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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14 February 1979 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 36, ANNO-p. 28): „Konzerttermine“ (Beat und Pop)
Concert notice for an evening on 14 February 1979 in Vienna with the Dutch guitarist Harry Sacksioni.
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The opening act is provided by Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner; the text recalls Pirchner’s album “Ein halbes Doppelalbum” and the fact that Pepl had already been a guest in Wiesen.
The opening act is provided by two well-known Austrians
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27 June 1981 · Report
Billboard (US-Musikfachzeitschrift mit den Branchen-Charts, gegründet 1894): International: „15th Montreux Begins July 3“ (Vol. 93, Nr. 25)
Short news item in the “International” section on the 15th Montreux International Jazz Festival (Switzerland) from 3 to 19 July 1981, with the programme of every evening.
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For the guitar day on Sunday, 12 July, Billboard lists Harry Pepl alongside James “Blood” Ulmer, Philippe Cauvin, Raphael Fays, Kilimandjaro, Biréli Lagrène, Lee Ritenour, Larry Coryell and Harri Stojka. That evening Pepl played with Werner Pirchner as the Jazzzwio; the item names only him.
(12) James “Blood” Ulmer, Philippe Cauvin, Raphael Fays, Kilimandjaro, Bireli, Lagrene, Harry Pepl, Lee Ritenour, Larry Coryell, Harri Stojka
Programme of the 15th Montreux International Jazz Festival (Switzerland) in Billboard; “(12)” stands for Sunday, 12 July 1981, the festival’s guitar day. Pepl played there with Werner Pirchner as the Jazzzwio; Billboard names only him. Spelling as printed
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October 1981 · Other · DE
Sounds (music magazine, Hamburg): „Jazz Fest 81 Berlin“ (Anzeige der Berliner Festspiele, Heft 10/1981, S. 64)
In issue 10 (October 1981) of Sounds, the Hamburg music magazine (1966 to 1983, at first focused on free jazz), the Berliner Festspiele announce the Jazz Fest Berlin of 5 to 8 November 1981 in an advertisement on p. 64. For the Metropol they list “Pirchner-Pepl Jazzzwio/ Defunkt” on Friday, 6 November, at 11 pm; on the other evenings Volker Kriegel, the John Scofield Trio, Michael Gregory Jackson and James “Blood” Ulmer play there. It is an announcement, not a concert report.
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6 November 1981 · Other · DE
Rockpalast-Archiv (private fan archive, online): „PIRCHNER-PEPL JAZZZWIO - Metropol Berlin 06.11.1981“
The Rockpalast archive, a privately run fan archive on Rockpalast, the music programme of WDR television (West German Broadcasting), and not a WDR site, lists the Jazzzwio of Werner Pirchner (vibraphone, marimba) and Harry Pepl (guitar) at the Jazz Fest Berlin at the Metropol on Friday, 6 November 1981, with the set list of eight pieces and their durations, around 85 minutes in all: “Berlin '81 Die Erste”, “Gegenwind”, “Homesick”, “Der Tag An Dem Wir Erfuhren, Dass Paul Desmond Gestorben War”, “Drein Sein Beieinader Bleiben”, “Germ In A”, “Raga Nr. 3” and “White Smoke”. In the archive’s production list the evening appears among further Rockpalast recordings at the Metropol from 3 to 8 November 1981, including U2, John Scofield and James Blood Ulmer. The page does not say whether the recording was broadcast or survives.
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26 October 1982 · Other · SL
Delo (Slovenian daily newspaper, Ljubljana): Nr. 250: Mitteilung des ŠKUC in der Rubrik „Obvestila“
Notice from ŠKUC, the Student Cultural Centre in Ljubljana (Stari trg 21), in the “Obvestila” (notices) column: together with the Austrian Cultural Institute in Zagreb it invites the public to a concert by the jazz duo of Pirchner and Pepl, “Jazz Zwio” (as printed), on Wednesday, 27 October 1982, at 7 pm, with Harry Pepl on electric and acoustic guitar and Werner Pirchner (printed “Perchner”) on tenor vibraphone and marimba. The same notice appeared again on the day of the concert (no. 251, p. 11).
