niederösterreichische Landeskorrespondenz: „NÖ Kulturpreisüberreichung 1998 in St.Pölten“
Announcement of the prize presentation by Governor Erwin Pröll on Wednesday, 21 October 1998, at 2 pm in the Shedhalle in St. Pölten’s cultural district, with an exhibition of the prizewinners until 22 November.
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In the musical programme Pepl plays “Tintenfishinky”.
The music prizewinners are represented by Harry Pepl, who performs “Tintenfishinky”
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21 October 1998 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur): „Niederösterreichische Kulturpreise 1998 verliehen“
initials „we/wea“
Report on the presentation of the 1998 Lower Austrian culture prizes in the Shedhalle in St. Pölten on Wednesday, 21 October 1998, with the speech by Governor Erwin Pröll and the complete list of prizewinners; in the music category Harry Pepl receives the Würdigungspreis (prize of honour).
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3 November 1998 · Report · DE
Kurier (p. 10, local news section, column „Landsleute“): „Auszeichnung für den musikalischen Jazz-Grenzgänger Harry Pepl“
initials „flo“
Brief news item about the 53-year-old guitarist and pianist from Hernstein, listing companions such as Toni Stricker, André Heller and the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster).
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It also mentions the Le Monde phrase about the „Giganten der Improvisation“ [“giants of improvisation”] and the German Record Critics’ Awards. The text does not say which award the headline refers to.
What matters is finding your own individual line, and for that it is practise, practise, practise
Harry Pepl
The 53-year-old guitarist and pianist of world renown from Hernstein captivates jazz lovers with extraordinary, spontaneous and innovative sounds.
I feel committed to musical truthfulness
In 1998, on receiving the culture prize of the province of Lower Austria
Harry Pepl
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December 1998 · Report · DE
Das Waldviertel, Jahrgang 47, Heft 4 (p. 408): Kulturpreise des Landes Niederösterreich 1998 (nach NÖ Landeskorrespondenz, 22.10.1998)
List of the prizewinners of the 1998 culture prizes of the state of Lower Austria (award of the State of Lower Austria for the arts and culture), based on a release from the NÖ Landeskorrespondenz of 22 October 1998.
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In the music category Harry Pepl receives the prize of honour, while Friedrich Keil and Elisabeth Schimana receive recognition prizes.
Music: Harry Pepl (prize of honour), Friedrich Keil and Elisabeth Schimana (recognition prizes)
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30 July 1999 · Portrait · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 915, Ressort Extra): „Die Kraft der Statik“
Christian Rösner
Portrait of the guitarist Martin Siewert (born 1972 in Saarbrücken) before his appearance at the Saalfelden jazz festival.
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According to the article, Siewert was taught by Harry Pepl at the jazz department of the Graz music academy (today the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz) from 1992 to 1997.
from 1992 to 1997 he was taught by Harry Pepl in the jazz department of the Graz University of Music
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25 August 1999 · Portrait · DE
Falter (p. 53): „Wenn Gitarren schreien“
Klaus Taschwer (Mitarbeit: Carsten Fastner)
Portrait of Martin Siewert, one of the outstanding musicians of the young Austrian improvisation scene. After laborious years of study, it was his encounter with Pepl, with whom he then studied in Graz, that brought the turning point.
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No idea what would have become of me if I hadn’t met Harry.
Martin Siewert
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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”.
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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. The biography also mentions seminars at the Hamburg music university, the promotion prize (1991) and the honorary prize (1998) of the State of Lower Austria, the quarterly list of the German Record Critics’ Award for the ECM albums of 1983 and 1988, awards from French record critics for “Turbulence” and “Men’s Land” with Michel Portal, festivals in Leverkusen, Ancona and Le Mans, and the Royal Festival Hall in London.
“Le Monde” called Pepl a giant of improvisation.
Art has the task not merely to negate the tendencies of the time, but also to sharpen them.
From his text on “Zeitraffer” for the programme “Einkreisung” at the Essl Collection, a private museum of contemporary art in Klosterneuburg near Vienna, 2000
Harry Pepl
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5 April 2000 · Review · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 18, culture): „Im Zentrum der Einkreisung“ (Uraufführung von Harry Pepls grandiosem „Zeitraffer“ im Schömer-Haus)
Ewald Baringer
Review of the premiere of “Zeitraffer” for percussion ensemble and tape on Saturday, 1 April 2000, at the Schömer-Haus in Klosterneuburg (Lower Austria, Austria), in the concert series of the Essl Collection.
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The six musicians of STUDIO PERCUSSION graz played on the circular galleries around the audience; Baringer heard a deeply feeling, very contemporary musician and hoped the piece would come out on CD.
A truly brilliant stroke by the legendary guitarist and composer.
A play with waves and tides, in the pull of the speed of the moment
On his work “Zeitraffer”, 2000
Harry Pepl
This was no bloodless composer at work, but a deeply feeling, very contemporary musician who has emotion and creative intelligence equally at his disposal.
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26 November 2000 · Review · DE
Neue Zeit (p. 38, culture): „Die Moderne in der Perkussion“
Andreas Fellinger
Review of an evening of Berndt Luef’s “Autumn Concerts” at the Forum Stadtpark in Graz (Austria): STUDIO PERCUSSION graz, just back from a drum festival in Seoul, played works by Adriana Hölszky and Iannis Xenakis and Pepl’s “Zeitraffer” with tape.
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ORF (Austria’s public broadcaster) recorded the concert for its programme “Zeit-Ton”.
a brilliant, atmospherically dense, wildly grooving “Zeitraffer” by Harry Pepl
Harry Pepl’s brilliant, atmospherically dense, wildly grooving “Zeitraffer”
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2001 · Review · DE
Concerto (music magazine), issue 5/2001, p. 54: „Fünf Variationen österreichischer Jazzkunst“ (Austrian Jazzart)
Jörg Weitlaner
Joint review of the first five CDs of Universal Music’s Austrian Jazzart series (reissues of Austrian jazz albums).
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First comes “Light Blues” by Air Mail, the quartet’s second and last record, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Wolfgang Reisinger and Mike Richmond. Pepl describes the band’s “telepathic understanding”; the review quotes from the liner notes (by Andreas Felber according to Discogs) his playing “marked by rough, jagged cascades of notes” and highlights the then still young MIDI technology. For Wolfgang Puschnig’s “Pieces Of The Dream” (No. 5) Pepl is named among the duo partners.
playing marked by rough, jagged cascades of notes
Andreas Felber
The interplay of the whole band, in which we had developed a telepathic understanding, was what made Airmail special for me.
Looking back in 2001 on his quartet Air Mail
Harry Pepl
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11 August 2001 · Report · DE
Kurier (p. 29, culture): „Alpen-Zappa, Jazzstar und großer Komponist“ (Nachruf auf Werner Pirchner)
Gunther Baumann
Obituary of Werner Pirchner, who after his film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes” put the camera aside, took up the vibraphone and founded with Pepl the duo that became known as the “jazz orchestra with two men”.
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With Harry Pepl on guitar he founded the legendary “jazz orchestra with two men”
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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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27 October 2001 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung (culture, Jazz-News): „Auferstehung“
Otmar Klammer
Column on the launch of Universal’s series “The Austrian Jazzart”, which makes out-of-print or never released recordings of Austrian jazz available again. The first batch includes the Air Mail album “Light Blues”.
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the legendary “Light Blues” by Harry Pepl’s “Airmail”. Wonderful.
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28 December 2001 · Report · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 11, culture): „Christian Rösner - ein Superuser zwischen den Zeilen“
Portrait of the music journalist Christian Rösner. He recalls that after school he wanted to study jazz guitar in Graz because everyone was talking about Pepl at the time, and that from 1996 onwards he and Georg Friesenbichler sampled Pepl’s recordings and laid grooves under them.
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At that time everyone was talking about Harry Pepl.
Christian Rösner
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2002 · Report · DE
treibhaus Innsbruck (programme note): „DuoDue: Muthspiel & Muthspiel spielen die Musik von Pirchner & Pepl“
Andreas Felber
Programme text by Andreas Felber for the concert of the brothers Wolfgang and Christian Muthspiel with their programme “Muthspiel & Muthspiel play Pepl-Pirchner” at the treibhaus Innsbruck (cultural centre in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria).
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Wolfgang Muthspiel recalls a concert by Pirchner and Pepl in Graz in 1982 as a formative experience; until 1986 Pepl was his teacher at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. Christian Muthspiel describes what the Jazzzwio showed him. Werner Pirchner congratulated the brothers on their first duo record “Schneetanz” with a postcard, without knowing them personally.
When Pirchner/Pepl played, it was an event. I personally still remember Pepl’s avalanche-like improvisations very well, where things always somehow got ‘dangerous’, hot. His immense rhythmic power was unbelievable.
During my studies, standards and the academic jazz repertoire were held in high esteem. Through the ‘Jazz-Zwio’ I learned that in this music you really could do exactly what you wanted yourself.
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2002 · Report · DE
Concerto (music magazine), issue 5/2002, p. 40: „24. Internationales Jazzfest Saalfelden“
Andreas Felber
Festival report by Andreas Felber (photos: Herbert Höpfl) on the 24th Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Salzburg, Austria) in August 2002.
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Felber singles out the homage by the brothers Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel to the Jazzzwio of Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl, disbanded in 1985: close to the originals, they turned pieces from the three vibraphone and guitar albums into calm mood pictures, including “Raga in M”. For Felber, proof that this music is developing its own traditions in Europe too.
They offered an impressive homage to the “Jazzzwio” of Werner Pirchner/Harry Pepl, disbanded in 1985: the brothers Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel.
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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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24 July 2002 · Report · DE
Kurier (p. 26, culture): „Im Gedenken an einen Grenzgenialen“ (Werner Pirchners Nachlass bei „Glatt & Verkehrt“)
initials „Ros“
Preview of the Pirchner concerts at the Glatt & Verkehrt festival in Krems (Lower Austria, Austria) from 28 July 2002. Pepl, Pirchner’s partner on guitar in the 1970s and 1980s, describes him as someone who liked to try out unusual things.
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a bit crazy, and he liked trying out funny things
On Werner Pirchner, his partner in the Jazzzwio, 2002
Harry Pepl
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27 July 2002 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 30, Szenario): „Urwüchsiges Material“ (Werner-Pirchner-Schwerpunkt beim Festival „Glatt & Verkehrt“)
Andreas Felber
Preview of the Pirchner evening on Sunday, 28 July 2002, in the Minoritenkirche in Krems-Stein.
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Felber recalls the Jazzzwio’s triumphs on Europe’s festival stages; Christian Muthspiel explains why the brothers’ duo stays close to the originals on the three Jazzzwio records.
celebrated triumphs on Europe’s festival stages in the Jazz-Zwio with the guitarist Harry Pepl
Precisely because the energy of the Zwio cannot be separated from the actual pieces and compositions
Christian Muthspiel
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26 August 2002 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 10, culture): „Grooven nach Mitternacht“ (Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2002)
Clemens Panagl
Report from the 24th International Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Salzburg, Austria). On Saturday, 24 August 2002, Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel paid tribute to Pepl and Pirchner and showed how relevant the Pirchner and Pepl oeuvre still is.
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Avalanches of sound also characterise the playing of the Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl.
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28 November 2002 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 14, culture): „Heimweh, Jodler und Zwiefache“
initials „PAC“
Short review of Wolfgang and Christian Muthspiel’s homage to the Jazzzwio on Tuesday, 26 November 2002, at the Ziegelstadel in Hallein (Salzburg, Austria).
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It starts from the Jazzzwio piece “Homesick”, whose homesickness leaves open whether it is for faraway places or for home itself.
the duo also made audible the timeless aesthetic qualities of a music that has lost nothing of its relevance
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1 December 2002 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 66, culture): „Reflexionen“
Otmar Klammer
Preview of the Muthspiel & Muthspiel concert on Sunday, 1 December 2002, at the music school in Deutschlandsberg (Styria, Austria).
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Klammer recalls that Pirchner once invented the name of the Graz concert promoter gamsbART, and calls the Jazzzwio a myth and the brothers’ own point of departure.
the legendary “Jazz-Zwio”, which the vibraphonist Pirchner turned into a myth in the mid-seventies together with the splendid guitarist Harry Pepl
which the vibraphonist Pirchner, together with the splendid guitarist Harry Pepl, turned into a myth in the mid-seventies.
