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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April 1985 · Other
DownBeat (US-Jazzzeitschrift, gegründet 1934): „European ECM“: Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl, Jack DeJohnette (ganzseitige Vorstellung, Heft April 1985, Vol. 52, Nr. 4)
DownBeat, the leading US jazz magazine (founded in Chicago in 1934), presented the ECM album by Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, Harry Pepl and Jack DeJohnette (ECM 1237) on a full page, p. 11, of its April 1985 issue, with a picture of the cover: “Austrians Pirchner and Pepl join with drummer Jack DeJohnette to create a highly original and accessible trio sound.” It highlights the electronic effects of Pepl’s Ovation guitar blending with Pirchner’s vibraphone and marimba. The album was presented in the “European ECM” series of the New York import distributor PolyGram Special Imports, together with four other albums from the renowned European jazz label ECM. According to the masthead, the issue went on sale on Friday, 15 March 1985.
Austrians Pirchner and Pepl join with drummer Jack DeJohnette to create a highly original and accessible trio sound.
From the full-page presentation of the ECM album in DownBeat, April 1985, in the “European ECM” series of the US distributor PolyGram Special Imports
PolyGram Special Imports, European ECM
The electronic effects of Pepl’s ovation guitar blend with Pirchner’s tenor vibes and marimba to form a rich overlay
From the full-page presentation of the ECM album in DownBeat, April 1985, in the “European ECM” series of the US distributor PolyGram Special Imports
PolyGram Special Imports, European ECM
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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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26 September 1986 · Other
Bizim Caz, Datenbank des Jazz in der Türkei (online): „Air Mail“, Şan Tiyatrosu, 2. Bilsak Caz Festivali
Database entry on the Air Mail concert on Friday, 26 September 1986, at 10 pm at the Şan Tiyatrosu in Istanbul, Turkey, at the 2nd International Bilsak Jazz Festival, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Harry Pepl, Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger; organiser BİLSAK.
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27 September 1986 · Other
Bizim Caz, Datenbank des Jazz in der Türkei (online): „Dino Saluzzi ve Enrico Rava Beşlisi“, Şan Tiyatrosu, 2. Bilsak Caz Festivali
Database entry on the concert of the quintet of Dino Saluzzi and Enrico Rava on Saturday, 27 September 1986, at 11 pm at the Şan Tiyatrosu in Istanbul, Turkey, at the 2nd International Bilsak Jazz Festival, with Enrico Rava, Harry Pepl, Dino Saluzzi, Furio Di Castri and Bruce Ditmas.
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27 August 1988 · Other
Music Week (British music trade magazine): „New Albums“ (Neuerscheinungen vom 30. August bis 2. September 1988)
The new-release list of the British music trade magazine includes “Cracked Mirrors” by Harry Pepl, Herbert Joos (printed “Joss”) and Jon Christensen for the week beginning Tuesday, 30 August 1988, as a jazz album on ECM/New Note, LP ECM 1356, CD 833 472-2. It is a trade listing of the British release, not a review.
PEPL, Harry/Herbert JOSS/Jón CHRISTENSEN CRACKED MIRRORS ECM/New Note ECM 1356/8334722"CD"
Entry in the “New Albums” list of the British music trade magazine Music Week for the week of 30 August to 2 September 1988: British release of “Cracked Mirrors” on ECM/New Note, LP ECM 1356, CD 833 472-2. “JOSS” and “Jón” as printed, meaning Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen; a listing, not a review
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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). 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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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. 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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17 July 1992 · Other
Pori Jazz, festival archive (online): Festival years 1992: John Purcell´s Blue Brass Connection
The online archive of Pori Jazz (jazz festival in Pori, Finland, held every year since 1966 and one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe) lists, for the 27th festival from Saturday, 11 to Sunday, 19 July 1992, the band “John Purcell´s Blue Brass Connection” with Harry Pepl (guitar), John Purcell (saxophone), Graham Haynes (trumpet), Ron Burton (piano), Kenny Davis (bass), Ronnie Burrage (drums) and Paul Zauner (trombone). Three performances are listed: Friday, 17 July 1992, on the main stage at Kirjurinluoto in the programme starting at 5 pm, the same evening at the Village Gate, and Saturday, 18 July 1992, at the Nuorisokeskus (youth centre). For the same Kirjurinluoto programme the daily schedule also lists Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band and the Hammond line-up of Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff. Pepl appears in the archive only in this year.
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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). 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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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. 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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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. 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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2015 · Other
riegler.weblog.mur.at (Website Daniel Riegler): Biography Daniel Riegler, Trombone, Composition
Daniel Riegler
English biography on the website of the trombonist and composer Daniel Riegler, born in 1977 in Graz, Austria, with a tabular overview up to 2015. For 2008 it lists his leadership of the Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) stage band Studio Dan and the Harry Pepl Prize 2008.
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June 2024 · Other
Bandcamp (Kresten Osgood): „LIVE AT H15 STUDIO“ (Kresten Osgood Quintet)
Kresten Osgood Quintet
Release page of the album “Live At H15 Studio” (ILK Music, June 2024) by the Danish Kresten Osgood Quintet. Track 2 is “The Halleys Comet - Light Blue Blues” by Harry Pepl; the album was named Jazz Release of the Year at the Danish Music Awards Jazz (Danish jazz awards) in 2024.