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concert by the jazz duo Pirchner, Pepl, Jazz Zwio (line-up: Harry Pepl, electric and acoustic guitar; Werner Perchner, tenor vibraphone and marimba)
Notice from ŠKUC, the Student Cultural Centre in Ljubljana, in the Slovenian daily “Delo” of Tuesday, 26 October 1982, about the Jazzzwio concert the following evening in Ljubljana, organised together with the Austrian Cultural Institute in Zagreb; “Perchner” is a misprint in the newspaper for Werner Pirchner
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18 February 1983 · Review · SL
Glasbena mladina (Slovenian music magazine): Nr. 5: „Plodna jazzovska jesen ’82 v Zagrebu“ (Fruchtbarer Jazzherbst ’82 in Zagreb)
Miro Križič
Review of the Zagreb jazz autumn of 1982 with the fourth International Jazz Fair from 11 to 15 October (with Martial Solal, Stan Tracey, Hans Koller and Joachim Kühn, among others) and further concerts.
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In the same month the duo Jazzzwio (printed “Jazzwio”) with Werner Pirchner (tenor vibraphone, marimba) and Harry Pepl (guitar) performed in the music salon of the Student Centre. Križič praises the combination of Pirchner’s prepared vibraphone and the modern guitar, which, he writes, created a wealth of musical ideas, rhythms and brilliant improvisations.
The combination of the prepared vibraphone, from which Pirchner drew incredible sounds full of vibrating sensitivity, and the modern guitar created a wealth of musical ideas, rhythms and brilliant improvisations.
Miro Križič in his review of the Zagreb jazz autumn of 1982 in the Slovenian music magazine “Glasbena mladina”, on the concert of the Jazzzwio of Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl in October 1982 in the music salon of the Student Centre in Zagreb, Croatia
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May 1985 · Report
Austrian Information (Austrian Press and Information Service, New York): „Beyond the Sound of Music. New Austria / New York, May 15th – May 19th 1985“, Volume 38, Nr. 4, S. 3 bis 4
Peter Vujica
Lead article on the festival “Beyond the Sound of Music. New Austria / New York” (15 to 19 May 1985), staged in New York by steirischer herbst (Styrian Autumn, the festival of contemporary art in Graz, Austria) together with the Austrian Institute and the New York art space The Kitchen to mark the 40th anniversary of Austria’s regained independence. Festival director Peter Vujica (translated by Donald Friedman) describes steirischer herbst as a festival of resistance against routine and repression and lists the New York artists who had appeared in Graz, from Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass and Steve Reich to Robert Wilson, Trisha Brown, Nam June Paik, Carla Bley and the Art Ensemble of Chicago; New York, he writes, is now the long overdue return visit. The opening concert on 15 May at the Ohio Theater is given by Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner with Don Moye. Then come readings by H. C. Artmann (Viennese poet), Wolfgang Bauer (Graz playwright), Ingeborg Day, Alfred Kolleritsch (editor of the Graz literary magazine manuskripte) and Jürg Laederach, presented by the American novelists John Irving and Walter Abish, Rhys Chatham with the Graz group Blizz Frizz, the K und K Experimentalstudio with songs based on poems by Selma Meerbaum, as well as exhibitions of photography and architecture and films. The cover shows the 1972 poster “Auf, zum steirischen herbst!” (“Off to the Styrian Autumn!”).
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The opening event on May 15th at the Ohio Theater will be shared by the Jazz Musicians, Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner
Artists from Styria and all over Austria meet with their friends in New York.
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May 1985 · Programme booklet
Austrian Information (Austrian Press and Information Service, New York): Programm „Beyond the Sound of Music. New Austria / New York“ mit Fotos, Volume 38, Nr. 4, S. 5 bis 6
Picture page and daily programme of the New York festival. On Wednesday, 15 May 1985, at 7.30 p.m. at the Ohio Theater (66 Wooster Street, SoHo, New York), Hartmut Skerbisch (Austrian sculptor) shows his installation “Container”, Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Don Moye as guest play jazz, and the Viennese composer Otto M. Zykan performs “Samples”. Further events: readings by Austrian writers on 13 and 14 May at the Deutsches Haus, 13 Austrian architects at the Austrian Institute (until 31 May), six photographers at the Arbitrage Gallery (until 8 June), the reading hosted by John Irving and Walter Abish (16 May), Dieter Kaufmann and Gunda König of the K und K Experimentalstudio (17 May), Ernst Schmidt Jr. with “Vienna Film 1896-1976”, Blizz Frizz with the New York guitarist Rhys Chatham, Armin Medosch with the ballet “The Warrior” (18 May), Austrian short films at the Millennium and Heinz Cibulka with “Metabolism/Rot.Weiss.Rot” (19 May), plus “Grid” actions by Othmar Krenn. The photo page shows Pepl with his guitar, Pirchner at the vibraphone and Moye in stage costume; the programme misprints Pirchner’s name as “Pircher”.
