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Harry Pepl * 1945  † 2005
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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

Live from the estate · from 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).

Harry Pepl Original tracks (tape) from the home studio

Enquire about a concert Releases Questions and answers

At a glance

Type
live formation with Harry Pepl's original tracks (tape)
Since
2018
Line-up
Clemens Salesny (alto saxophone, bass clarinet), Martin Bayer (guitar), Andi Schreiber (violin), Valentin Duit (drums)
Live sound
Markus Wallner
Album
Live, Fullmax Recordings, digital 22 August 2025, CD and vinyl distributed by Hoanzl
Award
Austrian Jazz Award 2025, 2nd place in the category best jazz album of the year (Best Album)
Recording venues
Porgy & Bess Vienna (2019, 2020), Blue Tomato Vienna (2020), Bambergsaal Villach (2021)
Production
Daniel Pepl
Enquiries
festivals, clubs, concert series, universities via the contact form

Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band: short documentary (2020)

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How the live project works, with Daniel Pepl and Wolfgang Puschnig in conversation and excerpts from Porgy & Bess, Vienna. English subtitles. Camera and editing by Nicolas Flores. YouTube channel Martin Bayer.

The idea

From the mid-1990s, Harry Pepl recorded music in his studio in Hernstein, Lower Austria, on which he played all the instruments himself: drums, guitars, bass via the MIDI guitar, piano and scat singing, improvised track by track. He called this one-man band “Harry Pepl's Lonely Single Swinger Band”.1 The live project takes the name literally. Pepl's individual tracks run through their own amplifiers, which are miked with their own microphones; the sound engineer Markus Wallner mixes them live. In this way, alongside the four musicians, several Harry Pepls stand on stage, as it were, and the sound is that of a sextet or septet.2 “(tape)” in the name stands for these tracks.

Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band: “Scat Snap”, live at Porgy & Bess, Vienna, Austria

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Harry Pepl (tape) with scat vocals and bass from his guitar-synthesizer track, Martin Bayer (guitar), Clemens Salesny (bass clarinet), Valentin Duit (drums), Markus Wallner (sound). YouTube channel Martin Bayer.

Why the project is new

The musicians do not play to a backing track; they improvise with an improviser whose tracks play along on stage, and they respond to him. Because the tracks themselves were created in the moment, every concert sounds different. Stefan Heckel sees in this the proof that music created in the moment can be brought back „in die Echtzeit“ [“into real time”].3 For Daniel Pepl, the project lets a younger generation experience his father live; in the press text for the album he calls it unique in Europe.4

How it began

As early as 2004, during Pepl's lifetime, Clemens Salesny, Wolfgang Schiftner and Lorenz Raab improvised to his recordings at the Blue Tomato in Vienna and at the Salzburger Jazzherbst, with Rainer Rygalyk showing pictures; Pepl was there.5 For the tenth anniversary of his death, the double CD with Salesny, Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger was released in 2015, presented on 5 December 2015 at Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club).6 In 2018 the present line-up formed, with Andi Schreiber on violin and Valentin Duit on drums.7

The album “Live”

“Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band: Live” was released for Harry Pepl's 80th birthday, digitally on 22 August 2025 by Fullmax Recordings, and on CD and vinyl distributed by Hoanzl. The recordings come from concerts at Porgy & Bess in Vienna (25 October 2019 and 15 July 2020), at the Blue Tomato in Vienna (24 October 2020) and at the Bambergsaal in Villach (26 June 2021). The CD contains 14 tracks, on one of which Franz Hautzinger plays trumpet; the vinyl edition has ten. All the pieces are improvised in the moment. Daniel Pepl produced the album, and the cover image is a painting by Harry Pepl.8

Austrian Jazz Award 2025

At the Austrian Jazz Award 2025 the album came second in the Best Album category, behind the Kenji Herbert Trio and ahead of the Tobias Meissl Trio. Voting was by an academy of 149 experts and a seven-member expert jury; more than 170 productions had been submitted. The ceremony took place on 26 November 2025 at Casino Velden; Ö1 (the ORF's cultural radio channel) broadcast it live and played “Hernstein Blues” from the album.9

Concerts

Documented performances include the following:

  • 25 October 2019: Porgy & Bess, Vienna
  • 15 July 2020: Porgy & Bess, Vienna
  • 24 October 2020: Blue Tomato, Vienna
  • 26 June 2021: Bambergsaal, Villach
  • 30 September 2023: Syrnau, Zwettl
  • 28 September 2025: Porgy & Bess, Vienna
  • December 2025: Open Music at the Stockwerk, Graz

Of the Graz evening, the Kleine Zeitung wrote of a „überraschend lebendigen, hochmusikalischen“ [“surprisingly lively, highly musical”] result, and the Kronen Zeitung of the „Schemen eines Lebenden“ [“shadowy outlines of a living man”].10

Enquiring about the programme

The concert programme can be requested for festivals, clubs, concert series and universities. Enquiries are coordinated with the band; because Pepl's tracks run over several channels, this also includes the technical equipment of the venue (Enquire about a concert).

