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
30 entries filtered · CSV of the filtered entries
Newest first · Oldest first
-
30 April 1980 · Report · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 52, ANNO-p. 44): „Jazz aktuell“ bei Jeunesses Musicales
Short report on the “Jazz aktuell” concert of the Musical Youth on 21 April 1980 in the assembly hall of the Pädagogische Akademie Eisenstadt.
more
The quintet “5 Neighbours”, led by the pianist Dieter Glawischnig, was joined as soloists by Werner Pirchner on vibraphone and Harry Pepl on guitar.
Vibraphone and Harry Pepl on guitar demonstrated convincingly
-
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.
more
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
-
20 May 1982 · Report · DE
Steirerkrone (Neue Kronen Zeitung, Styria edition): „Star mit Witz: Larry Coryell“
Ronnie Herbolzheimer
Report on the concert of the American guitarist Larry Coryell with the Polish violinist Michal Urbaniak at the Münzl in Graz.
more
The afternoon before, Coryell visited the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, showed the students some new tricks and played a jam session with Harry Pepl, who, according to the report, greatly impressed him.
to play a jam session with Harry Pepl, by whom he was very impressed.
-
9 March 1985 · Report
Cash Box (US-Musikfachzeitschrift mit eigenen Charts): Jazz: „On Jazz“, Abschnitt „Label Hopping“ (Vol. 48, Nr. 39)
Lee Jeske
In his jazz column, Lee Jeske reports under “Label Hopping” the ECM releases that PolyGram Special Imports is bringing to the USA, among them “Werner Pirchner/Harry Pepl/Jack De Johnette”, the US edition of the album ECM 1237. It is a news item, not a review; a week later Billboard recommended the album in its Album Reviews.
more
And the Special Imports side of PolyGram gives us, on ECM, […] and “Werner Pirchner/Harry Pepl/Jack De Johnette.”
Lee Jeske in his jazz column in Cash Box on the ECM releases that PolyGram Special Imports brought to the USA, among them the trio album with Werner Pirchner and Jack DeJohnette (ECM 1237); a news item, not a review
-
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!”).
more
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.
-
20 June 1986 · Report · DE
Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck, no. 25: „Jazz-Formation »Air Mail« gastiert in Landeck“
Preview in the Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck (Tyrol, Austria), a local paper delivered to every household in the district, of Air Mail's concert on Thursday, 19 June 1986, at 8.30 p.m. at the Hotel Sonne in Landeck, the last before the summer break.
more
The band's profile gives 1984 as the year it was founded and names its international debut at the New Jazz Festival Moers and at festivals in Cologne and Warsaw, the LP “Prayer for Peace” (1985) and the tour in May and June 1986 through Switzerland, Germany, France and Austria with the festivals in Coutances, Amiens, Maur near Zurich and Neuwied, as well as invitations to Istanbul, Ankara and Basel. It adds four press quotes in English, Polish, French and German, without naming the publications, and a group photo by Rainer Rygalyk.
“Air Mail”, one of the best contemporary quartets on the European jazz scene, is coming to town.
A much-noticed international debut at the “New Jazz Festival Moers” and at the festivals in Cologne and Warsaw.
Air Mail was the most enjoya[ble] discovery of the festival
English-language press quote on a festival appearance by Air Mail, publication and year not named; the Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck, a local paper in Tyrol, printed it in 1986 before the concert at the Hotel Sonne. The addition in square brackets fills the cut-off margin of the print.
an ideal jazz quartet … in the same breath we cite the example of John Coltrane's quartet of the 1960s
Polish press quote, publication and year not named; it compares Air Mail with John Coltrane's quartet of the 1960s. The Polish wording is given as printed in the Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck in 1986, with copying errors and additions at the margin in square brackets.
Air Mail is establishing itself as one of the most exciting quartets on the European scene.
French-language press quote, publication and year not named; the original wording is given as printed in the Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck in 1986.
A music that does justice to a trait of the times, an artistic togetherness to whose wholeness each contributes his own independent and irreplaceable share.
German-language press quote on Air Mail, publication and year not named; as printed in the Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck, a local paper in Tyrol, in 1986.