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Werner Pircher, Harry Pepl, and F. Don Moye as guest play jazz
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18 May 1985 · Review
The New York Times (Section 1, p. 10): „MUSIC: AUSTRIAN AVANT-GARDE“
John Rockwell
Review of the opening night of the festival “Beyond the Sound of Music: New Austria/New York” at the Ohio Theater in SoHo, at which the Jazzzwio with Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner performed together with the drummer Don Moye.
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Rockwell heard the first set, 40 minutes long, and found the music pleasant but not significant enough for the opening of a festival series; the evening began about an hour late. The Wednesday of the festival week was 15 May 1985.
relaxed and cool, in the ECM Records manner
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23 October 1985 · Other · DE
steirischer herbst, festival archive (online): „Martin Wiederhofer Trio / Jazzzwio Pirchner Pepl“, Mürztaler Werkstatt Jazz
Entry in the archive of the steirischer herbst festival on the double concert on Wednesday, 23 October 1985, at the Gasthof Prettenthaler in Kindberg (Styria, Austria), in the “Mürztaler Werkstatt” series: Martin Wiederhofer Trio and Jazzzwio.
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It names Harry Pepl, Werner Pirchner, Robert Riegler, Walter Schmocker, Heimo Wiederhofer and Martin Wiederhofer, without assigning them to either group.
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24 October 1985 · Other · DE
steirischer herbst, festival archive (online): „Jazzzwio Werner Pirchner / Harry Pepl & Gast“, Open Spoons Konzert
Entry in the archive of the steirischer herbst festival on the performance of the Jazzzwio with a guest on Thursday, 24 October 1985, at the Katholisches Studentenhaus Münzgraben in Graz, Austria, in the “Open Spoons” series.
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Only Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl are named; the guest remains unnamed.
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16 March 1989 · Programme booklet · DE
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, programme booklet, Brahms-Saal (series „Freude an Musik“, concert 3): Ensemble Wien, Donnerstag, 16. März 1989, 18.30 Uhr
editor: Teresa Reichenberger
Programme booklet of the concert in which the Ensemble Wien plays Pepl’s “Ballade for Mr.
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Dinozo” for two violins, viola and double bass. The note on Pepl summarises critics’ comments and mentions his jazz trio with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen as well as the Jazzzwio in Montreux. Pepl is wrongly described there as a Tyrolean guitarist.
one of the most innovative guitarists across the whole of Europe
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April 1998 · Interview · DE
Concerto (music magazine), issue 2/1998: „Man könnte Klavierspielen müssen“
Martin Schuster
Interview in the Café Museum in Vienna, conducted in connection with the solo piano CD “Flow”.
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Pepl talks about his beginnings, the Jazzzwio, the brief engagement with Benny Goodman, Real-time Composing and MIDI technology, and announces reissues of “Gegenwind” and “Montreux 81”.
I wanted you to be able to hear the room on the CD as well.
Harry Pepl
My main problem is my high blood pressure. Another contradiction: on the outside I may seem calm, but inside it races around in me like mad.
Talking to Martin Schuster of the Austrian music magazine Concerto in 1998, at the Café Museum in Vienna, around the time of his piano album “Flow”. Pepl speaks openly and with self-irony about the blood pressure that kept him off the stage from 1994/95, and about the contrast between outward calm and inner high voltage
Harry Pepl
I am a man of contrasts, often very funny or ironic and then very sad again. You can probably hear that in my playing too
Talking to Martin Schuster (Concerto, an Austrian music magazine) at the Café Museum in Vienna in 1998; the interviewer describes how Pepl speaks in a deep, gentle voice, giggles at a bon mot and turns serious again the next moment
Harry Pepl
For me music means emotions and memories. And even when I play something I don’t much like, my blood pressure goes up, because then it gets on my nerves.