Notes and sources (10)
  1. Kohler 2006, pp. 133 to 136; Heckel 2024, pp. 154 to 160. ↩
  2. Heckel 2024, pp. 168 to 169. ↩
  3. Heckel 2024, pp. 163 to 170; English press text, Fullmax Recordings, 2025, p. 1 (“No two concerts are alike”). ↩
  4. Statement by Daniel Pepl, 15 October 2026; press text, Fullmax Recordings, 2025, p. 1. ↩
  5. Heckel 2024, pp. 154 to 156. ↩
  6. Heckel 2024, p. 156; Porgy & Bess, programme, 5 December 2015. ↩
  7. Heckel 2024, p. 168. ↩
  8. Press text, Fullmax Recordings, 2025, p. 2; back covers of the CD and vinyl. ↩
  9. Statement by Daniel Pepl, 15 October 2026; ORF Kärnten, 24 November 2025, updated 27 November 2025; fullmax.at, 26 November 2025; Ö1 “On stage Spezial”, 26 November 2025. ↩
  10. Kleine Zeitung, 18 December 2025, p. 51; Kronen Zeitung, 18 December 2025, p. 42. ↩

Parts

A surprisingly lively, highly musical result emerges

Robert Tendl, Kleine Zeitung “Im Spiel mit der Wiener Gitarristenlegende”, Kleine Zeitung, 18 December 2025, p. 51

Not many musicians release new CDs 20 years after their death.

F. Jureček, Kronen Zeitung “Die Schemen eines Lebenden”, Kronen Zeitung, 18 December 2025, p. 42

On stage I had the feeling that Harry was playing right next to me

Andi Schreiber On a concert by the live formation; interview with Stefan Heckel (9 March 2022), Heckel 2024, p. 169

Archive material gives rise to the shadowy outlines of a living man.

F. Jureček, Kronen Zeitung “Die Schemen eines Lebenden”, Kronen Zeitung, 18 December 2025, p. 42

Now it can be experienced live again. I think that is unique in Europe

Daniel Pepl Fullmax Recordings press text for the album “Live”, 2025, p. 1

Releases

Listen and watch

Album on Spotify.

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Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band - Short Documentary (with English subtitles)

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YouTube: Martin Bayer, 26 February 2020

Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band - Scat Snap - Live @Porgy & Bess Vienna 2020

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YouTube: Martin Bayer, 24 September 2025

Questions and answers

What is Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band?

A live formation that has performed since 2018 with Harry Pepl's original tracks from the home studio in Hernstein. Four musicians improvise to them and respond to the tracks, which sound on stage through their own amplifiers.

What does “(tape)” in the name stand for?

For Harry Pepl's original tracks. From the mid-1990s he recorded them himself, track by track, in his home studio; at the concert they run alongside on several channels, and the musicians play with them as with a band member.

Who plays in the band?

Clemens Salesny (alto saxophone, bass clarinet), Martin Bayer (guitar), Andi Schreiber (violin) and Valentin Duit (drums); Markus Wallner mixes the sound live. On the CD, Franz Hautzinger also plays trumpet on one track.

Which award did the album “Live” receive?

At the Austrian Jazz Award 2025 (award for jazz from Austria) it came second in the Best Album category, behind the Kenji Herbert Trio. The ceremony took place on 26 November 2025 at Casino Velden.

Where was the album recorded?

At concerts at Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) in Vienna (25 October 2019 and 15 July 2020), at the Blue Tomato in Vienna (24 October 2020) and at the Bambergsaal in Villach (26 June 2021).

Why is the project considered innovative?

The musicians improvise in real time with an improviser who died in 2005 but whose tracks play along on stage. In this way Harry Pepl can be experienced live even by an audience that has never heard him; Daniel Pepl calls the concept unique in Europe.

Can the band be asked to play a concert?

Yes. Enquiries from festivals, clubs, concert series and universities go through the contact form; because the tracks run over several channels, the venue's technical equipment is part of the arrangements.

In the chronology

In the press