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24 January 2003 · Review · DE
Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung (p. 41, culture): „Diffizile Jazz-Spielereien“
Martin Juen
Review of the concert by the Wolfgang Muthspiel Trio with Marc Johnson and Brian Blade on Wednesday, 22 January 2003, at the Spielboden in Dornbirn (Vorarlberg, Austria), opening the “Jazz&” series.
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Alongside Thelonious Monk and Vince Mendoza, Muthspiel paid tribute to his teacher Pepl in the programme.
Muthspiel’s most formative teacher, Harry Pepl
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19 November 2003 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 12, Szenario): „Die Muthspiels - auf den Spuren eines Zwios“
initials „tos“
Preview of the Vienna concert of Muthspiel & Muthspiel at the Porgy & Bess in the twentieth year of their duo, with Pirchner’s film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes”.
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The text praises the Jazzzwio as an irresistible combination of subtlety and intensity on a chamber-music basis.
Pepl’s guitar, whose notes could sound gentle but also strike with nerve-shredding force, remains unrivalled to this day, and not only in Austria.
Ljubiša Tošić
Pepl & Pirchner, that was once one of those irresistible jazz combinations that knew how to unite musical subtlety and intensity on a chamber-music foundation.
Ljubiša Tošić
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22 November 2003 · Report · DE
Tiroler Tageszeitung (p. 61): „Jazz gegen Oberflächlichkeit“
Preview of the Muthspiel & Muthspiel concert on Saturday, 22 November 2003, at the Treibhaus in Innsbruck (Tyrol, Austria).
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Christian Muthspiel tells how the Jazzzwio showed him artistic freedom beyond the academic standard repertoire; Wolfgang Muthspiel calls the duo’s concerts the spark for his own career.
When the two of them played, it was an event. The immense rhythmic power was incredible
Wolfgang Muthspiel
Through the Jazz-Zwio I learned that in this music you really could do exactly what you wanted yourself
Christian Muthspiel
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22 November 2003 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 30): „Nostalgische Bruderschaft“ (Muthspiel und Muthspiel im Grazer M59)
initials „ME“
Review of Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel’s evening at the Graz jazz club M59 in Münzgrabenstraße 59 with compositions by Pirchner, the film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes” and the programme “Early Music”.
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At the same venue the brothers had heard the Jazzzwio as young listeners.
25 years ago the Muthspiel brothers themselves sat in the audience at Münzgrabenstraße 59 and marvelled at Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl.
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17 December 2003 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 30, culture): „Exzellente Musiker und exzellente Musik“ (Österreichische Jazz-Produktionen 2003)
Werner Rosenberger
Review of the year’s Austrian jazz releases with gift tips. From the “Austrian Jazzart” series Rosenberger singles out the concert recording “Live at Miles Smiles” by Pepl, Pirchner and Georg Polansky.
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Very lively, too, an almost historic live recording, “Live at Miles Smiles”
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18 May 2004 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 12, culture): „JAZZ“ (Wolfgang Muthspiel: „Air, Love & Vitamins“)
Short review of Wolfgang Muthspiel’s trio album “Air, Love & Vitamins” (Quinton Records) with Marc Johnson and Brian Blade, whose title comes from Pepl’s composition, with concert dates in Salzburg, Freistadt and Vienna.
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The title comes from a composition by the grand old master of jazz guitar, Harry Pepl
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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.
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It covers the collaboration with the Vienna Art Orchestra and the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster), 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 (German award for outstanding recordings, chosen by a jury of critics) in 1983 and 1988 as well as Lower Austrian state prizes.
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31 August 2004 · Review · DE
Der Standard (p. 24, culture): „Sicherheitsdenken und ‚positive Signale‘“ (Ausklang des Jazzfestivals Saalfelden 2004)
Andreas Felber
Report from the Saalfelden jazz festival 2004. In one of his rare solo concerts, on Sunday, 29 August 2004, Wolfgang Muthspiel reflected, among other things, the playing of his teacher Pepl.
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the rugged rhapsodic style of a Harry Pepl
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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.
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one of Austria’s most creative jazz musicians
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6 November 2004 · Review · DE
APA-Basisdienst (APA0059, culture): „‚Es fehlen die Visionäre‘: Dennoch hohes Niveau im heimischen Jazz“ (Salzburger Jazzherbst 2004)
Christoph Lindenbauer
Assessment of the Austrian concerts at the ninth Salzburger Jazzherbst (jazz festival in Salzburg, Austria).
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As one of two truly risky projects the APA (Austria Presse Agentur, national news agency) names the “Habanero” slide show, in which young horn players improvised to Pepl’s sounds and Rainer Rygalyk’s pictures.
The photographer Rainer Rygalyk and the former world-class guitarist Harry Pepl invited young horn players to improvise over sampled sounds and pictures.
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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 (Austria's public broadcaster) 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).
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The former rector of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, 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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December 2005 · Obituary
Intervals, Newsletter von David Liebman (Website): „Passings: Harry Pepl“, Intervals Volume 14, Nr. 1
Dave Liebman
Obituary by the American saxophonist Dave Liebman in the “Passings” section of his newsletter “Intervals”, published on his website upbeat.com/lieb (later daveliebman.com) a few weeks after Pepl’s death.
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Liebman calls Pepl a “groundbreaking guitarist” with whom he recorded several times and recalls their first recording together with the drummer Wolfgang Reisinger: from his guitar, via the computer, Pepl played a Bösendorfer grand piano (Bösendorfer is the Viennese piano maker) whose keys were moving by themselves. He is referring to “Schönberg Improvations” (recorded in November 1989). His verdict: “This was in the 80’s-far ahead!!” In the same section he pays tribute to Shirley Horn, Steve Marcus and Richard Pryor. The page survives only in the Internet Archive.
a groundbreaking guitarist that I had the pleasure to have recorded with several times … He had a Busendorfer piano playing music programmed from his computer-the keys were moving, the sound was a piano but it had come from the guitar. This was in the 80’s-far ahead!!
The American saxophonist Dave Liebman in December 2005, a few weeks after Pepl’s death, in the obituary section of “Intervals”, the newsletter on his website. He recalls recording “Schönberg Improvations” in 1989 with Wolfgang Reisinger: Pepl played a Bösendorfer computer grand piano (Bösendorfer is the Viennese piano maker) from his MIDI guitar, its keys moving by themselves (Liebman spells it “Busendorfer”)
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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.
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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.
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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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5 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
APA-Basisdienst (APA0621, culture): „Österreichischer Jazzgitarrist Harry Pepl 60-jährig gestorben“ (Spielte mit vielen internationalen Größen)
APA (initials whl/cm)
News agency report from the day of his death, Monday, 5 December 2005, 5.31 pm, on which many newspapers relied the next day.
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It mentions his guitar studies at the Vienna Academy of Music, his teaching in Graz from 1977 and his professorship from 1984 to 1995, the Pirchner-Pepl-JazzZwio, real-time composing and partners such as the Benny Goodman Quintet, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi and Michel Portal; the rector Otto Kolleritsch honours Pepl as an “exceptional figure”.
Pepl was regarded as a musical border-crosser whose music impressed with its vitality, density and emotion.
gifted guitarist
Otto Kolleritsch
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6 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Der Standard (p. 25, culture): „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.
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It names Erich Kleinschuster, the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster), the duo with Werner Pirchner, Dave Liebman, Jack DeJohnette, Benny Goodman and the Real-time Composing method with the internationally renowned 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
over the years he developed a complex musical style that worked with highly expressive, very individual polytonal melody and unfolded within ever freer band concepts
shaped by the old jazz dream of wresting from the moment a musical substance that creates something lasting and thus comes close to composition.
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6 December 2005 · Radio · DE
Ö1 Morgenjournal, 7 Uhr (laut Programmaussendung OTS0063 des ORF): „Nachruf Harry Pepl“ (Beitrag im Ö1-Morgenjournal)
Wolfgang Bilek
According to ORF’s programme release, the 7 am Ö1 Morgenjournal (news programme of ORF’s cultural radio station) on Tuesday, 6 December 2005, carried an obituary of Harry Pepl by Wolfgang Bilek. The wording has not been preserved.
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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
Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung (p. 46, culture): „Jazzmusiker Pepl ist gestorben“
Short report based on the APA: Pepl was a guitarist known far beyond Austria and worked with the Benny Goodman Quintet, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi and Michel Portal; it gives Vienna as the place of death.
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6 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 14, culture): „Jazzgitarrist Harry Pepl tot“
Short obituary based on the APA with his date of birth, partners such as the Benny Goodman Quintet, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi and Michel Portal, the Pirchner-Pepl-JazzZwio and his teaching at the Graz Academy of Music from 1977 to 1995, finally as full professor.
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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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6 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 57, culture): „Grenzgänger“ (Rubrik „Aktuell“)
Short report based on the APA describing Pepl as a musical border-crosser who worked with the Benny Goodman Quintet, Dave Holland and Dino Saluzzi, performed in the Pirchner-Pepl-JazzZwio and developed methods such as instant composing.
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7 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Die Presse (p. 34, arts section): „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.
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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 (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster), 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.
He searched passionately: for truthfulness, a utopia in which all opposites coincide.
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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).
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one of the defining instrumentalists of the European jazz scene
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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
Tiroler Tageszeitung (p. 16, Magazin): „Jazzgitarrist Harry Pepl ist tot“
Short report based on the APA: an internationally known guitarist who played with Benny Goodman and Dave Holland and formed the Pirchner-Pepl-JazzZwio with Werner Pirchner.
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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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8 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (no. 286, p. 39, arts section): „Schnelle Finger“ (Jazzgitarrist Harry Pepl gestorben)
initials „WWS.“
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.
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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).
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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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8 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Die Furche (p. 8, Wochensplitter): „Personalia“ (Harry Pepl)
Short item in the “Personalia” column based on the APA: a musical border-crosser whose music was marked by vitality, density and emotion, and developer of instant and real-time composing.
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8 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
NÖ Rundschau (p. 32, Triestingtal): „Harry Pepl ist tot“ (Rubrik „Kurz notiert“)
Local news item from the Triesting valley (Lower Austria, Austria) giving the date of the funeral on Monday, 12 December 2005, at 2.30 pm in Hernstein.
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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.
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The moderator calls him one of Austria's most original jazz guitarists and recalls the Jazzzwio with Werner Pirchner, the ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album with Jack DeJohnette and Air Mail with Mike Richmond.
one of Austria's most original jazz guitarists
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12 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 38, Triestingtal): „Tiefe Trauer um Harry“
Obituary in the Triesting valley edition on the day of the funeral: Pepl shaped Austrian jazz nationally and internationally like hardly anyone else and created a jazz idiom that can be called European.
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It mentions Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi, Dave Liebman and Mino Cinelu, instant and real-time composing, and the lying in state, requiem and burial in Hernstein; the paper wrongly gives his age as 61.
He shaped and influenced Austrian jazz, nationally and internationally, like hardly anyone else.
Harry Pepl shaped a jazz idiom which, in its uncompromising direction and its phrasing in waves over a steady pulse, can be called European.
The only thing essential for the synthesis of the temporal and the timeless to succeed is the fulfilled moment!
On Real-time Composing, quoted in the obituary in the NÖN, the regional weekly of Lower Austria, December 2005
Harry Pepl
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15 December 2005 · Radio · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 23, Medien: Radioprogramm Österreich 1): „Spielräume: Im Gegenwind. Erinnerungen an Harry Pepl“ (Ö1, 17.30 Uhr)
Giselher Smekal (Gestaltung)
Programme note: on Thursday, 15 December 2005, at 5.30 pm, Ö1 (ORF’s cultural radio station) broadcast “Im Gegenwind. Erinnerungen an Harry Pepl” (Against the wind. Memories of Harry Pepl) with Giselher Smekal in its “Spielräume” series.
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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 (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) in 1974.
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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 former rector of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Otto Kolleritsch, is quoted; readers’ letters supplement the text.
Now that I can play everything I want, I’m no longer allowed to.
Harry Pepl
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.
more
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.
The drummer Wolfgang Reisinger. “Schubert Franzl” is the affectionate Viennese way of referring to Franz Schubert (1797 to 1828), the Viennese composer celebrated for his songs
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 (Austria's music information centre) music database on the saxophonist Wolfgang Schiftner, born in 1982, co-founder of the JazzWerkstatt Wien.