In Concerto in 1998, about the guitar, which he did not touch for a long time after 1994 because he feared the excitement; „auf den Wecker gehen“ (literally “to get on one’s alarm clock”) is colloquial German for “to get on one’s nerves”, and the remark is self-ironic. At the piano he then found a new freedom
Harry Pepl
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28 July 2004 · Encyclopaedia · DE
Österreichisches Musiklexikon online: Pepl, Harry
Peter Stachel
Encyclopaedia entry on his life and work: jazz musician, composer and music educator, guitar at the conservatory and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, self-taught in jazz.
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It covers the collaboration with the Vienna Art Orchestra and the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster), the Jazzzwio with Werner Pirchner, his teaching in Graz and the principle of Real-time and Instant Composing. As awards it lists nominations for the German Record Critics’ Award (German award for outstanding recordings, chosen by a jury of critics) in 1983 and 1988 as well as Lower Austrian state prizes.
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7 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Die Presse (p. 34, arts section): „Er musste spielen“ (Zum Tod des Wiener Jazzgitarristen Harry Pepl)
initials „sam“
Obituary with the headline quotation „Man könnte Klavierspielen müssen“ [“One might have to play the piano”] from the Concerto interview.
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It describes Real-time Composing, names Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall as well as Schoenberg and Webern as influences, and lists Erich Kleinschuster, the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster), JazzZwio, Jack DeJohnette, Art Farmer and Michel Portal as fellow musicians.
The virtuoso, who seemed so introverted on the outside, was bubbling away inside when he played.
He searched passionately: for truthfulness, a utopia in which all opposites coincide.
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7 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
JazzEcho (Universal Classics, Online): „Ade Harry Pepl!“
Online obituary of Wednesday, 7 December 2005. His most important project, from 1977, was the duo with Werner Pirchner, which brought him international recognition and invitations from all over the world.
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According to the obituary, Pepl then worked with Dino Saluzzi, Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland, as well as with the Vienna Art Orchestra. As a full professor in Graz from 1984, he set students such as the guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel on their way. It closes with a pointer to the CD “Light Blues” by Air Mail (Emarcy, 2001).
one of the defining instrumentalists of the European jazz scene
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9 December 2005 · Obituary
organissimo (Jazzforum, Online): „Harry Pepl R.I.P.“
mikeweil (Moderator)
Post on the death of Harry Pepl in an English-language jazz forum.
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The moderator calls him one of Austria's most original jazz guitarists and recalls the Jazzzwio with Werner Pirchner, the ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album with Jack DeJohnette and Air Mail with Mike Richmond.
one of Austria's most original jazz guitarists
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19 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Musikergilde (Online): „Harry Pepl - ein Nachruf“
Peter Paul Skrepek
Detailed obituary by the guitarist Peter Paul Skrepek, who met Pepl in the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) in 1974. It describes his training, his ORF studio job, the Jazzzwio, Air Mail and the time with Benny Goodman, names students such as Wolfgang Muthspiel and Peter Havlicek, and gives Monday, 5 December 2005, as the date of death. The former rector of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Otto Kolleritsch, is quoted; readers’ letters supplement the text.
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Now that I can play everything I want, I’m no longer allowed to.
Harry Pepl
Divinely gifted guitarist and an exceptional phenomenon
Otto Kolleritsch
an unmistakable musician from Vienna, recognised all over the world
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6 December 2006 · Programme booklet · DE
Porgy & Bess (programme note, Online): „A Tribute to Harry Pepl“, Mittwoch, 06.12.2006, 20:00 Uhr
initials „CH“
Announcement of the tribute evening with Lorenz Raab and Raphael Preuschl, the Andy Manndorff Trio, the Koehne Quartet and Peter Ponger solo, plus the concert films of Benny Goodman and of the Jazzzwio in Montreux in 1981 and visuals by Rainer Rygalyk.
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The text pays tribute to Pepl and mentions the three-day series devoted to him at Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) in 1994; the net proceeds went to the administration of his estate.
But it was Harry Pepl himself who was truly “ace”
When you talk to guitarists, e.g. to Abercrombie or Scofield, there was one constant question: “And how is Harry?”
As an original stylist who left a lasting impression on the international scene through his technical perfection, rhythmic incisiveness, harmonic variety and overflowing musical energy
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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.
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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
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13 March 2007 · Radio · DE
Deutschlandfunk, Nachtradio (Playlist): „Milestones - Harry Pepl“ (Klassiker der Jazzgeschichte)
Playlist of a late-night radio programme on 13 March 2007 at 01:05, with “Live in Montreux 81”, the ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album with Pirchner and DeJohnette and Air Mail’s “Light Blues”.
