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.
Filters active
31 entries filtered · CSV of the filtered entries
Newest first · Oldest first
-
8 July 2010 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „Adelhard Roidinger: Schattseite (ECM 1221)“
Tyran Grillo
Review of Adelhard Roidinger's only ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, recorded in November 1981 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, with Heinz Sauer, Bob Degen, Harry Pepl, Werner Pirchner, Aina Kemanis and Michael DiPasqua.
more
Grillo praises the airy, atmospheric sound, Pepl's soft guitar licks in the opening track and the Metheny-like picking in “Loveland”, and calls urgently for a reissue.
The fantastic sax solo and Metheny-esque picking lend even more elegance to the track’s progressive sound.
-
24 November 2010 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung: „Schwülstige Fadesse“
MW
Report on the closing night of the 20th Austrian Soundcheck at the Orpheum in Graz: Stefan Heckel receives the third Harry Pepl Prize as the starting point for a doctoral thesis on Pepl's legacy, whose work, according to festival director Gerhard Kosel, still awaits scholarly study. As a prelude, Daniel Riegler (prize winner 2008) and Matthias Muche play three of Pepl's real-time compositions as a trombone duo.
more
Since the death of the great guitarist and composer Harry Pepl (1945-2005), his work still awaits scholarly study, says Soundcheck director Gerhard Kosel.
As a prelude, Daniel Riegler (Pepl Prize winner 2008) and Matthias Muche had performed three “real-time compositions” by the master as a trombone duo.
-
24 November 2010 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Eine Jazz Big Band, die Seelen baumeln lässt“
Otmar Klammer
Concert report from the finale of the Austrian Soundcheck: Stefan Heckel accepts the Harry Pepl Prize, endowed with 4,500 euros, and announces that he will devote himself to the namesake's work as a scholar.
more
A few days before the fifth anniversary of Pepl's death, the trombone duo Daniel Riegler and Matthias Muche plays three arrangements of Pepl pieces, among them “125/250” from the Air Mail years.
A few days before the fifth anniversary of the death of the Viennese jazz guitarist and composer, the trombone duo Daniel Riegler and Matthias Muche delivered three elegantly polished arrangements, of which the notorious “125/250” from Pepl's Airmail days came closest to his jagged style.
-
11 December 2010 · Review · DE
Süddeutsche Zeitung (Landkreisteil): „Wilder Wind aus Österreich“
Patrizia Steipe
Concert report from the Kulturkeller in Feldafing (Bavaria, Germany): on Wednesday, 8 December 2010, the Christian Muthspiel Trio plays its programme “Against the Wind” with the music of Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl.
more
The Süddeutsche Zeitung calls the two a cult duo and their Jazzzwio a group that gave European jazz important impulses; the preview appeared on 4 December 2010.
In the seventies and eighties Pirchner and Pepl formed the legendary “Jazz-Zwio”, a group that gave European jazz important impulses.
-
20 December 2011 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „Pirchner/Pepl/DeJohnette: s/t (ECM 1237)“
Tyran Grillo
Mixed review of the 1983 ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, recorded in June 1982 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, with Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Jack DeJohnette.
more
The chorus effect of the Ovation guitar and the lack of rapport among the three musicians are criticised; Pepl’s solos and the closing piece “Better Times In Sight” are regarded as strengths. The page shows 10 February 2015 as the date of the update. Almost a year later, on 13 November 2012, Grillo revised his verdict in “A second look”.
When soloing, however, it sounds fantastic
-
2012 · Review
AllMusic (US-Musikdatenbank mit Kritiken, gegründet 1991): AllMusic Review: „Volver“
Scott Yanow
Capsule review in AllMusic, the US music database with reviews founded in 1991, of the ECM album “Volver” by the quintet of Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi, recorded in October 1986 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, Germany, with Harry Pepl on guitar, Furio Di Castri on bass and Bruce Ditmas on drums. The US jazz critic Scott Yanow finds that Rava’s introverted yet inwardly passionate playing matches Saluzzi’s modern tangos well; the result is fairly accessible yet still exploratory, “An intriguing set”. AllMusic gives it 3 out of 5 stars. The review is undated and has been online since 2012 at the latest; the track list gives Pepl’s “Ballantine for Valentine” as track 5.
more
Rava’s introverted yet inwardly passionate playing matches well with Saluzzi’s modern tangos, and the results are fairly accessible yet still exploratory.