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Among his awards it lists the Harry Pepl Prize 2006 at the Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz) in Graz, Austria, which makes Schiftner the first winner.
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15 March 2006 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (APA0260, culture): „Starke Töne: JazzWerkstatt Wien lädt wieder zum Festival ins WUK“
APA (initials leh/aku)
Preview of the second festival of the JazzWerkstatt Wien at the WUK in Vienna from 16 March to 8 April 2006.
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The evening of 19 March is dedicated to the memory of Harry Pepl and Bumi Fian, with guests such as Wolfgang Puschnig, Wolfgang Reisinger and Raphael Preuschl.
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29 April 2006 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 25): „Zu einer Hommage an Werner Pirchner und Harry Pepl geriet der …“ (GrazJazz 2006)
initials „TS“
Short review of the third evening of GrazJazz 2006 at the Orpheum in Graz (Austria): Christian Muthspiel, Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid paid homage to the music of Pirchner and Pepl, a demanding and dignified tribute.
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finally Christian Muthspiel, Franck Tortiller and Breinschmid paid homage to the music of the two recently deceased exceptional talents
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30 April 2006 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 86, culture): „Der spürbare Geist des Komponisten“ (GrazJazz 2006)
Franz Remmalk (Schreibung laut APA)
Review of the third day of GrazJazz 2006: with his new trio Christian Muthspiel arranged the music of Pirchner and that of his long-time musical companion Pepl; with Franck Tortiller on vibraphone the result was a superbly polished concert with a strikingly transparent sound.
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a superbly polished concert that lingered on long afterwards, piece by piece
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22 July 2006 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 11, Szenario): „Jetzt gehts los“ (Glatt & Verkehrt 2006)
initials „felb“
Weekend tip for the Glatt & Verkehrt festival: on Sunday, 23 July 2006, Christian Muthspiel, Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid played their tribute to the Jazzzwio in the Minoritenkirche in Krems-Stein (Lower Austria, Austria).
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their sadly posthumous tribute to the brilliant Jazzzwio
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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.
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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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13 November 2006 · Report · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 25): „Eine Hommage an Harry Pepl“ (Soundcheck in Graz)
initials „MG“
Preview of the 14th Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz, Austria) at the Graz jazz club M59: the closing night on 18 November 2006 brings a homage to Pepl and the first award of the Harry Pepl Prize, endowed by the City of Graz with 5,000 euros.
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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.
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His work, it says, is stored in boxes at the house, with tapes, scores and technical oddities; gamsbART (Graz concert promoter) 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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19 November 2006 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 89, culture): „Jazzpreis“ (Rubrik „Aktuell“)
News item on the first award of the Harry Pepl Prize (5,000 euros, endowed by the City of Graz) to the saxophonist Wolfgang Schiftner on Saturday, 18 November 2006, at the Austrian Soundcheck, where he performed with the JazzWerkstatt Wien.
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The award is meant to commemorate the leading Austrian guitarist Pepl, who died in 2005, and to be the starting point for a study of his life’s work.
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20 November 2006 · Report · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 34): „Alter Mut auf neuen Wegen“ (1. Harry-Pepl-Preis geht an Wolfgang Schiftner)
Matthias Wagner
Report on the closing night of the 14th Austrian Soundcheck at the M59 in Graz: the JazzWerkstatt Wien played two sets as a “Tribute to Harry Pepl”, first Clemens Wenger on MIDI keyboard, then the prize-winner Wolfgang Schiftner with Clemens Salesny and colleagues. Gerhard Kosel of gamsbART explained the criteria of the prize, which comes with the obligation to work on Pepl’s legacy.
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above all an innovative way of working musically, the courage to leave one’s own traces
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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.
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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.
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The text pays tribute to Pepl and mentions the three-day series devoted to him at Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) 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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9 December 2006 · Radio · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 21, Programm: Radio Ö1, Samstag): „Die Österreich 1 Jazznacht“ mit Christian Bakonyi (Harry Pepl)
Christian Bakonyi (Gestaltung)
Programme note on the Ö1 Jazznacht (all-night jazz programme on ORF’s cultural radio station) with Christian Bakonyi, which from 11.05 pm presented Harry Pepl, about a year after his death, in largely unreleased recordings.
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The Wiener Zeitung also printed the same programme text on Thursday, 7 December 2006, so the broadcast date of Saturday, 9 December 2006, is not entirely certain.
the composer, guitarist and musical free spirit Harry Pepl
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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.
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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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2007 · Review · DE
Concerto (music magazine), issue 2/2007, p. 6 (CD-Tipps): „Born in Austria“ (CD-Tipp zu „Against The Wind“)
Alfred Krondraf
Short review of the album “Against The Wind. The Music Of Pirchner & Pepl” by the Christian Muthspiel Trio with Georg Breinschmid and Franck Tortiller: Muthspiel devotes himself for the second time to the music of the “two musical free spirits”, and Tortiller turns “the Zwio into a more than perfect trio”; the substance of the interpretations only reveals itself on repeated listening.
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Christian Muthspiel now devotes himself for the second time to the music of the two musical free spirits
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17 January 2007 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 11, Szenario): „Subtile Vielfalt“
initials „tos“
Preview of the concert with which Christian Muthspiel celebrated the Austrian Prize of Merit for Music 2006 at the Porgy & Bess on 22 January 2007: after the solo performance “für und mit ernst” his trio with Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid played the works of Pepl and Pirchner.
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it is about the works of the glorious duo Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner
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22 January 2007 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 39, culture): „Musikalischer Freigeist“
Michael Tschida
Portrait of Christian Muthspiel on the occasion of the award at the Porgy & Bess. Muthspiel counts Jandl’s texts and the compositions of Pirchner and Pepl among his “innermost vocabulary”; the trio programme “Against the Wind” came out on CD in March 2007.
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Ernst Jandl’s texts and the compositions of Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl are, so to speak, part of my innermost vocabulary
Christian Muthspiel
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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 (the renowned European jazz label) album with Pirchner and DeJohnette and Air Mail’s “Light Blues”.
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It shows Pepl as an entry in a German series on classics of jazz history.
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13 April 2007 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 32, Szenario: Watchlist): „Music of Pepl und Pirchner“ (Watchlist, Spielboden Dornbirn)
initials „mh“
Tip for the Christian Muthspiel Trio concert on Friday, 13 April 2007, at the Spielboden in Dornbirn (Vorarlberg, Austria), followed by a screening of Pirchner’s film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes”.
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who reformed the European jazz scene with their quirky sounds
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15 April 2007 · Review · DE
Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung (p. 77, culture): „Pepl und Pirchner in besten Händen“
Martin Juen
Review of the Christian Muthspiel Trio concert at the Spielboden in Dornbirn on Friday, 13 April 2007: the trio refreshes the pieces respectfully, and in every arrangement fresh fruit grows on old ground. Juen dates the Jazzzwio to 1978 to 1985.
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quite different and yet outstanding personalities of the Austrian jazz scene
Harry Pepl (1945-2005) and Werner Pirchner (1940-2001) were rather different and yet outstanding personalities of the Austrian jazz scene
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15 April 2007 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 111, culture): „Schatz“ (CD-Kritik zu „Against The Wind“)
initials „TSC“
Short review of the album “Against The Wind” (Universal): Christian Muthspiel finds an ingenious translation for the music that belongs to his “innermost vocabulary”; Pirchner’s film comes as a DVD bonus.
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It is a “hats off!” to the most original Jazzzwio from Tyrol to Texas: the late Harry Pepl & Werner Pirchner.
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18 April 2007 · Review · DE
Falter (p. 66, Kultur: Neue Platten): „Neue Platten“ (Chr. Muthspiel Trio: „Against the Wind“)
initials „K. N.“
Record review: in an only gently ironic, rather romantic way the album combines blues with Alpine elements, for instance in Pepl’s “Die alte Mär und das Mann”, and in the dialogue of trombone, marimba, vibraphone and bass creates a mostly light-footed groove.
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The album by the elder of the two Muthspiel brothers is dedicated to the work of the twin stars Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner, who have sadly already left us
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11 June 2007 · Review · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 50, culture): „KRITIK Schräges Sprach- und Klangspiel“
Gottfried Sengstschmid
Review of Christian Muthspiel’s evening at the Stadttheater in Wiener Neustadt (Lower Austria, Austria) during the “Wiener Neustädter Frühling”: after the Jandl solo performance, the trio with Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid paid homage to Pirchner and Pepl.
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a cheerful, if wistful, remembrance of the two colourful characters of the former “Jazz-Zwio”
a homage to Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl, a jaunty if wistful remembrance of the two colourful birds of the former “Jazz-Zwio”
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27 September 2007 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 47): „Den Konventionen ausweichen“ (Gedenken an die Jazzlegenden Pepl & Pirchner)
initials „PB“
Review of the Christian Muthspiel Trio concert at the Posthof in Linz (Upper Austria, Austria) on Tuesday, 25 September 2007, with Pirchner’s film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes”: the trio renders the scores with spherical lightness yet vital expression.
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Both are remembered for the illustrious coherence of their compositional and improvisational interplay.
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3 October 2007 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 63, culture): „Charakterkopf, kunstsinnig geschliffen“
Otmar Klammer
Review of the Christian Muthspiel Trio’s Pirchner/Pepl programme on Monday, 1 October 2007, at the Generalmusikdirektion in Graz: a grand concert of touching chamber-music intimacy, in which Pirchner’s compositions were in the foreground and Pepl was only touched upon.
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Harry Pepl, Pirchner’s congenial partner in the legendary “Jazzzwio”
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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 (Vienna jazz club) in Vienna on 6 December 2007, two years after Pepl’s death.
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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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6 December 2007 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 14, Szenario: Watchlist): „Tribute to Harry Pepl“ (Watchlist, Porgy & Bess)
initials „felb“
Tip for the memorial evening at the Porgy & Bess on Thursday, 6 December 2007, two years after Pepl’s death: Wolfgang Mitterer on synthesizer and Wolfgang Schiftner, first winner of the Harry Pepl Prize, with his quartet.
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Two years have passed since Harry Pepl, one of the great guitarists of the European jazz scene, died.
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31 January 2008 · Report · DE
Neue Zürcher Zeitung (p. 57, culture): „Jazz“ (Christian-Muthspiel-Trio im Moods)
initials „ubs.“
Concert note on the Christian Muthspiel Trio with Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid at the Moods jazz club in Zurich (Switzerland) on Thursday, 31 January 2008, with the music of Pirchner and Pepl and Pirchner’s film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes”.
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The Austrians Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl were among the most original minds of European jazz in the seventies and eighties.
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11 April 2008 · Report · DE
Kurier (p. 37, culture): „Freier Jazz aus einer perfekten Welt“ (Andy Manndorff)
Michael Huber
Portrait of the guitarist Andy Manndorff on his new trio album and his concert at the Porgy & Bess; he is introduced as a former student of Pepl and a member of the Vienna Art Orchestra.
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once a student of the great Harry Pepl
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29 July 2008 · Report · DE
Der Standard (p. 11, Szenario: Watchlist): „Clemens Wenger“ (Watchlist, WUK)
initials „felb“
Tip for Clemens Wenger’s solo “Alone ist man manchmal schon”, opening the JazzWerkstatt Wien’s summer concerts at the WUK in Vienna on Tuesday, 29 July 2008, based on Pepl’s music.
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its starting point is the electronically and “analog”-pianistically processed music of the great Harry Pepl
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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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18 November 2008 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 58, culture): „Preisregen für heimische Künstler“
News item on the Harry Pepl Prize 2008 for the Graz trombonist and composer Daniel Riegler: a gamsbART scholarship of 4,000 euros on condition that he engages with Pepl’s music and presents a project at the next Austrian Soundcheck.
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on condition that he engages with the music of the jazz guitarist who died in 2005
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26 November 2008 · Portrait · DE
Falter (p. 55, Styria): „Wenn Augen hören“ (Christian Muthspiel im Gespräch)
Portrait of Christian Muthspiel ahead of two conducting engagements in Graz.
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He calls some of his Graz teachers personal heroes, among them Pepl, Adelhard Roidinger and Ewald Oberleitner; his trio, founded in 2005, released “Against the Wind”, the tribute to Pepl and Pirchner, in 2007.
Yet some of his teachers in Graz are personal heroes to him: Harry Pepl, for example
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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 Kunstuniversität Graz (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.