-
February 1990 · Report · DE
Tschin Bumm (music magazine, technology column, p. 52): „Harry Pepl im Studio: Das Bösendorfer-Projekt“
Studio report on the recordings for “Schönberg Improvations” (PolyGram) at the SingSang studio in Vienna: six studio days, pieces averaging 15 minutes with borrowings from Arnold Schoenberg, entirely without guitar tone, on the Bösendorfer (Vienna piano maker) computer grand piano, with David Liebman, Mino Cinelu and Wolfgang Reisinger. Pepl had played in the parts at home on the Roland MIDI guitar; the studio head Richie Österreicher jr. explains the technology. Only page 52 has survived; the continuation is missing from the scan.
more
Harry Pepl is a man like Albert Einstein, a genius whom probably only a handful of people can still follow in his work.
Richie Österreicher jr.
The latest LP by the guitarist, acclaimed worldwide, is: a piano record.
-
December 1992 · Report · DE
Jazzlive (vol. 10, no. 99/1992): Titelbild Harry Pepl; „Soundknitting. Die farbenfrohen Klangmuster der New Yorker Knitting Factory“
Hannes Schweiger (article); Rainer Rygalyk (cover photo)
The Viennese jazz magazine shows Harry Pepl on its cover, photographed by the publisher Rainer Rygalyk.
more
In the issue, Hannes Schweiger describes the history and programme of the New York club Knitting Factory (New York music club for jazz and the avant-garde) and reports that in summer 1992 Pepl played there for an evening with his quartet (Klaus Stötter, Paul Nowinski, JoJo Mayer). Pepl describes how the pace of New York changed the way he plays.
I noticed myself that I play completely differently there than at home.
On his performance at the Knitting Factory, New York’s avant-garde club, in summer 1992
Harry Pepl
The ambience of the club is rather plain. Playing there was really an experience.
On the Knitting Factory, New York’s avant-garde club, where he played in summer 1992
Harry Pepl
-
December 1998 · Report · DE
Das Waldviertel, Jahrgang 47, Heft 4 (p. 408): Kulturpreise des Landes Niederösterreich 1998 (nach NÖ Landeskorrespondenz, 22.10.1998)
List of the prizewinners of the 1998 culture prizes of the state of Lower Austria (award of the State of Lower Austria for the arts and culture), based on a release from the NÖ Landeskorrespondenz of 22 October 1998. In the music category Harry Pepl receives the prize of honour, while Friedrich Keil and Elisabeth Schimana receive recognition prizes.
more
Music: Harry Pepl (prize of honour), Friedrich Keil and Elisabeth Schimana (recognition prizes)
-
17 November 2006 · Report · DE
Kleine Zeitung (Online, culture section): „Harry Pepl: Œuvre eines Kreativen“
Michael Tschida
Online article on the first presentation of the Harry Pepl Prize in Graz, seen as an impetus to safeguard Pepl’s musical estate.
more
His work, it says, is stored in boxes at the house, with tapes, scores and technical oddities; gamsbART (Graz concert promoter) is said to have promised that future diploma scholarships should support the scholarly study of it.
to archive the work of an exceptionally creative person
Gerhard Kosel
How much the star guitarist still inspires jazz musicians even now should be shown by more than just today’s final of the “Austrian Soundcheck”. Hats off to Harry P.!
-
22 November 2006 · Report · DE
Der Standard (culture, Printausgabe): „Jazzwohnzimmer Miles Smiles feiert“
felb
Short report on the 15th anniversary of the Viennese jazz club Miles Smiles in the Josefstadt, founded by Wulf Müller.
more
The first concert in autumn 1981 was played by Bill Frisell and Eberhard Weber. Among those who recorded there were Aladár Pege, Jim Pepper and David Friesen, along with Austrian musicians down to Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl.
along with Austrian greats from Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl downwards
-
3 December 2007 · Report · DE
mica music austria: „Tribute to Harry Pepl im Porgy“
Announcement of a tribute evening at Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) in Vienna on 6 December 2007, two years after Pepl’s death.
more
The text pays tribute to him as an internationally sought-after boundary-crosser and names collaborations with Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi, Jon Christensen and Dave Liebman. The evening is organised by former companions, prompted by the Graz platform Gamsb'Art, which awards the Harry Pepl Prize.
one of the most respected Austrian musicians
-
17 September 2010 · Report · DE
mica music austria: „STUDIO FAN, das Abonnementprogramm des Ensembles Studio Dan“
Presentation of the subscription series of the Viennese ensemble Studio Dan with a short biography of its leader Daniel Riegler. For 2008 it lists his leadership of the Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) stage band and the Harry Pepl Prize 2008.
