Skip to content
Harry Pepl * 1945  † 2005
Contact Sign in

Ensembles, bands and the live project with Harry Pepl's original tracks

Projects and ensembles

From Jazzzwio with Werner Pirchner through the bands of Benny Goodman and Michel Portal to Air Mail and the one-man band in the home studio: the ensembles in which Harry Pepl played, and the live project that brings his music to the stage today.

Colour photo: four men in dark clothing stand between the beams of an attic in front of a brick wall, the one on the left in profile, the others looking into the camera.
The band between the wooden beams of an attic, 2018Photo: Maria Frodl

Current live project · since 2018

Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band

Live dialogue with Harry Pepl's original tracks

Since 2018, Harry Pepl has been playing concerts again. Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Andi Schreiber and Valentin Duit improvise live with his original tracks from the home studio in Hernstein, Lower Austria; each track comes from its own amplifier. In this way one of the defining guitarists of European jazz can be experienced live by a younger generation too. The album “Live”, released in 2025, twenty years after his death, came second at the Austrian Jazz Award 2025 in the category best jazz album of the year (Best Album).

To the live project Album “Live” (2025) Enquire about a concert

The key milestones

For ten years, from 1975 to 1985, Harry Pepl played in Jazzzwio with the vibraphonist Werner Pirchner: at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1981 and, in 1982, for ECM in a trio with Jack DeJohnette. In 1980 and 1981 he played in Benny Goodman's band, among other venues at the Berlin Philharmonie. From 1983 he played in his own band Air Mail with Wolfgang Puschnig, Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger, from 1984 in France in the Michel Portal Unit, and in 1986 he toured with the quintet of Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi. With “Cracked Mirrors” and the “Schönberg Improvations” he made the MIDI guitar a tool of composition; from the mid-1990s he recorded all the instruments himself in his home studio as the Lonely Single Swinger Band. Since 2018 four musicians have been improvising live with these tracks: Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band.

His bands and line-ups

In chronological order, from the first bands of the 1960s to the one-man band in his home studio. Detailed pages with line-up, releases and press quotes are marked in green.

  1. In depthfrom 1964 · Guitarist and arranger of the band · 2 releasesThe Austrian EvergreensViennese beat band of the 1960s, house band at the Star Club Wien
  2. 1971 to 1977 · Guitarist and soloist · 23 releasesORF Big BandThe orchestra of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation
  3. 1974 · GuitaristConception MGroup of the pianist Albert Mair
  4. 1975 · GuitaristHarald Neuwirth KonsortQuartet around the pianist Harald Neuwirth
  5. from 1975 · Leader, guitarHip JargonPepl's trio, from which the Jazzzwio emerged
  6. 1975 · GuitaristMumelters ConcertodromQuintet around the violinist Martin Mumelter
  7. In depth1975 to 1985 · Co-leader with Werner Pirchner, guitar · 6 releasesJazzzwioThe duo of Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner
  8. from 1976 · GuitaristErich Kleinschuster SextettSextet of the trombonist Erich Kleinschuster
  9. 1977 to 1978 · Electric guitar · 1 releaseEnsemble Erich KleinschusterThe “St. Gerolder Messe” (1977)
  10. 1978 · GuitarTrio InfernalTrio with Adelhard Roidinger and Erich Bachträgl
  11. 1979 to 1982 · Co-leader, guitar · 1 releaseAustria DreiQuartet with Werner Pirchner and Adelhard Roidinger
  12. In depth1979 to 1982 · Guest guitarist · 1 releaseVienna Art OrchestraHarry Pepl as a guest, 1979 to 1982
  13. In depth1980 to 1981 · Guitarist of the band · 4 releasesBenny Goodman Band 1980/81Berlin, Rome and Copenhagen
  14. 1980 to 1981 · Guitarist · 1 releaseRuno Ericksson's OmnibusWith Charlie Mariano, recorded in Lindau, 1980
  15. 1980 · Guitarist · 1 releaseThe String SummitNew Jazz Meeting Baden-Baden 1980
  16. In depth1980 to 1982 · Co-leader, Ovation guitar · 1 releaseWerner Pirchner / Harry Pepl / Jack DeJohnetteThe ECM trio with Jack DeJohnette
  17. 1981 · Co-leader, guitar · 1 releaseThe LossQuintet with Leszek Zadlo and Werner Pirchner
  18. In depth1983 to 1993 · Guitar and MIDI guitar, composer · 2 releasesAir MailHarry Pepl's Austrian-American band
  19. 1984 · Guest, guitarFamily of PercussionNDR Jazz Workshop 1984 with Steve Swallow and Werner Pirchner
  20. In depth1984 to 1988 · Guitarist of the group · 2 releasesMichel Portal UnitHarry Pepl in the French jazz scene
  21. In depth1986 · Guitarist of the quintet · 1 releaseEnrico Rava / Dino Saluzzi QuintetVolver and the 1986 tour
  22. In depth1987 to 1989 · Leader, guitar, MIDI guitar, piano · 1 releasePepl / Joos / ChristensenCracked Mirrors (ECM 1988)
  23. In depth1989 to 1990 · Composer, MIDI guitar, pedal on the computer grand piano · 1 releaseSchönberg ImprovationsMIDI guitar and computer grand piano
  24. In depth1992 to 1994 · Leader, guitar, keyboards, percussion · 4 releasesHarry Pepl QuartetN.Y.C. Impressure (New York 1992)
  25. 1993 to 1994 · Guitar · 1 releaseAbstract TruthBeginnings, recorded in 1994
  26. 1994 · GuitarPepl / Labarrière / Jackson / MittererOne of the last concert series, 1994
  27. In depth1995 to 1996 · Piano, composition · 2 releasesHarry Pepl soloSolo piano: “Consequence” (1995) and “Flow” (1996)
  28. In depth1995 to 2005 · All instruments: guitar, MIDI guitar, piano, drums, vocals · 4 releasesHarry Pepl's Lonely Single Swinger BandThe one-man band in the Hernstein home studio
  29. Leader, guitarHarry Pepl TrioTrio of the 1970s with Peter Ponger and Joris Dudli

Music from the estate, live

  1. In depth2015 to 2016 · Original tracks (tape) · 1 releaseHarry Pepl & Clemens Salesny / Martin Bayer / Peter Primus Frosch / Agnes HegingerDouble CD 2015 with Salesny, Bayer, Frosch, Heginger

Composed for ensembles

Ensembles that premiered works commissioned from Harry Pepl. The works are listed in the Catalogue of works.

  1. 1989 · ComposerEnsemble Wien“Ballade for Mr. Dinozo” and “Grogos” at the Musikverein, 1989
  2. 1990 · Composer and soloistEnsemble KontrapunkteComposer portrait at the Musikverein in Vienna, 1990
  3. 1991 · ComposerKronos QuartetWorld premiere in Graz, 1991
  4. 1992 to 2000 · Composer · 1 releaseSTUDIO PERCUSSION grazPremieres of “Anspannen, Überspannen, Abspannen” and “Zeitraffer”
  5. 1993 · ComposerArtis-QuartettPremiere of “Über Kurz oder Lang” at the Musikverein, 1993

Dates

No dates are announced at the moment. Festivals, clubs and universities are welcome to enquire about the live project.