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Harry Pepl * 1945  † 2005

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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  1. 2001 · Review · DE

    Concerto (music magazine), issue 5/2001, p. 54: „Fünf Variationen österreichischer Jazzkunst“ (Austrian Jazzart)

    Jörg Weitlaner

    Joint review of the first five CDs of Universal Music’s Austrian Jazzart series (reissues of Austrian jazz albums). First comes “Light Blues” by Air Mail, the quartet’s second and last record, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Wolfgang Reisinger and Mike Richmond. Pepl describes the band’s “telepathic understanding”; the review quotes from the liner notes (by Andreas Felber according to Discogs) his playing “marked by rough, jagged cascades of notes” and highlights the then still young MIDI technology. For Wolfgang Puschnig’s “Pieces Of The Dream” (No. 5) Pepl is named among the duo partners.

    playing marked by rough, jagged cascades of notes

    Andreas Felber

    The interplay of the whole band, in which we had developed a telepathic understanding, was what made Airmail special for me.

    Looking back in 2001 on his quartet Air Mail

    Harry Pepl

  2. 2002 · Report · DE

    treibhaus Innsbruck (programme note): „DuoDue: Muthspiel & Muthspiel spielen die Musik von Pirchner & Pepl“

    Andreas Felber

    Programme text by Andreas Felber for the concert of the brothers Wolfgang and Christian Muthspiel with their programme “Muthspiel & Muthspiel play Pepl-Pirchner” at the treibhaus Innsbruck (cultural centre in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria). Wolfgang Muthspiel recalls a concert by Pirchner and Pepl in Graz in 1982 as a formative experience; until 1986 Pepl was his teacher at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. Christian Muthspiel describes what the Jazzzwio showed him. Werner Pirchner congratulated the brothers on their first duo record “Schneetanz” with a postcard, without knowing them personally.

    When Pirchner/Pepl played, it was an event. I personally still remember Pepl’s avalanche-like improvisations very well, where things always somehow got ‘dangerous’, hot. His immense rhythmic power was unbelievable.

    During my studies, standards and the academic jazz repertoire were held in high esteem. Through the ‘Jazz-Zwio’ I learned that in this music you really could do exactly what you wanted yourself.

  3. 2002 · Report · DE

    Concerto (music magazine), issue 5/2002, p. 40: „24. Internationales Jazzfest Saalfelden“

    Andreas Felber

    Festival report by Andreas Felber (photos: Herbert Höpfl) on the 24th Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Salzburg, Austria) in August 2002. Felber singles out the homage by the brothers Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel to the Jazzzwio of Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl, disbanded in 1985: close to the originals, they turned pieces from the three vibraphone and guitar albums into calm mood pictures, including “Raga in M”. For Felber, proof that this music is developing its own traditions in Europe too.

    They offered an impressive homage to the “Jazzzwio” of Werner Pirchner/Harry Pepl, disbanded in 1985: the brothers Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel.

  4. 27 July 2002 · Report · DE

    Der Standard (p. 30, Szenario): „Urwüchsiges Material“ (Werner-Pirchner-Schwerpunkt beim Festival „Glatt & Verkehrt“)

    Andreas Felber

    Preview of the Pirchner evening on Sunday, 28 July 2002, in the Minoritenkirche in Krems-Stein. Felber recalls the Jazzzwio’s triumphs on Europe’s festival stages; Christian Muthspiel explains why the brothers’ duo stays close to the originals on the three Jazzzwio records.

    celebrated triumphs on Europe’s festival stages in the Jazz-Zwio with the guitarist Harry Pepl

    Precisely because the energy of the Zwio cannot be separated from the actual pieces and compositions

    Christian Muthspiel

  5. 31 August 2004 · Review · DE

    Der Standard (p. 24, culture): „Sicherheitsdenken und ‚positive Signale‘“ (Ausklang des Jazzfestivals Saalfelden 2004)

    Andreas Felber

    Report from the Saalfelden jazz festival 2004. In one of his rare solo concerts, on Sunday, 29 August 2004, Wolfgang Muthspiel reflected, among other things, the playing of his teacher Pepl.

    the rugged rhapsodic style of a Harry Pepl

  6. 2007 · Press release · DE

    Christian Muthspiel Trio, „Against The Wind“ (Linernotes): „Das Christian Muthspiel Trio spielt Werner Pirchner und Harry Pepl“

    Andreas Felber

    Liner notes to the album “Against The Wind” (2007) in German, English and French. Felber describes Pirchner and Pepl as “perfectionist characters” who played Europe's festivals as the “Jazz-Zwio” roughly between 1978 and 1985, and reports that the young improvisers of the JazzWerkstatt Wien elevate Pepl to the father figure of the Austrian scene. The basis was a project with Wolfgang Muthspiel for the “Glatt&Verkehrt” festival in 2002. The product page also carries press quotes from Die Weltwoche and the Salzburger Nachrichten.

    Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl were perfectionist characters who never did anything by halves.

    While the young improvisers of the JazzWerkstatt Wien, after Hans Koller, are now discovering Harry Pepl too and so elevating him to the father figure of the Austrian scene