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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)“
Werner Rosenberger (initials „ros“)
Short review of the reissue “Live in Concerts” with audio and video recordings from Montreux 1981 and Innsbruck 1984.
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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.
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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 (Graz concert promoter), which was founded by Heimo Steps in 1984.
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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.
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The superb guitarist Harry Pepl and his perfectly matched partner
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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.
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Particularly beautiful is ‘And Harry Said Goodbye’, dedicated to the unforgotten colleague Harry Pepl.
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24 February 2009 · Review · DE
KULTUR, Zeitschrift für Kultur und Gesellschaft (Dornbirn): „JazzZwio: Live in Concerts“ (CD-Tipp)
Peter Füssl
CD recommendation by Peter Füssl in KULTUR, a cultural magazine from Vorarlberg, Austria, for the CD/DVD “Live in Concerts” (Universal, 2009).
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Füssl recalls the legendary JazzZwio of Pepl and Werner Pirchner between 1977 and 1985 and describes the contents: 43 minutes from the 15th Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland) in 1981 and excerpts from concerts at the Szene Wien in Vienna (1983) and the Konservatoriumssaal in Innsbruck, Austria (1984), with pieces such as “The Day We Know Paul Desmond is Gone”, “Against The Wind”, “Hosent’Raga” and “Air Love And Vitamins”. He calls the two “absolute individualists” whose interplay adds up to far more than the sum of its parts, notes that so far mainly the Muthspiel brothers (the Austrian jazz musicians Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel) have kept their memory alive, and hopes the recordings will bring the Jazzzwio wider recognition, above all among younger musicians.
Great moments of brilliantly offbeat music and gnarled humour
the playful wit of these two strong characters, one Viennese and one Tyrolean to the core, still sounds fresh as morning dew more than 25 years after the recordings were made
On the CD/DVD “Live in Concerts” (2009) with Jazzzwio concerts from 1981 to 1984; Pepl was Viennese, Werner Pirchner Tyrolean, and each brought his own regionally coloured humour into the music
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2 March 2009 · Interview · DE
Die Presse (p. 28, arts section): „Applaus kann auch gefährlich sein“ (Interview mit Wolfgang Muthspiel)
Samir H. Köck
Interview with Wolfgang Muthspiel on the presentation of his guitar trio MGT at the Vienna Konzerthaus. Of his teacher Pepl he says that his music gave expression to inner avalanches and had something risky in every phrase.
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As a musician, Pepl gave expression to inner avalanches.
Wolfgang Muthspiel
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3 March 2009 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 30, Ennstal): „Muthspiel-Trio und ein Heimatfilm“
Preview of the Christian Muthspiel Trio concert “The music of Pirchner & Pepl” on Wednesday, 4 March 2009, at the Volkshaus in Rottenmann (Styria, Austria), organised by the Kulturviech association, together with Pirchner’s film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes”.
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Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl formed the legendary duo “jazzzwio” and left their own individual mark on European jazz.
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6 March 2009 · Review · DE
Der Standard (Print 6 March 2009, online 5 March 2009, 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.
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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
The creative fury, the intensity achieved there still seems to set the standard today.
Harry Pepl, a complex guitarist of truly international stature.
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10 March 2009 · Review · DE
Die Presse (p. 27, arts section): „Tränen mit John Dowland“
initials „sam“ (Samir H. Köck)
Review of the presentation of “Dancing Dowland” by the Christian Muthspiel Trio at the Porgy & Bess.
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In the second set the trio played Pepl and Pirchner; Muthspiel told how Pirchner once announced a still untitled Pepl piece on stage as “Da augschissene Wandersbuasch” (roughly: the poor wretch of a wanderer), whereupon Pepl gave it the title “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
a composition that is now regarded as an Austrian jazz classic
Samir H. Köck (Kürzel „sam“)
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18 March 2009 · Review · DE
Falter (Seite w27, Lexikon: Neue Platten): „Neue Platten“ (JazzZwio: „Live in Concerts“)
initials „KN“
Record review of “Live in Concerts”: the recordings from the early 1980s show the energy of the two, who take turns as grooving accompanists, ranging from almost free passages to the melodious romanticism of “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
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The DVD contains the Montreux concert, excerpts from a performance at the Szene Wien and interview snippets.
With their JazzZwio, the guitarist Harry Pepl and the vibraphonist Werner Pirchner were internationally sought-after protagonists of Alpine groove.
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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”.
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If there are classics of Austrian jazz, here is one!
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4 August 2009 · Report · DE
Vorarlberger Nachrichten (Seite D4, Wohin): „Blue Brass“ (Tipp zu Paul Zauner in Bezau)
Event tip for Paul Zauner’s Blue Brass on the village square in Bezau (Vorarlberg, Austria); the trombonist is introduced as a former band member of David Murray and Pepl.
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With his trombone he served greats such as David Murray or the brilliant Harry Pepl
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9 November 2009 · Review · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 49, culture): „KRITIK ‚musik aktuell‘“
Gottfried Sengstschmid
Review of a Christian Muthspiel Trio concert at the Stadtmuseum in the “musik aktuell” series: after “Dancing Dowland”, the hour-long encore recalled the Jazzzwio, among other pieces with Pepl’s “Da augschissene Wandersbuasch” and Pirchner’s “Hosent'Raga”.
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an Alpine ballad (Da augschissene Wandersbuasch) by the Viennese Harry Pepl
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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.
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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.
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the great instrumentalist and composer Harry Pepl
Pepl’s career with the legendary ORF Big Band
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2010 · Other
Vienna Art Orchestra, The Big Band Years (Universal Music Austria): „Euro-American Dream Stories“
Wolfgang Lamprecht (englische Übersetzung: Matthias Goldmann)
Text by Wolfgang Lamprecht (University of Vienna) for the compilation “The Big Band Years” by the [Vienna Art Orchestra](ensemble:vienna-art-orchestra), written after the farewell party “Game Over” at the Porgy & Bess in Vienna in August 2010.
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Lamprecht describes how Mathias Rüegg's orchestra fostered distinct musical personalities who shaped European jazz and contemporary improvised music, and for the 1970s names [Werner Pirchner](person:werner-pirchner), Harry Pepl and [Leszek Zadlo](person:leszek-zadlo).
distinct music personalities, many of whom have helped shape the character of European jazz and contemporary improvised music
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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).
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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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2 June 2010 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „Apropos Musik“ (Programmhinweis der Wiener Zeitung): „Vom schwarzen Wien der 60er Jahre“ (2)
Irene Suchy
On Wednesday, 2 June 2010, at 3.05 pm, Ö1 (ORF's cultural radio station) broadcasts the second part of Irene Suchy's series on Vienna in the 1960s: attempts to make jazz symphonic and fit for the concert hall, the search for a Viennese blues and early film music. The programme features music by Werner Pirchner, Erich Kleinschuster, Harry Pepl, Friedrich Gulda, Johannes Fehring and others.
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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.
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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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14 July 2010 · Portrait · DE
Falter: „Durchs weite Land, Gitarre in der Hand“
Portrait of the guitarist Martin Siewert. The Falter (Vienna weekly) describes him as a jazz guitarist trained in Graz “by the legendary Harry Pepl”; Siewert himself says of his teacher that he was just about the only fantastic thing about Graz.
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he was just about the only fantastic thing about Graz
Martin Siewert
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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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22 November 2010 · Portrait · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Freigeist an den Tasten“
Otmar Klammer
Portrait of the Graz pianist Stefan Heckel on the day he receives the third Harry Pepl Prize (Monday, 22 November 2010, Orpheum Graz, closing night of the Austrian Soundcheck).
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The award of 4,000 euros from gamsbART (Graz concert promoter) launches Heckel's doctoral thesis on Pepl's work; at the end Daniel Riegler and Matthias Muche play a “Tribute to Harry Pepl”.
For it is to be devoted entirely to the oeuvre of the jazz guitarist and composer Harry Pepl, who passed away suddenly five years ago.
Between jazz, ethnic and Alpine music, musical freedom is always at the centre of the creative process for Heckel, as it was for Pepl.
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24 November 2010 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung: „Schwülstige Fadesse“
MW
Report on the closing night of the 20th Austrian Soundcheck at the Orpheum in Graz: Stefan Heckel receives the third Harry Pepl Prize as the starting point for a doctoral thesis on Pepl's legacy, whose work, according to festival director Gerhard Kosel, still awaits scholarly study. As a prelude, Daniel Riegler (prize winner 2008) and Matthias Muche play three of Pepl's real-time compositions as a trombone duo.
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Since the death of the great guitarist and composer Harry Pepl (1945-2005), his work still awaits scholarly study, says Soundcheck director Gerhard Kosel.
As a prelude, Daniel Riegler (Pepl Prize winner 2008) and Matthias Muche had performed three “real-time compositions” by the master as a trombone duo.
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24 November 2010 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Eine Jazz Big Band, die Seelen baumeln lässt“
Otmar Klammer
Concert report from the finale of the Austrian Soundcheck: Stefan Heckel accepts the Harry Pepl Prize, endowed with 4,500 euros, and announces that he will devote himself to the namesake's work as a scholar.
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A few days before the fifth anniversary of Pepl's death, the trombone duo Daniel Riegler and Matthias Muche plays three arrangements of Pepl pieces, among them “125/250” from the Air Mail years.
A few days before the fifth anniversary of the death of the Viennese jazz guitarist and composer, the trombone duo Daniel Riegler and Matthias Muche delivered three elegantly polished arrangements, of which the notorious “125/250” from Pepl's Airmail days came closest to his jagged style.
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11 December 2010 · Review · DE
Süddeutsche Zeitung (Landkreisteil): „Wilder Wind aus Österreich“
Patrizia Steipe
Concert report from the Kulturkeller in Feldafing (Bavaria, Germany): on Wednesday, 8 December 2010, the Christian Muthspiel Trio plays its programme “Against the Wind” with the music of Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl.
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The Süddeutsche Zeitung calls the two a cult duo and their Jazzzwio a group that gave European jazz important impulses; the preview appeared on 4 December 2010.
In the seventies and eighties Pirchner and Pepl formed the legendary “Jazz-Zwio”, a group that gave European jazz important impulses.
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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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5 January 2011 · Portrait · DE
Kurier: „Jazz mit Herz, Witz und Bauchgefühl“
Werner Rosenberger
Portrait of Wolfgang Puschnig ahead of his project “For The Love Of It” at the Vienna Konzerthaus. Besides his work with Linda Sharrock, the Kurier calls his projects with Harry Pepl in Air Mail legendary; the same text appeared on kurier.at.
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Legendary, too, his collaboration with the singer Linda Sharrock or his projects with Harry Pepl (“Air Mail”).
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13 October 2011 · Interview · DE
OÖ Nachrichten (Rieder Volkszeitung): „Ich werde versuchen, noch viel tiefer in die Musik einzutauchen“
Bianka Eichinger
Interview with the Innviertel trombonist Paul Zauner, organiser of the INNtöne festival. Asked about the most impressive musician he has ever worked with, he names Harry Pepl second.
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13 October 2011 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Fährtensuche im Zwio“
Michael Tschida
Preview of a reading by Christoph Ransmayr and Martin Pollack at the Literaturhaus Graz.
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Michael Tschida uses the Jazzzwio of Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner as the image of an ideal duet; the same text appeared in the Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung on 20 October 2011.
The crowding of the z's and the tacked-on w also nicely illustrated, visually, what bound the Viennese guitarist and the Tyrolean vibraphonist so closely: artistic density, blind understanding, congeniality.
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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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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.
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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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30 January 2012 · Review · DE
Die Presse: „Wer hat von wem abgekupfert?“
sam
Review of Georgie Fame with the Mike Sponza Blues Convention at the Porgy & Bess. Die Presse praises the guitarist Primož Grašič as a former student of Harry Pepl.
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the superb former Harry Pepl student Primoz Grasic
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30 September 2012 · Report · DE
Kronen Zeitung (Tyrol): „Drei Jazz-Musiker im Freiraum-Keller vereint“
Preview of the trio Miklin, Känzig, Hart in Jenbach (Tyrol): a look back at 25 years of collaboration between Karlheinz Miklin and Billy Hart, with Ron McClure on bass from the start and first Harry Pepl, then Fritz Pauer in the quartet.