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It shows Pepl as an entry in a German series on classics of jazz history.
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February 2009 · Portrait · DE
Concerto (2/2009, p. 44): „Jazzzwio – ein markanter Name – bis heute“ (CD/DVD-Tipp „Live in Concerts“)
Thomas Hein
Report on the reissue of the Montreux recording together with the video, the preparation of which ran between summer 2007 and autumn 2008. Daniel Pepl describes the home studio in the cellar in Hernstein, the rescue of the tapes and the plan to make his father’s complete work accessible.
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While I try to be innovative within a framework, within a style, Harry always tried to cross the set boundaries and then go further.
Daniel Pepl
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13 February 2009 · Review · DE
Die Presse (Online): „Jazzzwio, Live In Concerts“ (Zwio Infernal)
Samir H. Köck
Short review of the reissue of the 1981 Montreux concert (EmArcy/Universal). The text pays tribute to the duo of guitar and vibraphone as unusual chamber music of the 1980s, whose cascades of sound, the text says, have stayed in the memory of contemporaries.
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The superb guitarist Harry Pepl and his perfectly matched partner
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24 February 2009 · Review · DE
KULTUR, Zeitschrift für Kultur und Gesellschaft (Dornbirn): „JazzZwio: Live in Concerts“ (CD-Tipp)
Peter Füssl
CD recommendation by Peter Füssl in KULTUR, a cultural magazine from Vorarlberg, Austria, for the CD/DVD “Live in Concerts” (Universal, 2009).
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Füssl recalls the legendary JazzZwio of Pepl and Werner Pirchner between 1977 and 1985 and describes the contents: 43 minutes from the 15th Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland) in 1981 and excerpts from concerts at the Szene Wien in Vienna (1983) and the Konservatoriumssaal in Innsbruck, Austria (1984), with pieces such as “The Day We Know Paul Desmond is Gone”, “Against The Wind”, “Hosent’Raga” and “Air Love And Vitamins”. He calls the two “absolute individualists” whose interplay adds up to far more than the sum of its parts, notes that so far mainly the Muthspiel brothers (the Austrian jazz musicians Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel) have kept their memory alive, and hopes the recordings will bring the Jazzzwio wider recognition, above all among younger musicians.
Great moments of brilliantly offbeat music and gnarled humour
the playful wit of these two strong characters, one Viennese and one Tyrolean to the core, still sounds fresh as morning dew more than 25 years after the recordings were made
On the CD/DVD “Live in Concerts” (2009) with Jazzzwio concerts from 1981 to 1984; Pepl was Viennese, Werner Pirchner Tyrolean, and each brought his own regionally coloured humour into the music
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6 March 2009 · Review · DE
Der Standard (Print 6 March 2009, online 5 March 2009, Rubrik Musikrundschau): „Zwio und Trio“ (Neue Jazz-Alben von Werner Pirchner & Harry Pepl, Pablo Milanes & Chucho Valdes u. a.)
“Musikrundschau” (music roundup) with a short review of “Jazzzwio: Live in Concerts” (Universal): according to the text, Pirchner and Pepl are worth remembering, the duo of guitar and vibraphone having supplied model examples of heated chamber music.
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The DVD is called a must. The date, 13 February 2009, is derived from the article number.
Harry Pepl, a complex guitarist of truly international stature
The creative fury, the intensity achieved there still seems to set the standard today.
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14 February 2015 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Die Lange Nacht des Werner Pirchner: „Die Lange Nacht des Werner Pirchner“
Albert Hosp (Gestaltung)
A “Lange Nacht” (long night) programme for the 75th birthday of the vibraphonist and composer Werner Pirchner.
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The programme mentions the duo with Harry Pepl at the Montreux Jazz Festival (renowned jazz festival in Switzerland) and thereby shows the connection between the two musicians; the focus is on Pirchner.
in a duo with the guitarist Harry Pepl
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26 October 2015 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume Spezial: „Heimat bis Du großer...“ (Würdigung von Harry Pepl zum Nationalfeiertag)
Klaus Wienerroither (Gestaltung)
Programme for the Austrian National Day, Monday, 26 October 2015, 5.10 pm, commemorating the guitarist and composer almost ten years after Pepl’s death.