On the ECM album “Volver” (recorded in 1986) by the quintet of Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi, on which Harry Pepl plays guitar and is represented by his piece “Ballantine for Valentine”
-
16 January 2012 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „Pepl/Joos/Christensen: Cracked Mirrors (ECM 1356)“
Tyran Grillo
Review of the 1988 ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album with Harry Pepl (guitar, Roland MIDI guitar system, piano), Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen.
more
The reviewer calls the album a far better showcase for Pepl’s innovative playing than the ECM record with Pirchner and DeJohnette and highlights Joos’s “Wolkenbilder”, the MIDI passages and Pepl’s piano on the closing piece. The page shows 18 July 2021 as the date of the update. Here Grillo himself calls his first impression of the album with Pirchner and DeJohnette “faulty impressions”.
a far better showcase for Pepl’s innovative talents
-
30 January 2012 · Review · DE
Die Presse: „Wer hat von wem abgekupfert?“
sam
Review of Georgie Fame with the Mike Sponza Blues Convention at the Porgy & Bess. Die Presse praises the guitarist Primož Grašič as a former student of Harry Pepl.
more
the superb former Harry Pepl student Primoz Grasic
-
13 November 2012 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „A second look: Pirchner/Pepl/DeJohnette (ECM 1237)“
Tyran Grillo
Reassessment of the 1983 ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, almost a year after his own critical review of 20 December 2011. After readers objected, Grillo writes, he kept returning to the album and had not initially given it the attention it needed.
more
He now highlights the depth of Pepl's talent, the interplay between Pepl and Pirchner as the core of the trio and Pepl's solos, and calls the record “this curious little gem”; only on the processing of the Ovation guitar does he stand by his first opinion.
I simply did not give this date the attention it deserves.
The depth of Pepl’s talent, now that I’m more familiar with it, is immediately evident in the spaciousness of his evocations.
-
20 June 2013 · Review · DE
Tiroler Tageszeitung: „Im Banne von zwei Legenden“
hau
Report on the first Laurentius concert on the Bergl in Imst (Tyrol): on Thursday, 13 June 2013, Stephan Mathoi (guitar) and Philipp Hager (vibraphone) play pieces by Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl as well as their own compositions.
more
Preview on 12 June 2013 (“Entgleiste Klassik am Imster Bergl”).
Admittedly, the qualities of the legendary duo of Werner Pirchner & Harry Pepl in the line-up of guitar and vibraphone are and remain unmatched.
-
28 March 2014 · Review · DE
Die Presse: „Werner Pirchner: Genie und Irrsinn“
Christoph Huber
Review of Malte Ludin's documentary “D.U.D.A.!” about Werner Pirchner. Die Presse recalls the Pirchner-Pepl Jazz-Zwio and the duo's collaboration with Jack DeJohnette.
more
With his kindred partner Harry Pepl he also collaborated impressively with great jazz musicians such as Jack DeJohnette.
-
1 April 2014 · Review · DE
Der Standard: „Vom verspielten Tiefsinn“
Ljubiša Tošić
Review of “D.U.D.A.!” about Werner Pirchner. The film, the critic regrets, recalls only briefly the international side of his career, the JazzZwio with Harry Pepl; online as early as 31 March 2014.
more
Together with the guitarist Harry Pepl, the vibraphonist Pirchner ran a “JazzZwio” whose subtly burning chamber music attracted attention throughout Europe
-
1 September 2015 · Review · DE
Der Standard: „Im Salon der munteren Katharsis“
Ljubiša Tošić
Report from the final day of the Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2015: Christian Muthspiel remembers Werner Pirchner with his trio and thus also Pirchner's Jazzzwio with Harry Pepl, as chamber music marked by respectful affection for the original.
more
Online as early as 31 August 2015.