-
25 November 2013 · Report · DE
mica music austria: „Clemens Salesny erhält den Harry Pepl Preis“
News item on the fourth presentation of the Harry Pepl Prize at the Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz) in Graz: the encouragement prize went in 2013 to the alto saxophonist Clemens Salesny. The article briefly introduces Salesny and his projects.
more
This year the Harry Pepl Prize was awarded for the fourth time as part of the “Austrian Soundcheck” in Graz.
-
26 March 2014 · Report · DE
Falter 13/2014 (arts section): „Erinnerungen an Werner Pirchner, den Frank Zappa aus Hall in Tirol“
Klaus Nüchtern
Review of the film “D.U.D.A.!” by Werner Ludin about Werner Pirchner. The text mentions Pirchner’s collaboration with the guitarist Harry Pepl, through which he became an internationally sought-after jazz virtuoso; the focus is on Pirchner.
more
Through his collaboration with the guitarist Harry Pepl he rose to become an internationally sought-after jazz virtuoso
-
31 August 2015 · Report · DE
Die Presse (Online): „Saalfelden: Schmerz an der Heimat, Störung der Jazz-Idylle“
Samir H. Köck
Festival report from Jazzfest Saalfelden 2015 (major jazz festival in the Salzburg region). The festival recalled Werner Pirchner’s 75th birthday and also commemorated the guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005.
more
And he also remembered the guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005 and formed the Jazzzwio with Pirchner, whose sophisticated musical language was praised internationally as well.
-
18 November 2015 · Report · DE
Falter 47/2015 (Rubrik Steiermark): „Steiermark kurz“
Short news from Styria. One item reports that the Harry Pepl Prize, endowed with 5,000 euros, went to the composer and saxophonist Viola Falb at the Austria Soundcheck (festival in Graz).
more
the Harry Pepl Prize to the composer and saxophonist Viola Falb
-
24 December 2015 · Report · DE
NÖN (Online, Hollabrunn): „Viola Falb, die erste Frau im Jazz“
Report on the saxophonist and composer Viola Falb from the Hollabrunn district in Lower Austria: at the opening of this year's Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz) in Graz, Austria, she received the fifth Harry Pepl Prize, endowed with 4,000 euros.
more
The laudatory speaker Ute Pinter highlighted her cross-border compositions and band projects, entirely in the spirit of the musical patron Harry Pepl. Printed in the edition of 23 December 2015, p. 6.
Viola Falb, the district's exceptional artist, received the 5th Harry Pepl Prize in Graz.
entirely in the spirit of the musical patron Harry Pepl
-
12 May 2016 · Report · DE
Der Standard (Online): „Inntöne-Festival: Session mit der Historie“
Preview of the INNtöne festival (jazz festival in Diersbach, Upper Austria).
more
The saxophonist Clemens Salesny, the guitarist Martin Bayer, the drummer Peter Primus Frosch and the singer Agnes Heginger interpret pieces by Harry Pepl on the Saturday, improvise on them and respond to recordings that Pepl improvised for his Lonely Single Swinger Band: guitar, synthesizer, piano, vocals and drums, all recorded by himself at home. Der Standard calls this a formidable example of an engagement with history that yields “delicate results”.
There are, however, ways of engaging with history that yield delicate results. A formidable example can be experienced on Saturday at the Inntöne festival in Diersbach (which begins on Friday), when sounds by the guitarist Harry Pepl (who died in 2005) also ring out from the stage.
Guitar, synthesizer, piano, vocals, drums: Pepl once recorded everything himself at home.
Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger interpret Harry Pepl
-
16 May 2016 · Report · DE
Die Presse (Online): „Resch, renitent: Der Sound des Sauwalds“
Samir H. Köck
Report on the 30th anniversary of the Inntöne festival in Diersbach. It also describes the performance of the homage to Harry Pepl, in which fragments of Pepl’s recordings were played in and which not everyone liked.
more
an artistic high-wire act in which fragments of Pepl’s recordings were also played in
-
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.
more
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.