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The Kleine Zeitung confirms this on 19 October 2014.
from the start with Ron McClure on bass and first Harry Pepl, then Fritz Pauer in the quartet
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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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20 June 2013 · Review · DE
Tiroler Tageszeitung: „Im Banne von zwei Legenden“
hau
Report on the first Laurentius concert on the Bergl in Imst (Tyrol): on Thursday, 13 June 2013, Stephan Mathoi (guitar) and Philipp Hager (vibraphone) play pieces by Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl as well as their own compositions.
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Preview on 12 June 2013 (“Entgleiste Klassik am Imster Bergl”).
Admittedly, the qualities of the legendary duo of Werner Pirchner & Harry Pepl in the line-up of guitar and vibraphone are and remain unmatched.
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8 November 2013 · Report · DE
Kronen Zeitung (Styria): „Junge Österreicher, alte Damen“
MG
Preview of the 22nd Austrian Soundcheck in Graz: the prize named after Harry Pepl goes to the saxophonist Clemens Salesny (grant of 4,000 euros), who plays at the saxophone evening “Super Sax!” on 22 November.
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Harry Pepl was one of the outstanding figures in Austrian jazz.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Through his collaboration with the guitarist Harry Pepl he rose to become an internationally sought-after jazz virtuoso
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28 March 2014 · Review · DE
Die Presse: „Werner Pirchner: Genie und Irrsinn“
Christoph Huber
Review of Malte Ludin's documentary “D.U.D.A.!” about Werner Pirchner. Die Presse recalls the Pirchner-Pepl Jazz-Zwio and the duo's collaboration with Jack DeJohnette.
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With his kindred partner Harry Pepl he also collaborated impressively with great jazz musicians such as Jack DeJohnette.
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1 April 2014 · Review · DE
Der Standard: „Vom verspielten Tiefsinn“
Ljubiša Tošić
Review of “D.U.D.A.!” about Werner Pirchner. The film, the critic regrets, recalls only briefly the international side of his career, the JazzZwio with Harry Pepl; online as early as 31 March 2014.
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Together with the guitarist Harry Pepl, the vibraphonist Pirchner ran a “JazzZwio” whose subtly burning chamber music attracted attention throughout Europe
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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.
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He is an interesting musician to check out, especially in the rhythmical field.
Wolfgang Muthspiel
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20 November 2014 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „Apropos Musik“ (Programmhinweis der Wiener Zeitung): „Die ORF-Bigband“
Klaus Wienerroither
On Thursday, 20 November 2014, at 3.05 pm, Ö1 (ORF's cultural radio station) broadcasts a programme on the ORF Big Band, which emerged around 1970 from the core of the Johannes Fehring Orchestra and existed until 1982.
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Besides functional music it produced high-quality orchestral jazz, with soloists such as Art Farmer and Harry Pepl.
which could boast renowned soloists such as the American trumpeter Art Farmer or the Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl
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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.
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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.
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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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4 July 2015 · Interview · DE
Die Presse (Zeichen der Zeit): Gespräch mit Peter Havlicek
DP
Conversation with the contraguitarist and composer Peter Havlicek, co-founder of the Neue Wiener Concert Schrammeln.
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He tells how he came to the contraguitar during his guitar studies with Harry Pepl in Graz; the box “Zur Person” names his studies with Pepl explicitly.
Later, it was already during my guitar studies with Harry Pepl in Graz, a theatre group was looking for a contraguitarist.
Peter Havlicek
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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.
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also commemorated the guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005
And he also remembered the guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005 and formed the Jazzzwio with Pirchner, whose sophisticated musical language was praised internationally as well.
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1 September 2015 · Review · DE
Der Standard: „Im Salon der munteren Katharsis“
Ljubiša Tošić
Report from the final day of the Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2015: Christian Muthspiel remembers Werner Pirchner with his trio and thus also Pirchner's Jazzzwio with Harry Pepl, as chamber music marked by respectful affection for the original.
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Online as early as 31 August 2015.
Together with the guitarist Harry Pepl he formed the Jazzzwio, and Muthspiel recalls that too
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1 September 2015 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Das Beste? Es kam auch diesmal zum Schluss“
Report from the Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2015: Christian Muthspiel, Franck Tortiller and Jerome Harris delve deep into the work of Werner Pirchner and also of the Viennese guitarist Harry Pepl, with whom Pirchner formed the legendary Jazzzwio.
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Muthspiel takes the “throaty K” out of this music, but successfully brings out its inner light and its elegance.
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3 September 2015 · Review · DE
Die Furche: „Traditionen kippen - und Neues entsteht“
Anton Thuswaldner
Festival report from Saalfelden 2015: with Franck Tortiller and Jerome Harris, Christian Muthspiel remembers Werner Pirchner, who formed the legendary Jazz-Zwio with Harry Pepl.
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Together with Harry Pepl he formed the legendary Jazz-Zwio
Together with Harry Pepl he formed the legendary Jazz-Zwio, to which we owe such immortal titles as “Hosentraga”, which takes up the form of the Indian raga.
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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, Clemens Salesny and Martin Bayer.
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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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22 October 2015 · Report · DE
Kronen Zeitung (Styria): „Die Würdigung einer Vielseitigen“
Martin Gasser
Preview of the 24th Austrian Soundcheck: Viola Falb receives the fifth Harry Pepl Prize, and a homage to Pepl is to premiere on 13 November.
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Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger approach the late recordings that Pepl had made single-handedly in his studio in Lower Austria as “Harry Pepl's Lonely Single Swinger Band”.
Harry Pepl was a guitarist the like of whom this country has perhaps never produced a second time.
With drums, guitar, piano, synthesizer and voice he created inner dialogues, as it were.
In his recording studio in Lower Austria the musician had recorded pieces single-handedly as “Harry Pepl’s Lonely Single Swinger Band”. With drums, guitar, piano, synthesizer and voice he created, as it were, inner dialogues.
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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.
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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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5 November 2015 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Frische Zukunftsmusik“
Michael Tschida
Preview of the 24th Austrian Soundcheck, which bows to Harry Pepl, a gamsbART stalwart from the very beginning, on the tenth anniversary of his death.
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Viola Falb receives the fifth Pepl Prize, endowed with 4,000 euros; in the “Tribute to Harry Pepl” the quartet Salesny, Bayer, Frosch and Heginger uses unreleased archive recordings as coordinates for a flight through the Pepl universe.
The exceptional Viennese guitarist, who died far too early in 2005, is, by the way, virtually present at his own tribute
with unreleased archive recordings that the quartet Salesny/Bayer/Frosch/Heginger uses as coordinates for a rapid flight through the Pepl universe.
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15 November 2015 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (Styria): „Kritik in Kürze“
MW
Short review from the Austrian Soundcheck at the Orpheum in Graz on the tenth anniversary of Pepl's death (concert on Friday, 13 November 2015): the quartet around Clemens Salesny has an extraordinary encounter with Harry Pepl, who is virtually present through late recordings from his home studio.
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He was virtually present as a multi-instrumentalist, with those late recordings from his home studio in which he pushed through to pure, intuitive expressive sound.
interacted with the master as if he were sitting on stage, and still conquered spaces of their own, exciting, powerful, free.
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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 to the composer and saxophonist Viola Falb at the Austria Soundcheck (festival in Graz).
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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).
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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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11 December 2015 · Review · DE
Der Standard (RONDO): CD-Tipp zu „Harry Pepl & Salesny/Bayer/Frosch/Heginger“
Ljubiša Tošić
CD tip in RONDO (Der Standard's magazine) on the double CD released by Fullmax Recordings: unreleased recordings by the great guitarist, over whose lines and songs Clemens Salesny and Agnes Heginger, among others, lay their art; the second CD brings arrangements of Pepl classics.
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The late great guitarist Harry Pepl with unreleased recordings!
Works extremely well.
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16 December 2015 · Review · DE
Falter: „Neue Platten“ (Jazz)
KN
Short review of the double CD released by Fullmax Recordings: the idea of using Pepl's unreleased improvisations as the starting point for further improvisation convinces the Falter only in part, the second CD with Pepl's compositions all the more.
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on which the whole range and the idiosyncrasy of Pepl's compositions, with great verve and just as much wit
the whole spectrum and the idiosyncrasy of Pepl’s compositions, presented with great verve and just as much wit (plus a few guest musicians).
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18 December 2015 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung: CD-Tipp zu „Harry Pepl & Salesny/Bayer/Primus/Heginger“
Short review of the double CD: Pepl, a “guitar giant”, can wondrously be heard again after his death; a quartet around Agnes Heginger and Clemens Salesny weaves the improvising genius's archive recordings into something excitingly new.
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Printed on the same day in two editions (pp. 82 and 88).
He was a guitar giant
wove archive recordings of the improvising genius into something excitingly new
A quartet around Agnes Heginger (voc) and Clemens Salesny (sax) wove archive recordings of the improvising genius into something excitingly new.
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20 December 2015 · Review · DE
Kurier (Diskothek, CDs der Woche): „Salesny, Bayer, Frosch und Heginger: Harry Pepl“
Werner Rosenberger
CD of the week with five stars: young Austrian musicians remember Harry Pepl on the tenth anniversary of his death; the double CD brings partly familiar and partly unreleased material by “Harry Pepl's Lonely Single Swinger Band”, recorded between 1996 and 2005.
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The Viennese guitarist and musical border-crosser was in a class of his own
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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, endowed with 4,000 euros.
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The laudatory speaker Ute Pinter highlighted her cross-border compositions and band projects, entirely in the spirit of the musical patron Harry Pepl. Printed in the edition of 23 December 2015, p. 6.
Viola Falb, the district's exceptional artist, received the 5th Harry Pepl Prize in Graz.
entirely in the spirit of the musical patron Harry Pepl
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2016 · Review · DE
Jazzpodium: „Harry Pepl & Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch, Agnes Heginger, Fullmax15-01 CD“
Alexander Schmitz
Review of the 2015 double CD in the German jazz magazine Jazzpodium, probably 2016.
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Schmitz recalls Le Monde's “giant of improvisation”, Scofield's “machine gun”, the Jazzzwio, Air Mail and the MIDI guitar that first made Real Time Composing possible. He describes twelve previously unreleased soliloquies from the Lonely Single Swinger Band and 13 Pepl compositions in a new guise with Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger, with Herbert Joos, Alex Meissl and Clemens Wenger as guests.
which now brings the name of the great Viennese guitarist Harry Pepl back into public awareness with a project of equal stature
There is nothing at all to say that could even come close to capturing this late, magnificent Pepl spectacle.
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20 January 2016 · Report · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Drei Tage Jazz: Neustart und Erinnerungen“
Heinz Bayer
A look back at the beginnings of the Jazzfestival Saalfelden as its winter edition starts in 2016: even before the first “3 Tage Jazz” in 1978 there was a first mini festival at the HTL (technical college) Saalfelden on 23 June 1975 with Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl, Wayne Darling and Fritz Ozmec.
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At a first mini festival on 23 June 1975, Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl, Wayne Darling and Fritz Ocmec performed at the HTL Saalfelden.
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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).
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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.
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an artistic high-wire act in which fragments of Pepl’s recordings were also played in
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17 May 2016 · Review · DE
Der Standard (Online): „Inntöne: Expressive Gelassenheit“ (Al Foster und das Harry-Pepl-Projekt)
Ljubiša Tošić
Festival report from the INNtöne in Diersbach (Upper Austria, Austria) at Whitsun 2016.
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After the Al Foster Quartet, Ljubiša Tošić describes a quintet with a special feature: alongside Clemens Salesny, Agnes Heginger, Martin Bayer and Peter Primus Frosch, Harry Pepl was there too, from tape, his ideas recorded in his home studio forming the foundation of a high-energy mix; Tošić calls the evening an impulsive homage to one of the greats of European jazz. Printed in the edition of 18 May 2016, p. 30.
Al Foster and the Harry Pepl project
The late grandmaster of impulsive improvisation
An impulsive homage to one of the greats of European jazz.
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17 May 2016 · Review · DE
OÖ Nachrichten: „Die Inntöne begeisterten als Jazz-Reigen mit einem Klavierwunder“
Christoph Haunschmid
Review of the 31st INNtöne in Diersbach (13 to 15 May 2016): among the most exciting concerts was the homage to Harry Pepl, in which his pieces come from tape and the band comments live, with the singer Agnes Heginger outstanding alongside Clemens Salesny.
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The saxophonist Clemens Salesny, for instance, chose an innovative approach to pay tribute to Harry Pepl, who died in 2005.
