Cover: ECM Records
Band · 1987 to 1989
Pepl / Joos / Christensen
Cracked Mirrors (ECM 1988)
In 1988 ECM released “Cracked Mirrors”, Harry Pepl's trio with the flugelhorn player Herbert Joos and the Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen. On this album Pepl for the first time makes a defining use of his Roland MIDI guitar; Stefan Heckel sees in it the forerunner of his Instant Composing. ECM certified that the record stood completely at odds with the „Wind des Zeitgeistes“ [“wind of the zeitgeist”].
Harry Pepl Leader, guitar, MIDI guitar, piano
At a glance
- Line-up
- Harry Pepl (guitar, Roland MIDI guitar, piano), Herbert Joos (flugelhorn), Jon Christensen (drums)
- Also live
- Tony Oxley (drums, December 1988)
- Recording
- February 1987, Wachau; drums at Rainbow Studio, Oslo
- Release
- 30 May 1988, ECM 1356, LP and CD
- Significance
- first album with Pepl's MIDI guitar, forerunner of his Instant Composing
- Concerts
- Posthof Linz (20 April 1988), Tamsweg (15 December 1988), Stadtgarten Cologne (1989)
How it came about
The impetus came in 1987 from Heimo Steps of the Graz promoter gamsbART: Pepl should go into the studio and do whatever he had in mind. gamsbART advanced the studio costs, ECM took them over, and Manfred Eicher did not intervene to steer things.1 A solo album was planned at first, then a duo album with Herbert Joos, whom Pepl knew from the Vienna Art Orchestra; at ECM's suggestion, Jon Christensen was added.2 The recording took place in February 1987, largely in a studio in the Wachau; Christensen later added the drums at Rainbow Studio in Oslo, with Pepl present at the mixing.3 The album was released on LP and CD on 30 May 1988.4
The sound
Pepl plays guitar, the Roland MIDI guitar system and piano, Joos flugelhorn, in part with electronic effects. In “More Far Out Than East” the guitar additionally produces a trumpet sound an octave higher via the MIDI converter, creating a compact unison.5 The titles: “Wolkenbilder” and “Wolkenbilder 2” by Joos, “Reflections in a Cracked Mirror” for MIDI guitar with drum sounds, “Schikaneder Delight”, “Die alte Mär und das Mann”, “More Far Out Than East”, “Purple Light” and the piano piece “Tintenfisch Inki”, Pepl's first released piano piece.6
On stage
Christensen stayed for an extended period as a guest in Hernstein, Lower Austria; the trio rehearsed there and played, among other places, at the Posthof in Linz on 20 April 1988, in Katsdorf, at the Stuttgart Jazz Festival and in 1989 at the Stadtgarten in Cologne, where television recorded the concert. When Christensen was unavailable, Tony Oxley played: in December 1988 the trio of Pepl, Joos and Oxley toured Austria, and ORF recorded the concert in Tamsweg on 15 December 1988; Ö1 broadcast the recording in 2015.7
Response
In April 1988 the Kronen Zeitung wrote of a concert as a „Genuss für Jazzfreunde“ [“a treat for jazz fans”] and praised the restrained use of electronics.8 Kohler and Die Steirische name an award in the quarterly list of the German Record Critics' Award 1988, while the Österreichisches Musiklexikon speaks of a nomination.9
Notes and sources (9)
- Heckel 2024, pp. 90 to 91. ↩
- Kohler 2006, p. 113; Heckel 2024, pp. 92, 228. ↩
- Heckel 2024, p. 92 (according to Daniel Pepl). ↩
- Heckel 2024, p. 91; ECM catalogue. ↩
- Heckel 2024, p. 100. ↩
- Heckel 2024, p. 94; Kohler 2006, pp. 113 to 115. ↩
- Heckel 2024, pp. 94 to 95; Ö1, Jazznacht, 19 September 2015. ↩
- Kronen Zeitung, 4 April 1988, p. 24, according to Heckel 2024, p. 93. ↩
- Kohler 2006, p. 113; Die Steirische, 8 September 1988, p. 12; Österreichisches Musiklexikon online. ↩
Parts
Just as a ray of light is refracted many times in the splinters of broken mirrors, musical genres appear on this record in repeatedly enacted processes of abstraction.
A treat for jazz lovers
His musical paintings are a pleasure to listen to, not least because sensuality and warmth are inherent in them.
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.
he went into the studio with Austrian guitar master Harry Pepl and Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen to record ‘Cracked Mirrors’
Releases
Listen and watch
A selection of Harry Pepl on Spotify, not only from this project.
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Harry Pepl, Herbert Joos, Jon Christensen · Trio Concert, Stadtgarten Köln 1989
To play it, the video is loaded from YouTube. Data is transferred to YouTube (Google) in the process.
Questions and answers
Who plays on “Cracked Mirrors”?
Harry Pepl (guitar, MIDI guitar, piano), Herbert Joos (flugelhorn) and Jon Christensen (drums).
When was “Cracked Mirrors” released?
On 30 May 1988 on ECM under the number 1356; it was recorded in February 1987.
Why is the album considered special?
Here Pepl for the first time makes a defining use of the MIDI guitar, and the drums were added afterwards in Oslo. Stefan Heckel sees in it the forerunner of Pepl's Instant Composing.
Did the trio also play live?
Yes, among other places at the Posthof in Linz, in Stuttgart and in Cologne; in December 1988 it toured Austria with Tony Oxley on drums.
What does the title “Cracked Mirrors” mean?
ECM explained it with the image of a ray of light that is refracted many times in the shards of broken mirrors, just like the musical genres on the record.
In the chronology
- February 1987 Recording of “Cracked Mirrors”
- 20 April 1988 Cracked Mirrors live at the Posthof Linz
- 22 April 1988 Trio Pepl/Joos/Christensen at the Hotel Mader, Katsdorf
- 30 May 1988 “Cracked Mirrors” released on ECM
- 10 December 1988 Austrian tour with Herbert Joos and Tony Oxley
- 15 December 1988 Trio with Herbert Joos and Tony Oxley in Tamsweg
- 1989 Cracked Mirrors at the Stadtgarten in Cologne
- 19 September 2015 Ö1 Jazznacht “Erinnerungen an Harry Pepl”
In the press
- 1988 Pressespiegel (Collage, Zusammenstellung nicht bezeichnet): „Cracked Mirrors“: Kritiken aus Deutschland, Österreich, Frankreich, Großbritannien und Japan
- April 1988 Tageszeitung (Titel nicht erhalten): „Versierte Gefährten“ (Musikantendreieck der Extraklasse im Posthof)
- 22 April 1988 Tageszeitung (Titel nicht erhalten): „Glanzvolle Dreieinigkeit“
- May 1988 ECM Records, München (Presseinformation): Harry Pepl / Herbert Joos / Jon Christensen: „Cracked Mirrors“
- 18 December 2017 Guitar Moderne (Online): „Harry Pepl: The One That Almost Got Away“
- 12 April 2024 Wulf Müller, Blog „European Jazz Masters Of The Past“: „European Jazz Masters Of The Past #3: Herbert Joos“
- 9 June 2024 Instagram (@ecm_vinylcollector): „Cracked Mirrors“ (Pepl/Joos/Christensen, ECM 1356)