-
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.
more
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
-
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.
more
together with Harry Pepl in the legendary JazzZwio
-
22 December 2019 · Report · IT
Tracce di Jazz (Blog): „L’AVVOCATO DEL DIAVOLO…..“
milton56
Reply on the same Italian jazz blog to the review of “Volver” published on Wednesday, 18 December 2019. Taking the part of the “devil’s advocate”, as the title has it, the author milton56 sets against his colleague’s enthusiasm the story of how the album came about, as he had heard it about a month earlier from the Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava himself. He explicitly retells it from memory: a second-hand recollection, not a studio log. According to this account, the 1986 session was slow to get going because the Argentine bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi and the American drummer Bruce Ditmas had very different ideas about accompaniment and volume, and Rava mediated. In a deadlocked silence Harry Pepl is said to have struck a chord at random, just to break the silence. The producer Manfred Eicher, founder of the renowned European jazz label ECM, came into the studio full of enthusiasm and saw in it the starting point from which the band could at last develop something; Pepl himself could not even vaguely remember the chord. Rava, according to this recollection, described the work on the record as laborious. The author concludes that the album nevertheless found its way to listeners.
more
The guitarist Pepl strikes a chord at random, just to break the icy silence.
From a story told by Enrico Rava about the stalled recording session for “Volver” in 1986, explicitly retold from memory by the blogger milton56; a second-hand recollection
As if on purpose, the Austrian cannot even vaguely remember what had come out of his instrument by chance……
Punchline of the same story: the producer Manfred Eicher had seen in Pepl’s chance chord the starting point for the recording; a second-hand recollection
-
8 June 2020 · Report · FR
Jazz Magazine (online): „Franck Tortiller / Misja Fitzgerald-Michel, disque imminent“
Xavier Prévost
In Jazz Magazine, the French jazz magazine, Xavier Prévost announces the duo album “Les heures propices” by the vibraphonist Franck Tortiller and the guitarist Misja Fitzgerald-Michel, released on Friday, 19 June 2020, and presents two videos; one of them, with a composition by Harry Pepl, recalls Tortiller's long spell in the Vienna Art Orchestra.
more
And also a reminder of the vibraphonist’s long spell in the Vienna Art Orchestra, with a composition by Harry Pepl
-
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.
more
“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
-
12 April 2024 · Report
European Jazz Masters Of The Past (Blog): „European Jazz Masters Of The Past #3: Herbert Joos“
Wulf Müller
Biographical essay on Herbert Joos. Towards the end of the 1980s Joos went into the studio with Harry Pepl and Jon Christensen to record “Cracked Mirrors”, which was released in 1988 to critical acclaim.
more
he went into the studio with Austrian guitar master Harry Pepl and Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen to record ‘Cracked Mirrors’
-
10 December 2024 · Report
JazzDanmark: „DMA Jazz 2024 in Store VEGA: The winners are here!“
Report on the presentation of the Danish Music Awards Jazz (Danish jazz awards) 2024 at Store VEGA in Copenhagen.
more
The album “Live at H15 Studio” by the Kresten Osgood Quintet (ILK Music), on which Pepl’s piece “The Halleys Comet - Light Blue Blues” can be heard, was named Jazz Release of the Year. The text itself does not mention Pepl.
-
November 2025 · Report · DE
ORF Kärnten (Online): Bericht über den Österreichischen Jazzpreis 2025
Report on the presentation of the Austrian Jazz Award 2025 (award for jazz from Austria) at Casino Velden, with the ranking in the Best Album category: Kenji Herbert Trio ahead of Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band and the Tobias Meissl Trio.
-
26 November 2025 · Report · DE
Fullmax Recordings (Website): Beitrag zum Österreichischen Jazzpreis 2025, Best Album
Post on the album “Live” taking 2nd place in the Best Album category at the Austrian Jazz Award 2025 (award for jazz from Austria).
more
The Jazz Academy consists of 149 experts, there were over 170 submissions and a seven-member expert jury; the award ceremony took place at Casino Velden.