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The title alludes to the line „Heimat bist du großer Söhne“ [“Homeland of great sons”] of the Austrian national anthem; the programme opens with “In this case it really is one of the sons” and calls Air Mail “probably one of the best jazz groups of Austrian origin”. Playlist: Air Mail with “Shifting People” and “The Halley’s Comet / Light Blue Blues”, “Salt and Pepl” with the ORF Big Band under Richard Österreicher, “Harry Pepl’s Blues” with Benny Goodman, “Against The Wind” live with the Jazzzwio, “Eastern Island Ears” with Dave Liebman and Wolfgang Reisinger, a part of “Anspannen, Überspannen, Abspannen” with STUDIO PERCUSSION graz, Peter Alexander’s “Sag’ mir quando, sag’ mir wann” (Pepl as studio guitarist) and finally “Air, Love & Vitamins” with Werner Pirchner and Jack DeJohnette.
The tribute to an individualist.
In this case it really is one of the sons.
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8 April 2017 · Report · DE
Ö1 (oe1.orf.at, article): „Pirchner und Pepl“ (Muthspiel Trio spielt „Against the Wind“)
Haide Tenner (Gesprächspartnerin)
Item on the CD “Against the Wind”, on which the Christian Muthspiel Trio plays works by Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner.
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In conversation with Haide Tenner on the “Klassik-Treffpunkt”, Muthspiel tells how the CD came about out of the commemoration of Pirchner and the programme “Pepl/Pirchner”.
The musicians play works by the composers Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner, who died early.
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20 September 2017 · Report · DE
Ö1 (oe1.orf.at, article): „Der Musiker Werner Pirchner“
Short portrait of Werner Pirchner (13 February 1940 to 10 August 2001) as a jazz musician and composer.
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It lists the Pirchner-Pepl-JazzZwio, founded in 1975, with its appearances until the mid-1980s, among others in Velden, Montreux and Saalfelden; the focus is on Pirchner.
With the guitarist Harry Pepl he founded the Pirchner-Pepl-JazzZwio in 1975
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10 October 2017 · Report · DE
Ö1 (oe1.orf.at, article): „Der Gratwanderer Werner Pirchner“
Article on Werner Pirchner for the tenth anniversary of his death, shown on the page with the date 10 October 2017 but referring in the text to 10 August 2011. It names the Jazz-Zwio with Harry Pepl as a stage that also made Pirchner known in the international jazz scene; the focus is on Pirchner.
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together with Harry Pepl in the legendary JazzZwio
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3 August 2019 · Interview
christianmuthspiel.com (ORjazzTRA Vienna, Interviews): Interview zum ORjazzTRA Vienna
Christian Muthspiel names four concerts in Graz that made him a jazz musician: Albert Mangelsdorff solo, the Carla Bley Big Band, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the duo of Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner.
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And not to forget the fourth concert: Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner.
Christian Muthspiel
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13 February 2020 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume: „Werner Pirchner, der Vibrafonist“ (Musik aus allen Richtungen zum 80. Geburtstag des Tiroler Kosmopoliten)
Andreas Felber (Gestaltung)
Programme for Werner Pirchner’s 80th birthday on 13 February 2020. It describes the vibraphonist’s path and explains how the Jazz-Zwio with Harry Pepl brought the connection with the young Austrian jazz scene and the international career; the focus is on Pirchner.
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Meanwhile, Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner also joined forces with the young Austrian jazz scene
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5 June 2020 · Radio · DE
Ö1, In Concert: „Harry Pepls „Hip Jargon“ plus Werner Pirchner anno 1975“
Helmut Jasbar (Gestaltung)
Programme with a concert recording from the ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) radio archive: on 25 September 1975 Pepl played in the Large Broadcasting Hall of the Vienna Funkhaus with his trio Hip Jargon (Wayne Darling, double bass; Fritz Ozmec, drums); the guest was Werner Pirchner on vibraphone. The programme calls Hip Jargon the nucleus of the Jazz-Zwio. The programme features “Wirf an” and “Wohl oder übel” by Pirchner as well as “Pfifferling”, “Squirrel Dance”, “Down At The Ticky Toe” and an excerpt from “Radler” by Pepl and Pirchner, almost 78 minutes in all.
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The nucleus of the famous “Jazz-Zwio”: Hip Jargon
The music has overwhelming impact, raw and direct, with a concentrated energy that makes the recording sound as if it had been made yesterday.