Together with the guitarist Harry Pepl he formed the Jazzzwio, and Muthspiel recalls that too
-
1 September 2015 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Das Beste? Es kam auch diesmal zum Schluss“
Report from the Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2015: Christian Muthspiel, Franck Tortiller and Jerome Harris delve deep into the work of Werner Pirchner and also of the Viennese guitarist Harry Pepl, with whom Pirchner formed the legendary Jazzzwio.
more
Muthspiel takes the “throaty K” out of this music, but successfully brings out its inner light and its elegance.
-
3 September 2015 · Review · DE
Die Furche: „Traditionen kippen - und Neues entsteht“
Anton Thuswaldner
Festival report from Saalfelden 2015: with Franck Tortiller and Jerome Harris, Christian Muthspiel remembers Werner Pirchner, who formed the legendary Jazz-Zwio with Harry Pepl.
more
Together with Harry Pepl he formed the legendary Jazz-Zwio, to which we owe such immortal titles as “Hosentraga”, which takes up the form of the Indian raga.
-
15 November 2015 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (Styria): „Kritik in Kürze“
MW
Short review from the Austrian Soundcheck at the Orpheum in Graz on the tenth anniversary of Pepl's death (concert on Friday, 13 November 2015): the quartet around Clemens Salesny has an extraordinary encounter with Harry Pepl, who is virtually present through late recordings from his home studio.
more
He was virtually present as a multi-instrumentalist, with those late recordings from his home studio in which he pushed through to pure, intuitive expressive sound.
interacted with the master as if he were sitting on stage, and still conquered spaces of their own, exciting, powerful, free.
-
11 December 2015 · Review · DE
Der Standard (RONDO): CD-Tipp zu „Harry Pepl & Salesny/Bayer/Frosch/Heginger“
Ljubiša Tošić
CD tip in RONDO (Der Standard's magazine) on the double CD released by Fullmax Recordings: unreleased recordings by the great guitarist, over whose lines and songs Clemens Salesny and Agnes Heginger, among others, lay their art; the second CD brings arrangements of Pepl classics.
more
The late great guitarist Harry Pepl with unreleased recordings!
Works extremely well.
-
16 December 2015 · Review · DE
Falter: „Neue Platten“ (Jazz)
KN
Short review of the double CD released by Fullmax Recordings: the idea of using Pepl's unreleased improvisations as the starting point for further improvisation convinces the Falter only in part, the second CD with Pepl's compositions all the more.
more
the whole spectrum and the idiosyncrasy of Pepl’s compositions, presented with great verve and just as much wit (plus a few guest musicians).
-
18 December 2015 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung: CD-Tipp zu „Harry Pepl & Salesny/Bayer/Primus/Heginger“
Short review of the double CD: Pepl, a “guitar giant”, can wondrously be heard again after his death; a quartet around Agnes Heginger and Clemens Salesny weaves the improvising genius's archive recordings into something excitingly new.
more
Printed on the same day in two editions (pp. 82 and 88).
He was a guitar giant
A quartet around Agnes Heginger (voc) and Clemens Salesny (sax) wove archive recordings of the improvising genius into something excitingly new.
-
20 December 2015 · Review · DE
Kurier (Diskothek, CDs der Woche): „Salesny, Bayer, Frosch und Heginger: Harry Pepl“
Werner Rosenberger
CD of the week with five stars: young Austrian musicians remember Harry Pepl on the tenth anniversary of his death; the double CD brings partly familiar and partly unreleased material by “Harry Pepl's Lonely Single Swinger Band”, recorded between 1996 and 2005.
more
The Viennese guitarist and musical border-crosser was in a class of his own
-
2016 · Review · DE
Jazzpodium: „Harry Pepl & Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch, Agnes Heginger, Fullmax15-01 CD“
Alexander Schmitz
Review of the 2015 double CD in the German jazz magazine Jazzpodium, probably 2016. Schmitz recalls Le Monde's “giant of improvisation”, Scofield's “machine gun”, the Jazzzwio, Air Mail and the MIDI guitar that first made Real Time Composing possible.
more
He describes twelve previously unreleased soliloquies from the Lonely Single Swinger Band and 13 Pepl compositions in a new guise with Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger, with Herbert Joos, Alex Meissl and Clemens Wenger as guests.
which now brings the name of the great Viennese guitarist Harry Pepl back into public awareness with a project of equal stature
There is nothing at all to say that could even come close to capturing this late, magnificent Pepl spectacle.