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17 May 2016 · Review · DE
Passauer Neue Presse: „Da ist er wieder, dieser Zauber“
Dorothea Walchshäusl
Festival report from the INNtöne 2016: for the Passauer Neue Presse, the fusion “Harry Pepl & Clemens Salesny” with Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger is a much-discussed venture that goes all the way in experimental improvisations.
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In jagged, experimental improvisations they go all out and systematically leave familiar structures and sounds behind.
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17 May 2016 · Report · DE
Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt: „Jazz & andere Genüsse beim Festival INNtöne“
Josef Gebetsroither
Report from the INNtöne 2016: one of Saturday's highlights is the session by Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger, dedicated to an Austrian jazz legend.
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They dedicate their concert to an Austrian jazz legend: the jazz guitarist and composer Harry Pepl.
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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.
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the seven years with Airmail, the band of the guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005
As a guitarist he was outside every norm. That opened up a new, more flexible approach to phrasing for me.
Wolfgang Puschnig
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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.
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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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20 May 2016 · Interview · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Der jazzverwandte Kosmopolit“
Otmar Klammer
Interview with Wolfgang Puschnig on his 60th birthday. Asked about the most lasting influence, he names Harry Pepl first, with whom he played for seven years in Air Mail; his planned double CD of duos also gathers recordings with friends who are no longer alive, such as Pepl and Hans Koller.
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Harry Pepl, definitely, with whom I played in the Airmail band for seven years.
Wolfgang Puschnig
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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.
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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.
On Benny Goodman, who put together a band for concerts in Europe in 1980
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10 June 2016 · Review · DE
Der Standard (RONDO): „Wolfgang Puschnig: Faces and Stories“
Review of the Puschnig compilation “Faces and Stories”: among other things it reissues the duos from “Pieces of the Dream” (1988), on which Harry Pepl can be heard alongside Carla Bley and Hans Koller.
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The great tenor saxophonist Hans Koller, a central figure of modern jazz in Europe, was also there at the time, and of course the guitarist Harry Pepl too.
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14 July 2016 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „On Stage“ (Programmhinweis der Wiener Zeitung): Christian Muthspiels Werner-Pirchner-Hommage beim Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2015
Andreas Felber
On Thursday, 14 July 2016, at 7.30 pm, Ö1 (ORF's cultural radio station) broadcasts Christian Muthspiel's homage “Homesick” from the Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2015 with Franck Tortiller and Jerome Harris.
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Besides pieces by Werner Pirchner, compositions by his Jazz-Zwio partner Harry Pepl are heard.
compositions by his former Jazz-Zwio duo partner Harry Pepl were also heard
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3 September 2016 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „Die Ö1 Jazznacht“ (Programmhinweis der Wiener Zeitung): Clemens Salesnys und Agnes Hegingers Harry-Pepl-Projekt bei den Inntönen 2016
Christian Bakonyi
The Ö1 Jazznacht on Saturday, 3 September 2016 (from 11.10 pm), broadcasts at 1.03 am the recording from the INNtöne on 14 May 2016: Agnes Heginger, Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer and Peter Primus Frosch playing live together with recordings by Harry Pepl, music he recorded as a one-man band in the last years of his life.
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13 September 2016 · Other · DE
NÖN (Niederösterreichische Nachrichten): „Tribut an Harry Pepl“
Preview under the label “Highlight”: the Jazzclub Melk presents “A tribute to Harry Pepl” on Friday, 23 September 2016, at 8 p.m. at the Tischlerei in Melk, Lower Austria, Austria.
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Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger pay their respects to the jazz musician who died in 2005: besides partly familiar compositions, the quartet interacts with previously unreleased music from Pepl's last creative period, “Harry Pepl's Lonely Single Swinger Band”. With a band photo.
The Melk jazz club dedicates a performance at the Tischlerei to the “giant of improvisation”.
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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.
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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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12 July 2017 · Interview · DE
Kronen Zeitung (Styria): „Meine Stücke sind wie Räume“
Matthias Wagner
Interview with Wolfgang Muthspiel ahead of his concert at the Judenburger Sommer festival.
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The Kronen Zeitung recalls that he was admitted to the music academy in Graz at 15, first studying classical guitar with Leo Witoszynskyj, then jazz with Harry Pepl as well.
first classical guitar with Leo Witoszynskyj, then jazz with Harry Pepl as well
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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).
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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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12 September 2017 · Obituary · DE
Kurier: „Jazz-Gitarrist Andy Manndorff gestorben“ (Überblick)
News item on the death of the guitarist Andy Manndorff, who had studied with the legendary Viennese guitarist Harry Pepl.
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The APA report of 11 September 2017 with Manndorff's words about Pepl as his only teacher is in the archive as the Salzburger Nachrichten entry; it appeared in the same form on derstandard.at, kleinezeitung.at, vol.at, vienna.at and austria.com, and Die Presse called him a student of Pepl on 12 September 2017.
Manndorff had studied with the legendary Viennese guitarist Harry Pepl
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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.
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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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1 October 2017 · Portrait · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Akustischer Maßanzug für Ö 1“
Michael Tschida
Portrait of Christian Muthspiel, who created the new Ö1 station signations, replacing Werner Pirchner's miniatures.
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Among his sure-footed border crossings the Kleine Zeitung counts the trio arrangements of pieces by the mavericks he admires, Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner; the same text appeared on kleinezeitung.at.
trio arrangements of pieces by the mavericks he admires, Harry Pepl & Werner Pirchner
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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.
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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.
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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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11 January 2018 · Report · DE
OÖ Nachrichten: „Eine Zentrale der Jazz-Musik“
On the closing of the Kasper-Keller in Linz (Café Jentschke): its 35 years as a hub of jazz began on 22 November 1982 with the “Zwio” of Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl, booked by the landlord Hans Peter Kasper. A longer version appeared on nachrichten.at.
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For this evening the landlord and passionate jazz connoisseur Hans Peter Kasper booked “Zwio”, the duo of the Tyrolean composer and multi-instrumentalist Werner Pirchner and the Viennese guitarist Harry Pepl.
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28 February 2018 · Other · DE
MeinBezirk Tirol: „Going to Ladakh“ im alten Kino
Concert announcement for the Achim Kirchmair Trio in Landeck: the Tyrolean guitarist learned his craft at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz with the Austrian jazz legend Harry Pepl.
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Similar texts appeared on vienna.at (26 March 2018) and in ORF Teletext for the concert at the RadioKulturhaus on 8 May 2018.
who learned his craft, among other places, at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz with none other than the Austrian jazz legend Harry Pepl
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27 March 2018 · Radio · DE
SRF 2 Kultur, Jazz & World aktuell: „Was für die Magengegend“
Roman Hošek (Editorial)
Programme on [SRF 2 Kultur](https://www.srf.ch), the cultural radio station of Swiss public broadcasting, on Tuesday, 27 March 2018, 20:00 to 21:00, repeated on Friday, 30 March 2018.
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Alongside Hugh Coltman, Sons of Kemet and Shake Stew it presents a portrait of the Austrian saxophonist [Clemens Salesny](person:clemens-salesny). According to the playlist it also features Harry Pepl's “[Single Swing](werk:single-swing)” (Fullmax Recordings).
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10 September 2018 · Portrait · DE
wienerzeitung.at: „Begnadeter Harry Pepl“
Short portrait for his birthday on 10 September: musical influences in the family (opera, Count Basie, Schrammel music), first engagements with Harald Neuwirth and Erich Kleinschuster's sextet, the ORF Big Band, fame through the Pirchner-Pepl JazzZwio, performances with Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Wolfgang Puschnig and Dino Saluzzi and at festivals in Montreux, Berlin and Saalfelden. As students the text names Wolfgang Muthspiel, Peter Havlicek and Guido Jeszenszky.
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a gifted guitarist and an exceptional phenomenon
Otto Kolleritsch
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18 October 2018 · Report · DE
kleinezeitung.at (Völkermarkt): „KIB präsentiert zum 35er ambitioniertes Herbstprogramm“
Hubert Budai
Autumn programme of the Kulturinitiative Bleiburg: on 15 November 2018 Harry Pepl is remembered at the Brauhaus Breznik; the quartet of the Single Swinger Band (Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Andi Schreiber, Valentin Duit) interacts with his unreleased recordings. A shorter version appeared in the print edition (Kleine Zeitung, Völkermarkt, p. 27).
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the world-class master of the jazz guitar and composer Harry Pepl, who died in 2005
improvise posthumously with the Austrian music legend, as it were
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2 November 2018 · Other · DE
Kärntner Monat (Kultszene): „Gigant der Impros“
Event tip under the headline “Gigant der Impros” (giant of improvisation): at the Brauhaus Breznik in Bleiburg, “Harry Pepl's Lonely Single Swinger Band” brings unforgettable songs back to life on 15 November 2018.
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GIANT OF IMPROV
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7 November 2018 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Avancierte Landvermessung“
Michael Tschida
Preview of the 27th Austrian Soundcheck in Graz: the (Lonely) Single Swinger Band around Clemens Salesny recalls the guitar grandmaster Harry Pepl, who died in 2005, by means of tapes on 13 November.
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recalls the guitar grandmaster Harry Pepl, who died in 2005, by means of tapes
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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).
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It is then as if Harry Pepl were still on stage, playing together with the live musicians.
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10 November 2018 · Other · DE
Der Standard (Watchlist): Konzerttipp: Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band
Tip for the concert on Monday, 12 November 2018, at the Porgy & Bess: the late guitarist Harry Pepl comes from tape, and Clemens Salesny and his band add current jazz.
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Great project: the late guitarist Harry Pepl comes from tape here.
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14 November 2018 · Report · DE
MeinBezirk Kärnten: „Kärnten Premiere im Brauhaus Breznik“
Announcement of the concert on Thursday, 15 November 2018, at the Brauhaus Breznik in Bleiburg as one of the most interesting projects of the musical autumn.
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Pepl played at the 1st Musikfest Bleiburg in 1983; 35 years later the “giant of improvisation” returns to Bleiburg's stage.
In 1983 Harry Pepl, the Austrian composer and jazz guitarist who died in 2005, played at the 1st Musikfest Bleiburg.
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15 November 2018 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Auratisch: Zwei fünfte Männer“
Otmar Klammer
Concert review of Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band at the Austrian Soundcheck festival at Tube's in Graz, Austria (Tuesday, 13 November 2018).
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Clemens Salesny calls the band a quintet because Markus Wallner steers the playback from the mixing desk and laptop; the real fifth man, however, is Pepl, who “in a few days will already have been sorely missed for 13 years”. Salesny, Andi Schreiber (violin), Martin Bayer (guitar) and Valentin Duit (drums) take up Pepl's style; the band is at its strongest in the pieces built on Pepl's grooving ostinato bass figures.
The real fifth man, who once composed this music in real time on countless instruments
Otherwise the rule was: the smaller the format, the more Pepl.
The real fifth man, who once composed this music in real time on countless instruments, will in a few days already have been sorely missed for 13 years.
A multifaceted excursion through the Pepl cosmos.
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15 November 2018 · Other · DE
Kleine Zeitung (Völkermarkt): „Im Bleiburg kann man heute Harry Pepl (1945-2005) erleben“
Same-day announcement: the Kulturinitiative Bleiburg presents The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band at the Brauhaus Breznik together with the late master of the jazz guitar, through previously unreleased recordings, as if he were still on stage.
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the late composer and master of the jazz guitar, Harry Pepl, as if he were still on stage
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16 November 2018 · Other · DE
Kronen Zeitung: „A Tribute To“ (Tagestipp)
Listing on the day of the concert: “The Lonely Single Swingers” present a tribute evening on Friday, 16 November 2018, at 8.30 p.m. at the Jazzit in Salzburg, Austria (Elisabethstraße 11), to the composer and jazz guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005.
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The quartet interacts with previously unreleased recordings from his last creative period. With a band photo.
The quartet interacts with Pepl by means of previously unreleased recordings from his last creative period.
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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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20 March 2019 · Portrait · DE
Der Standard: „Miniopern zwischen Schwermut und Freiheit“
Ljubiša Tošić
Portrait of the singer and composer Elfi Aichinger on her album “Core”: besides New York greats, local musicians such as Fritz Pauer, Uli Scherer, Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner helped her break out of classical music. Online as early as 19 March 2019.
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Local greats such as Fritz Pauer, Uli Scherer, Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner also helped her break out.
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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.
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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.
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The programme was broadcast on 13 September 2019 at 14:05.
the Viennese guitar master Harry Pepl
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30 November 2019 · Portrait · DE
Passauer Neue Presse: „Viel Gefühl und positive Energie“
Portrait of the trombonist Paul Zauner on his 60th birthday. Asked about the people who shaped him most as a musician, he names Harry Pepl second after David Murray, one of the great three of the older generation.
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He is one of the great three of the older generation. I admire his openness in music, the mix of the concrete and the non-concrete, and the blur that is exciting in any art.
Paul Zauner
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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.
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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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13 February 2020 · Report · DE
Tiroler Tageszeitung (p. 12, Kultur & Medien): „Verwurzelt, wie von Flora gezeichnet“
Ursula Strohal
Round-table conversation for Werner Pirchner’s 80th birthday with Elfie Pirchner, who looks after her husband’s estate, and the composer Thomas Larcher.
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Among Pirchner’s early companions and supporters the article names Harry Pepl, with whom the vibraphonist formed a duo.
of course the guitarist Harry Pepl, with whom Pirchner became an untamed duo
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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 (Austria's public broadcaster) 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.
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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.
The music has overwhelming punch, rough and direct and full of concentrated energy
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11 June 2020 · Report · DE
radiohoerer.info: „Harry Pepls ‚Hip Jargon‘ plus Werner Pirchner anno 1975“
Music tip on the blog radiohoerer.info (radio and media tips for new music, jazz and audio) for the programme “In Concert” on Ö1, the cultural radio station of the ORF (Austria's public broadcaster), on 5 June 2020.
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The post reproduces Ö1's programme text (presented by Helmut Jasbar): a recording from the ORF radio archive captures Pepl's trio Hip Jargon with Wayne Darling (double bass) and Fritz Ozmec (drums) on 25 September 1975 in the Large Broadcasting Hall of the Funkhaus in Vienna, Austria, with Werner Pirchner as guest on vibraphone. This lets Hip Jargon be heard as the nucleus of the Jazzzwio. The blog's playlist names three joint pieces by Pepl and Pirchner, among them “Pfifferling” and “Down At The Ticky Toe”; titles and durations differ from the Ö1 programme page, which is authoritative.
“Free jazz for connoisseurs” was what a critic in the Salzburger Volksblatt, a daily newspaper in Salzburg, Austria, called it at the time.
the unpolished gem of a concert on 25 September 1975 in the Large Broadcasting Hall of the Vienna Funkhaus, the ORF's broadcasting house
Free jazz for connoisseurs
Verdict of a critic of the Salzburger Volksblatt, a daily newspaper in Salzburg, Austria, on Pepl's trio Hip Jargon around 1975, when Werner Pirchner joined as a guest; this collaboration grew into the Jazzzwio
Kritiker des Salzburger Volksblatts
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18 June 2020 · Report · FR
FIP (Radio France): „„Les heures propices“ et majestueuses de Franck Tortiller“
Catherine Carette
Article by the Paris radio station FIP on the duo album “Les heures propices” by Franck Tortiller (vibraphone) and Misja Fitzgerald Michel (guitar), released on 19 June 2020 on MCO.
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Even before the studio sessions, the duo presented Pepl’s piece “Air, Love and Vitamins” during lockdown, according to FIP a nod to the Vienna Art Orchestra and to Christian Muthspiel. The video is embedded.
the duo was already unveiling this piece by the Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl, a nod to the Vienna Art Orchestra and to Christian Muthspiel
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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.
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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. According to the running order, recorded statements by Wolfgang Muthspiel and Guido Jesenzky on Harry Pepl as musician and as teacher were added. The music ranged from the Austrian Evergreens (1960) via Benny Goodman, the Jazzzwio, Air Mail, Michel Portal, Enrico Rava and the Kronos Quartet to the Fullmax releases of 2015 and 2020. Muthspiel requested “The Day We Know Paul Desmond Is Gone”, Jesenzky “Germ in A” (both Jazzzwio); Anna Maurer contributed her version of “Air, Love & Vitamins” (2020). Director: Daniela Fietzek, sound engineer: Georg Janser.
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 (Austria's public broadcaster) 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.
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The members of the ensemble were guitarist Harry Pepl, vibraphonist Werner Pirchner, double bassist Wolfgang Wüst and drummer Fritz Ozmec
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29 October 2020 · Interview · DE
Raiffeisenzeitung (p. 24, Freizeit): „Salut to Jimi Hendrix“
Manfred Horak
Interview with the guitarist Harri Stojka about his album “Salut to Jimi Hendrix”.
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Looking back on the 1970s, Stojka counts Harry Pepl, with Erich Kleinschuster, Fritz Pauer and Erich Bachträgl, among the outstanding musicians of the Austrian jazz scene of the time, with which his rock band had little contact.
There were Erich Kleinschuster, Fritz Pauer, Harry Pepl, Erich Bachträgl, they were incredible musicians
Harri Stojka
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6 April 2021 · Review · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 18, arts section): „Gegengift zum Corona-Blues“
Christoph Irrgeher
CD review of an album by the Schwarzenberg Trio with piano trios by Beethoven, Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Werner Pirchner.
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Irrgeher introduces Pirchner as the vibraphonist who shook up the jazz world with Harry Pepl, as far as the Montreux festival, and discusses his trio “Heimat?”. The online version appeared on wienerzeitung.at on 5 April 2021.
As a vibraphonist he shook up the jazz world together with the guitarist Harry Pepl (as far as the Montreux festival)
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7 April 2021 · Report · DE
Augustin (p. 25, art.ist.in): „In memoriam Werner Pirchner“
felix
Short commemorative article in the Viennese street paper on the 20th anniversary of Werner Pirchner’s death, pointing to a concert by Ernst Kovacic and friends at the Sargfabrik on 15 April 2021.
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It recalls that Pirchner ran the Jazzzwio with Harry Pepl for years, sometimes extended by the bassist Adelhard Roidinger to Austria Drei.
Together with the guitarist Harry Pepl, the vibraphonist ran the JazzZwio for years, sometimes joined by the bassist Adelhard Roidinger to form Austria Drei.
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23 June 2021 · Report · DE
MeinBezirk Kärnten (p. 36, Top-Tipps der Woche): „Harry Pepl (tape) & Band“
Preview of the concert by Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band on Saturday, 26 June 2021, at the Bambergsaal in Villach (8 pm according to MeinBezirk, 7.30 pm according to the Kleine Zeitung and ORF Teletext).
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The quartet around Clemens Salesny plays with unreleased recordings from Pepl’s last creative period (1996 to 2005); because of the Covid restrictions 110 listeners were admitted. Recordings from this evening appear on the album “Live”.
the world-class Austrian composer and jazz guitarist who died in 2005
If you close your eyes, it is almost as if Harry Pepl were still on stage
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25 June 2021 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 43, Tagesaviso): „Musik der Harry Pepl’s Band“
Listing for the evening on 26 June 2021, 7.30 pm, at the Bambergsaal in Villach: a quartet plays with previously unreleased recordings from Pepl’s last creative period, the music of “Harry Pepl’s Lonely Single Swinger Band”.
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2 August 2021 · Review · FR
Le Dauphiné Libéré (im Tätigkeitsbericht 2021 des Festival de Chaillol): „Festival de Chaillol: le duo Tortiller et Fitzgerald-Michel très applaudi“
Report by Le Dauphiné Libéré (regional newspaper of the French Alps) on the concert of the duo Franck Tortiller (vibraphone) and Misja Fitzgerald-Michel (guitar) at the 25th Festival de Chaillol on Saturday, 31 July 2021, in a packed community hall in the Serre-Ponçon: Val d’Avance area (Hautes-Alpes, France). Besides Tortiller’s “On ne danse qu’une seule fois” and Monk’s “Bemsha Swing”, the duo played a piece by the “Austrian composer Harry Pepl”. Preserved in the festival’s 2021 activity report, pp. 55 to 56.
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classics such as Thelonious Monk’s “Bemsha Swing”, or another by the Austrian composer Harry Pepl.
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2 August 2021 · Radio · DE
Ö1 (Sendungsseite auf orf.at): „Solo am Genfer See: Harri Stojka“
Albert Hosp (Gestaltung)
Programme page for an Ö1 (ORF’s cultural radio station) broadcast about Harri Stojka’s solo appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival on 12 July 1981, aired on 1 August 2021.
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The text places the performance in a guitar evening at which Biréli Lagrène, Philip Catherine and Harry Pepl in duo with Werner Pirchner also played, confirming the date of the Jazzzwio’s Montreux concert.
at a guitar evening at which Biréli Lagrène, Philip Catherine and (in a duo with Werner Pirchner) Harry Pepl also performed
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3 October 2021 · Review · FR
CultureJazz: „13 arches... en jazz, ça porte bonheur ?“
Thierry Giard
Festival report by Thierry Giard (photos Christian Ducasse) in CultureJazz (French jazz magazine) on “Les Arches en Jazz” 2021.
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At the concert by Franck Tortiller and Misja Fitzgerald-Michel on Saturday, 25 September 2021, at noon in the church of Notre-Dame in Port-Bail-sur-Mer, the programme included compositions by Harry Pepl, Jim Pepper, David Crosby and Thelonious Monk alongside their own pieces. Giard had already heard the duo on 31 July 2021 in Rambaud (Hautes-Alpes).
On the menu that lunchtime were original compositions but also pieces by the Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl, the Native American saxophonist Jim Pepper, David Crosby and Thelonious Monk.
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4 October 2021 · Review · FR
Citizen Jazz: „Les Arches en jazz, une première“
Marie Boisnel
Report by Marie Boisnel in Citizen Jazz (French jazz magazine) on the first “Les Arches en Jazz” festival in Port-Bail-sur-Mer (Cotentin, Normandy, France).
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At the midday concert in the church of Notre-Dame, the duo Franck Tortiller and Misja Fitzgerald Michel played “Air, Love and Vitamins”, Pepl’s “gentle ballad” written for the same duo of guitar and vibraphone with Werner Pirchner.
Then the gentle ballad by the Austrian guitarist and composer Harry Pepl, written for the same duo with Werner Pirchner, guitar and vibraphone, “Air, love and vitamins”, plunges us into a languorous meditation.
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10 December 2021 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume Nachtausgabe (Sendungsseite auf orf.at): „Jazzorchestraler Rundfunk: Erinnerungen an die ORF Big Band“
Ines Reiger und Klaus Wienerroither (Gestaltung)
Programme marking 50 years of the ORF Big Band on Friday, 10 December 2021, continued after midnight.
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The radio big band (ORF: Austria’s public broadcaster), which grew out of the Johannes Fehring Orchestra in October 1971, existed until 1982; the text names Pepl alongside Fritz Pauer and Erich Bachträgl among its important Austrian musicians. The music includes recordings with Carl Drewo, Slide Hampton and Dexter Gordon.
Important Austrian jazz musicians such as the pianist Fritz Pauer, the guitarist Harry Pepl or the drummer Erich Bachträgl complemented this international quality congenially.
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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.
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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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10 June 2022 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume (Sendungsseite auf orf.at): „Nachruf auf Wolfgang Reisinger“
Andreas Felber (Gestaltung)
Programme on the death of the drummer Wolfgang Reisinger, who died unexpectedly in Vienna on Wednesday, 8 June 2022.
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Felber calls him Austria’s most internationally renowned jazz drummer and recalls his ensembles of the 1980s, among them Air Mail with Harry Pepl and Wolfgang Puschnig, the Vienna Art Orchestra and his work in France.
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23 July 2022 · Radio · DE
Ö1 (Sendungsseite auf orf.at): „„Keks“ revisited“
Feature on the trombonist Erich Kleinschuster and the radio recordings of his sextet from 1968 to 1971, which the jazz historian Klaus Schulz released on two double CDs in 2005 and 2007.
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The Erich Kleinschuster Sextet, founded in 1966, is described as the flagship of Austrian jazz; its changing line-up included Karl Drewo, Fritz Pauer, Harry Pepl, Art Farmer, Benny Bailey and Jimmy Woode.
An all-star ensemble that served as the flagship of Austrian jazz for roughly the next 15 years
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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.
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The godfather of all Austrian jazz guitar players, a legend
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22 January 2023 · Portrait · DE
Kurier (p. 33, culture): „Das erweiterte musikalische Bewusstsein“
Michael Huber
Portrait of the trombonist, composer and scholar George Lewis and his work for greater diversity in music.
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Thanks to collaborations with the Viennese ensemble Studio Dan and with musicians such as Harry Pepl or Wolfgang Puschnig, Lewis has a long connection with Austria. The online version appeared on kurier.at on 21 January 2023.
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11 April 2023 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume (Sendungsseite und Sendung): „Peter Havlicek: Schrammelmusik und „die“ Jazz“
Programme for the 60th birthday of the guitarist and contraguitar player Peter Havlicek on the Tuesday after Easter.
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According to the programme text and presentation, his roots lie in jazz: he studied jazz guitar in Graz with Harry Pepl, whom he names as his teacher, and intended to go to Paris as a jazz musician, but found his way to the Viennese contraguitar.
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12 September 2023 · Report · DE
meinbezirk.at: „Tini Kainrath & Peter Havlicek Duo: „Wia a rode Rosn““
Announcement of a concert by the duo of Tini Kainrath (vocals) and Peter Havlicek (guitar, contraguitar).
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The text introduces Havlicek as a pupil of Harry Pepl who went on to share the stage with André Heller, Michael Heltau, Hansi Lang and Trude Mally. The same text appeared on badvoeslau.at on 28 November 2024.
Trained by Harry Pepl, one of the wildest on the guitar
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29 September 2023 · Report · DE
noe.ORF.at (Online): „Bühnenwirtshäuser öffnen im ganzen Land“
Preview of the first “Open Inn Door Day” of the Lower Austrian stage inns on Saturday, 30 September 2023, with free admission at ten venues.
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Under the subheading „Unveröffentlichte Klänge von Jazz-Gitarrist Pepl“ [“Unreleased sounds by jazz guitarist Pepl”] it announces the Single Swinger Band’s evening at the Syrnau in Zwettl. The provincial press release went out via APA-OTS on 28 September 2023 (OTS0063).
“The (lonely) single swinger band” improvises over unreleased recordings from the last creative period of the jazz guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005.
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4 October 2023 · Report · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 94): „Legende Harry Pepl zurück auf Bühne“
Franz Pfeffer
Report with photo on the Single Swinger Band’s performance at the Open Inn Door Day on Saturday, 30 September 2023, in the sparkasse.event.raum of the Syrnau cultural association in Zwettl, admission free.
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The quartet played with previously unreleased recordings; the picture shows the hosts Michaela and Erwin Schierhuber with Clemens Salesny, Valentin Duit, the sound engineer Markus Wallner and Andi Schreiber.
the world-class Austrian composer and jazz guitarist who died in 2005 returned to the stage
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15 December 2023 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Jazztime (RadioKulturhaus), angekündigt im ORF Teletext, p. 413: „Jazztime: Stefan Heckel“
Johann Kneihs (Gespräch)
Live broadcast from the RadioCafe of the Vienna RadioKulturhaus on Friday, 15 December 2023, from 7.30 pm on Ö1 (ORF’s cultural radio station).
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Stefan Heckel presents his solo piano album, plays with the cellist Erich Oskar Huetter and, in conversation with Johann Kneihs, talks about his research into Pepl’s method of instant composing. Documented by the announcement in ORF Teletext from 27 November to 13 December 2023.
In conversation with Johann Kneihs, Heckel talks about his research into the “instant composing” method of the great jazz guitarist Harry Pepl
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2 February 2024 · Report · DE
Kurier (p. 12, Niederösterreich-Beilage): „Mit Vielseitigkeit in einen jazzigen Frühling“
Teresa Sturm
Preview of the spring programme of the Krems association “That’s Jazz” at the Salzstadl. On 13 April 2024, in cooperation with musik.aktuell, the quartet of the vibraphonist Flip Philipp plays the music of Werner Pirchner and his Zwio partner Harry Pepl there.
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to portray the quirky world of Werner Pirchner and his legendary “Zwio” partner Harry Pepl
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5 February 2024 · Portrait
European Jazz Masters Of The Past (Blog): „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.
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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
the most spectacular record of one of the most original guitar players of European Jazz in those years
Andreas Felber
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15 March 2024 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur): „Jazz-Saxofonist Harry Sokal wird 70: „Bin musikalisch ein Chamäleon““
APA (wm/luw)
Agency report on the 70th birthday of the saxophonist Harry Sokal, a founding member of the Vienna Art Orchestra.
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In the list of musicians Sokal has played with, Harry Pepl appears alongside Art Blakey, Dave Holland, Michel Portal, Friedrich Gulda and Joe Zawinul. The report also ran on kleinezeitung.at, sn.at, tt.com, vienna.at and other portals.
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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.
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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
European Jazz Masters Of The Past (Blog): „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.
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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.
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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 (Danish jazz awards) 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 (the renowned European jazz label) collector.
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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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16 August 2024 · Other · JA
Guitar Records, Japan (Plattenhandel, Social-Media-Post und Webshop): „ECM 55周年記念 特集“ (Auswahl von ECM-Gitarrenalben)
Announcement by the Japanese record dealer Guitar Records of a sale marking 55 years of ECM (the renowned European jazz label), with original LPs by ECM guitarists including Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, John Abercrombie, Ralph Towner and Terje Rypdal.
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The list also includes “Herbert Joos - Harry Pepl - Jon Christensen / Cracked Mirrors / ECM 1356”. A dealer's offer, not a canon: it shows that the album was still on sale in Japan in 2024 as a sought-after original LP. According to the page, the sale was set for Friday, 16 August (year not stated, derived from the 2024 anniversary).
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19 November 2024 · Portrait · DE
impuls (Tyrol), p. 12: „Vom Landvermesser zum Profimusiker“
Portrait of the Tyrolean guitarist Achim Kirchmair ahead of his concert in Imst marking his 60th birthday and 40 years on stage.
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Kirchmair studied jazz guitar with Harry Pepl at the Kunstuniversität Graz; MeinBezirk Tirol and the Rundschau reported on the evening on 4 December 2024 and also name Pepl as his teacher.
studied jazz guitar at the University of the Arts in Graz with the legendary Harry Pepl
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20 November 2024 · Review · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 16): „Flip Philipp ließ die Schlägel tanzen“
Short report on the Freiraum concert at the Seidl-Keller in Bruck an der Leitha on Thursday, 14 November 2024: Flip Philipp (vibraphone) played music by Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl with Bertl Mayer (harmonica), Tobias Faulhammer (guitar), Pista Bartus (bass) and Klemens Marktl (drums).
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brought along the music of the Tyrolean vibraphonist Werner Pirchner and of the exceptional guitarist Harry Pepl
At times the audience listened in complete silence
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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 (Danish jazz awards) 2024 at Store VEGA in Copenhagen.
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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”.
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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.
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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.
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The accompanying article mentions John Scofield and the MIDI guitar and points to the concert at Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) on 28 September 2025.
In the 1980s Harry Pepl was one of the most sought-after guitarists in Europe.
The incredible improvisations and rapid cascades of sound, delivered in the most exciting way at the highest technical level, thrilled not only the audience in Montreux in 1981
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22 September 2025 · Press release · DE
APA-OTS (Presseaussendung Österreichischer Jazzpreis): „Österreichischer Jazzpreis 2025: Die Nominierten stehen fest!“
Österreichischer Jazzpreis
Press release on the nominations for the Austrian Jazz Award (award for jazz from Austria): the Jazz Award Academy of 149 experts chose 30 nominees in three categories from 174 submissions.
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In the Best Album category, “Live” by Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band is nominated, alongside albums by Christoph Pepe Auer, the Kenji Herbert Trio, Wolfgang Muthspiel and Asja Valcic, among others. The award ceremony was announced for 26 November 2025 at the Casino Velden.
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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.
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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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27 September 2025 · Report · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 38, culture): „Besondere Hörerfahrung“
Michaela Reichart
Preview of the autumn programme of Ute Pinter’s Graz concert series open music, now in its 25th year.
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Besides Studio Dan and the Darius Jones Trio, an evening for Harry Pepl was already fixed for December 2025: the Single Swinger Band at the Stockwerk on 16 December. mica (Austrian music information centre) spoke on 23 September 2025 of the „doppelten Harry-Pepl-Gedenkjahr“ [“double Harry Pepl commemorative year”].
a project dedicated to Harry Pepl, who died in 2005
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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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27 October 2025 · Report · DE
mica music austria (musicaustria.at): „Österreichischer Jazzpreis 2025: Die Gewinner*innen stehen fest!“
Report on the announcement of the winners on Monday, 27 October 2025, four weeks before the gala in Velden: in the Best Album category, “Live” by Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band takes second place behind the Kenji Herbert Trio.
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The Austrian Music Council (27 October 2025) and the AKM (29 October 2025) published the same ranking.
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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.
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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 (award for jazz from Austria).
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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
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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 (award for jazz from Austria) 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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6 November 2025 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume (Sendungsseite auf orf.at): „Kammerjazzige Duoklänge“
Andreas Felber (Gestaltung)
Programme “Music from all directions” with new releases by Sinfonia de Carnaval and by the duo of Martin Gasselsberger (piano) and Tim Collins (vibraphone).
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On their album “Songs From The Treehouse” the two play, alongside their own compositions, Pepl’s “Air, Love & Vitamins”, which Felber calls Pepl’s lyrical hit. The page lists the duo’s concerts from January to February 2026.
Harry Pepl’s lyrical hit “Air, Love and Vitamines”
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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 (award for jazz from Austria).
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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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14 December 2025 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 47, Aviso): „Im Dialog mit Harry Pepl“
Listing for the open music evening at the Stockwerk in Graz on Tuesday, 16 December 2025, 8 pm: a quartet plays live with previously unreleased recordings from Pepl’s last creative period.
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The listing documents the concert date, which the reports of 18 December do not give.
An intense musical dialogue with the “giant of improvisation”.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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2026 · Other · DE
SWR (Südwestrundfunk), SWR NEWJazz Meeting: „Chronologie SWR NEWJazz Meeting (1966 bis 2026)“
Julia Neupert und Sara Barth
Chronology of the SWR NEWJazz Meeting (formerly the Südwestfunk’s New Jazz Meeting Baden-Baden) from 1966 to 2026.
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For 1980 it lists the “String Meeting”, an ensemble dominated by string instruments with six string players and two guitarists, among them Harry Pepl; the final concert took place in Mainz on 28 November 1980. Other participants: John Blake, Wolfgang Dauner, Krzesimir Dębski, Christian Escoudé, Pierre Favre, Didier Lockwood, Barre Phillips, Ack van Rooyen, Bo Stief, Fredy Studer and Abdul Wadud.
“Never-before-heard sounds” is what Joachim Ernst Berendt promises the audience at the final concert in Mainz on 28 November, played by an ensemble dominated by string instruments
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24 June 2026 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Radiosession (Sendungsseite auf orf.at): „„Jazz & the City (... and us)“: Michael Kahr und Martin Harms“
Klaus Wienerroither (Interview)
Programme in the relaunched “Ö1 Radiosession” on Wednesday, 24 June 2026, with an interview and a recording session from Studio 2 of the Vienna RadioKulturhaus.
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The duo of the pianist Michael Kahr and the saxophonist Martin Harms plays repertoire linked to important figures of jazz in Vienna, expressly including the guitarist Harry Pepl, together with works by Anton Karas, Fritz Kreisler and Rudolf Sieczynski.
Repertoire that engages with important figures of jazz in Vienna, such as the guitarist Harry Pepl
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10 September 2026 · Other · DE
Facebook (Thomas Palme): „...noch eine Harry Pepl Story zu seinem heutigen 81 Geburtstag“
Thomas Palme
Public Facebook post by the Viennese jazz and blues guitarist Thomas Palme for Harry Pepl's 81st birthday with a memory of an Air Mail concert (Wolfgang Puschnig, Mike Richmond, Wolfgang Reisinger) at the Titanic, a fashionable club at the time in the Theobaldgasse in Vienna, Austria, in the 1980s or early 1990s: when the power failed in the middle of the set, Pepl played a Wes Montgomery tune by candlelight, all alone and acoustically, and the room fell silent and reverent. Photo in the original post: Andreas Mayer.
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An anecdote that shows how deeply Pepl, despite his modern, highly virtuosic guitar playing, was also rooted in the jazz guitar tradition
to this day a very vivid memory of one of Austria's greatest jazz guitarists