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11 June 2020 · Report · DE
radiohoerer.info: „Harry Pepls ‚Hip Jargon‘ plus Werner Pirchner anno 1975“
Music tip on the blog radiohoerer.info (radio and media tips for new music, jazz and audio) for the programme “In Concert” on Ö1, the cultural radio station of the ORF (Austria's public broadcaster), on 5 June 2020. The post reproduces Ö1's programme text (presented by Helmut Jasbar): a recording from the ORF radio archive captures Pepl's trio Hip Jargon with Wayne Darling (double bass) and Fritz Ozmec (drums) on 25 September 1975 in the Large Broadcasting Hall of the Funkhaus in Vienna, Austria, with Werner Pirchner as guest on vibraphone. This lets Hip Jargon be heard as the nucleus of the Jazzzwio. The blog's playlist names three joint pieces by Pepl and Pirchner, among them “Pfifferling” and “Down At The Ticky Toe”; titles and durations differ from the Ö1 programme page, which is authoritative.
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“Free jazz for connoisseurs” was what a critic in the Salzburger Volksblatt, a daily newspaper in Salzburg, Austria, called it at the time.
the unpolished gem of a concert on 25 September 1975 in the Large Broadcasting Hall of the Vienna Funkhaus, the ORF's broadcasting house
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25 September 2020 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume Nachtausgabe: „Der unvergessene Jazzgitarrist Harry Pepl“
Klaus Wienerroither (Gestaltung)
Programme for his 75th birthday on 10 September 2020, broadcast on Friday, 25 September 2020, at 22:25 and repeated on 26 September 2020 at 00:05. Guests include the music producer Daniel Pepl, the drummer Wolfgang Reisinger and the pianist Anna Maurer, who is working on a solo piano album of Pepl’s compositions. According to the running order, recorded statements by Wolfgang Muthspiel and Guido Jesenzky on Harry Pepl as musician and as teacher were added. The music ranged from the Austrian Evergreens (1960) via Benny Goodman, the Jazzzwio, Air Mail, Michel Portal, Enrico Rava and the Kronos Quartet to the Fullmax releases of 2015 and 2020. Muthspiel requested “The Day We Know Paul Desmond Is Gone”, Jesenzky “Germ in A” (both Jazzzwio); Anna Maurer contributed her version of “Air, Love & Vitamins” (2020). Director: Daniela Fietzek, sound engineer: Georg Janser.
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His Austrian-American quartet Airmail was probably one of the best jazz groups of Austrian provenance.
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5 February 2024 · Portrait
European Jazz Masters Of The Past (Blog): „European Jazz Masters Of The Past #2: Harry Pepl“
Wulf Müller
Detailed biographical essay by the former producer at PolyGram Austria and co-founder of “Jazz Live”, with photographs from the family collection.
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Müller first met Pepl in 1984 at an Air Mail concert in Vienna. He describes the Jazzzwio and the time with Benny Goodman, the making of the “Schönberg Improvations”, whose idea Pepl brought to his office, and the solo piano record “Flow” from 1996, recorded without corrections. Some biographical details, such as his birth and the start of his teaching in Graz, differ from the documented sources.
a very humble, charismatic and private person with a great sense of humour. Someone who was constantly looking for new ideas
While Harry was building his reputation as one of Europe’s most interesting and unique guitarists
He swings like hell
Harry Pepl on Benny Goodman
Musically, I still find this album exciting, challenging and powerful.
Harry sat down at the piano, which he never really learned to play, nor practised, and plays, let’s the music flow through him.
After a few moments I don’t feel time anymore. An emotion of happiness floats through me and the sounds stream on their own
Harry Pepl
the most spectacular record of one of the most original guitar players of European Jazz in those years
Andreas Felber
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27 September 2025 · Review · DE
RONDO (Online): „Songs From The Treehouse“ (Tim Collins, Martin Gasselsberger)
Werner Stiefele
Review of the duo album by vibraphonist Tim Collins and pianist Martin Gasselsberger on GLM Music.
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Apart from Billie Eilish's “Everything I Wanted” and “Air, Love & Vitamins” from the repertoire of the Jazzzwio of Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner, the duo plays its own pieces; the reviewer places the line-up in the tradition of Gary Burton and Chick Corea.
“Air, Love & Vitamins” from the repertoire of the Austrian JazzZwio of Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner