Jazzzwio

How the duo came about

In 1975 Pepl's trio Hip Jargon was looking for a melody instrument, and Pepl brought in the vibraphonist Werner Pirchner, a self-taught musician like himself. At a first rehearsal as a duo they played “Stella by Starlight” and noticed immediately that they could play well together.¹ The Jazzzwio grew out of this. Nikolaus Kohler counts it among Pepl's most important groups; for Pepl himself it was not a “band”, because for him that required a complete rhythm section.²

Gegenwind and Montreux

On 1 and 2 December 1979 the two recorded the album “Gegenwind” on the Bisamberg near Vienna: Pepl on Ovation guitar, Pirchner on vibraphone and marimba, and whistling. The pieces follow a pattern of freely improvised introduction, themes and solos. ECM and Enja turned down the tape, and Mood Records released it in 1980.³

On 12 July 1981 the Jazzzwio played at the Montreux Jazz Festival, on a guitar day with nine groups, preceded by Biréli Lagrène's trio and followed later in the evening by James Blood Ulmer, among others. The live recording was released as the LP “Live, Montreux '81” on WEA.⁴ In 1988 Pepl recalled: „Die waren alle begeistert. Eine Sensation eigentlich.“ [“They were all thrilled. A sensation, really.”]

Festivals, New York, trio

In September 1980 Jack DeJohnette joined in spontaneously at the festival in Saalfelden; in 1982 the joint ECM album was made, which has a page of its own: Werner Pirchner / Harry Pepl / Jack DeJohnette.⁵ The Jazzzwio played at the Jazzfest Berlin on 6 November 1981, at the German Jazz Festival in the Alte Oper Frankfurt on 2 October 1982 and, with Steve Swallow, at the NDR Jazz Workshop with the Family of Percussion.⁶ In 1985 Don Moye of the Art Ensemble of Chicago expanded the duo into a trio: an Austrian tour in March, an appearance at the “New Austria/New York” festival at the Ohio Theater in New York on 15 May, and the Bolzano Jazz Festival in July.⁷ On 12 May 1985 a live recording was made at the Miles Smiles club in Vienna with Georg Polansky on drums, which was released in 2003 as “Live At Miles Smiles”.⁸

The end

The Jazzzwio played its last documented concerts in October 1985 in Graz and Kindberg and on 28 October 1985 in Niš, there with Barry Altschul and Walter Schmocker.⁹ After that the two went their own ways, and Pirchner turned mainly to composition. Elfriede Pirchner describes the end as an amicable, organic process.¹⁰ Werner Pirchner died in 2001.

The recordings today

In 2009 Universal released “Live In Concerts” with the concerts from Montreux 1981 and Innsbruck 1984 on CD and DVD. Daniel Pepl had prepared the tapes and the video between summer 2007 and autumn 2008.¹¹ The critics called the edition a classic of Austrian jazz. In 2007 the Christian Muthspiel Trio dedicated the album “Against The Wind” to the repertoire of Pirchner and Pepl.