-
17 May 2016 · Review · DE
Der Standard (Online): „Inntöne: Expressive Gelassenheit“ (Al Foster und das Harry-Pepl-Projekt)
Ljubiša Tošić
Festival report from the INNtöne in Diersbach (Upper Austria, Austria) at Whitsun 2016. After the Al Foster Quartet, Ljubiša Tošić describes a quintet with a special feature: alongside Clemens Salesny, Agnes Heginger, Martin Bayer and Peter Primus Frosch, Harry Pepl was there too, from tape, his ideas recorded in his home studio forming the foundation of a high-energy mix; Tošić calls the evening an impulsive homage to one of the greats of European jazz. Printed in the edition of 18 May 2016, p. 30.
more
Al Foster and the Harry Pepl project
The late grandmaster of impulsive improvisation
An impulsive homage to one of the greats of European jazz.
-
17 May 2016 · Review · DE
OÖ Nachrichten: „Die Inntöne begeisterten als Jazz-Reigen mit einem Klavierwunder“
Christoph Haunschmid
Review of the 31st INNtöne in Diersbach (13 to 15 May 2016): among the most exciting concerts was the homage to Harry Pepl, in which his pieces come from tape and the band comments live, with the singer Agnes Heginger outstanding alongside Clemens Salesny.
more
The saxophonist Clemens Salesny, for instance, chose an innovative approach to pay tribute to Harry Pepl, who died in 2005.
-
17 May 2016 · Review · DE
Passauer Neue Presse: „Da ist er wieder, dieser Zauber“
Dorothea Walchshäusl
Festival report from the INNtöne 2016: for the Passauer Neue Presse, the fusion “Harry Pepl & Clemens Salesny” with Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger is a much-discussed venture that goes all the way in experimental improvisations.
more
In jagged, experimental improvisations they go all out and systematically leave familiar structures and sounds behind.
-
19 May 2016 · Review · DE
Jazzpages (Online): „INNtöne 2016 – Rückschau mit Bildern“
Frank Schindelbeck
Festival report with photos from the INNtöne Jazzfestival 2016 on Paul Zauner's farm in Diersbach.
more
As the highlight of the second festival day, the author describes the project of Agnes Heginger, Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer and Peter Primus Frosch, in which recordings from Pepl's home studio were played in and the band entered into a dialogue with them. He refers to the double CD on Fullmax Recordings.
The four musicians on stage played so excellently with Pepl's legacy that, without knowing the story behind it and with your eyes closed, there could have been a quintet on stage.
An extremely successful tribute to one of Austria's important jazz musicians.
-
10 June 2016 · Review · DE
Der Standard (RONDO): „Wolfgang Puschnig: Faces and Stories“
Review of the Puschnig compilation “Faces and Stories”: among other things it reissues the duos from “Pieces of the Dream” (1988), on which Harry Pepl can be heard alongside Carla Bley and Hans Koller.
more
The great tenor saxophonist Hans Koller, a central figure of modern jazz in Europe, was also there at the time, and of course the guitarist Harry Pepl too.
-
27 October 2017 · Review · DE
Passauer Neue Presse (p. 21, local news, Passau city): „G'schmackiger Fusion-Eintopf“ (Gerald Gradwohl Group im Café Museum)
Christine Pierach
Concert report on the Gerald Gradwohl Group in Passau, which pays homage to the late Viennese jazz guitarist Harry Pepl. Gradwohl says that Pepl was underrated and that Pepl taught and inspired him; Pepl is a marginal note in the report.
-
25 November 2017 · Review · JA
ジャズCDの個人ページ ECM Blog (kudoecm.blog.jp): „Cracked Mirrors/Harry Pepl(G, G Synth, P)/Herbert Joos(Flh)/Jon Christensen(Ds)(ECM 1356)“
kudojazz
Review on the Japanese blog “ジャズCDの個人ページ ECM Blog” (roughly “Personal jazz CD page, ECM blog”), on which the author kudojazz discusses the records of the renowned European jazz label ECM by catalogue number.
more
He lists the recording of February 1987 with Harry Pepl (guitar, guitar synthesizer, piano), the German flugelhorn player Herbert Joos and the Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen, and notes that six of the eight pieces are by Pepl and two (“Wolkenbilder 1” and “Wolkenbilder 2”) by Joos. In his view the album combines passages that sound like free improvisation with pastoral ones, and depending on the piece the Roland MIDI guitar system creates a synthesizer-like expanse. On Pepl’s pieces he notes distinctly free traits with fine riffs and broad synthesizer textures in “Reflections in a Cracked Mirror”, a small ballad with a gentle flugelhorn melody in “Schikaneder Delight”, plenty of space and freedom in “Die alte Mär und das Mann”, very fast, mechanical free playing in “More Far Out Than East”, a melody floating above the jagged guitar in “Purple Light” and a calm, piano-led melody in “Tintenfisch Inki”.
There are passages that sound like free improvisation and passages that are pastoral.
kudojazz on his Japanese blog about ECM records, on “Cracked Mirrors” (ECM 1356, recorded in February 1987) with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen
Depending on the piece, the Roland MIDI guitar system creates a synthesizer-like expanse.
kudojazz on the sound of Pepl’s Roland MIDI guitar system on “Cracked Mirrors” (ECM 1356, 1987)
-
18 December 2017 · Review
Guitar Moderne (Online): „Harry Pepl: The One That Almost Got Away“
guitar moderne
Short piece in the American online magazine for adventurous guitarists.
more
The author discovered Pepl in 1986 on the ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album “Volver” by Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi: his sound recalled Metheny, but with a harder attack and a freer sensibility. He recommends “Cracked Mirrors”, which still sounds fresh today.
His chorused sound and fluidity were reminiscent of Metheny, but his attack was harder and his sensibility was decidedly more “out.”
Check out “Cracked Mirror” to hear how his playing in 1988 sounds fresh even today.
-
15 November 2018 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Auratisch: Zwei fünfte Männer“
Otmar Klammer
Concert review of Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band at the Austrian Soundcheck festival at Tube's in Graz, Austria (Tuesday, 13 November 2018).
more
Clemens Salesny calls the band a quintet because Markus Wallner steers the playback from the mixing desk and laptop; the real fifth man, however, is Pepl, who “in a few days will already have been sorely missed for 13 years”. Salesny, Andi Schreiber (violin), Martin Bayer (guitar) and Valentin Duit (drums) take up Pepl's style; the band is at its strongest in the pieces built on Pepl's grooving ostinato bass figures.
Otherwise the rule was: the smaller the format, the more Pepl.
The real fifth man, who once composed this music in real time on countless instruments, will in a few days already have been sorely missed for 13 years.
A multifaceted excursion through the Pepl cosmos.
-
18 December 2019 · Review · IT
Tracce di Jazz (Blog): „Ritornare a ….”Volver”“
andbar
Album review on the Italian jazz blog Tracce di Jazz (“From jazz-fans to jazz-fans”).
more
The author, andbar, came across a second-hand copy of “Volver”, the album recorded in 1986 by the Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava and the Argentine bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi for the renowned European jazz label ECM, with Harry Pepl (guitar), Furio Di Castri (double bass) and Bruce Ditmas (drums). He finds the record somewhat underrated and worth rediscovering. For him the opening track, “Le but du souffle”, begins with a quiet soliloquy on electric guitar; he calls “Tempos de ausencias” a distillation of Argentine melody only lightly flecked by Pepl’s guitar. In Pepl’s composition “Ballantine for Valentine” he hears a free outburst in the spirit of Ornette Coleman, the pioneer of free jazz, which breaks up the calm prevailing mood of the record and widens its horizons. On Sunday, 22 December 2019 a second author on the blog replied with Rava’s own recollection of the recording session.
“Tempos de ausencias”, a distillation of Argentine melody only lightly flecked by Pepl’s guitar
andbar on the Italian jazz blog Tracce di Jazz about “Tempos de ausencias” on “Volver”, the ECM album recorded in 1986 by Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi with Pepl on guitar
“Ballantine for Valentine”, an Ornette-style free outburst that breaks up the calm moods prevailing on the record
andbar on Pepl’s composition “Ballantine for Valentine”, his only piece on “Volver”; “ornettiano” alludes to Ornette Coleman, the pioneer of free jazz