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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10 September 2026 · Other · DE
Facebook (Thomas Palme): „...noch eine Harry Pepl Story zu seinem heutigen 81 Geburtstag“
Thomas Palme
Public Facebook post by the Viennese jazz and blues guitarist Thomas Palme for Harry Pepl's 81st birthday with a memory of an Air Mail concert (Wolfgang Puschnig, Mike Richmond, Wolfgang Reisinger) at the Titanic, a fashionable club at the time in the Theobaldgasse in Vienna, Austria, in the 1980s or early 1990s: when the power failed in the middle of the set, Pepl played a Wes Montgomery tune by candlelight, all alone and acoustically, and the room fell silent and reverent. Photo in the original post: Andreas Mayer.
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An anecdote that shows how deeply Pepl, despite his modern, highly virtuosic guitar playing, was also rooted in the jazz guitar tradition
to this day a very vivid memory of one of Austria's greatest jazz guitarists
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18 December 2025 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 42, culture): „Die Schemen eines Lebenden“ (Stockwerk Graz: Harry Pepl's Lonely Single Swinger Band blinzelt ins Jenseits)
F. Jureček
Concert review of the performance in Graz: a quintet around Clemens Salesny and the sound engineer Markus Wallner shapes an evening of improvisation from multitrack recordings by the guitarist, who died in 2005. Pepl’s audio tracks are heard as sounds dynamically processed at the mixing desk, with Andi Schreiber, Martin Bayer and Valentin Duit playing along.
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Archive material gives rise to the shadowy outlines of a living man.
Not many musicians release new CDs 20 years after their death.
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18 December 2025 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 51, culture, column „Open Music im Grazer Stockwerk“): „Im Spiel mit der Wiener Gitarristenlegende“
Robert Tendl
Report on the evening by Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band at the Stockwerk in Graz.
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Pepl left behind a great deal of material from his home studio; Salesny, Bayer, Schreiber, Duit and the technician Markus Wallner bring the audio tracks onto the stage via amplifier and loudspeakers and improvise along with them.
A surprisingly lively, highly musical result emerges
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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).
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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.
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26 November 2025 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „On stage Spezial“: Österreichischer Jazzpreis 2025, live aus dem Casino Velden
Andreas Felber
Live broadcast of the award ceremony on Wednesday, 26 November 2025, 19:30. The playlist includes “Hernstein Blues” from the album “Live” (Pepl and Salesny, 8:10).
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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.
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28 October 2025 · Encyclopaedia · DE
mica music austria, music database: Harry Pepl
Database entry with biography, activities, awards, commissions, performance venues and a list of works (64 works); last updated 28 October 2025. The entry counts Pepl among the guitarists who have shaped Austrian jazz nationally and internationally, and records 2nd place at the Austrian Jazz Award 2025 (award for jazz from Austria).
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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
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6 September 2025 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „Die Ö1 Jazznacht“: „Zum 80. Geburtstag von Gitarrist Harry Pepl“
Christian Bakonyi
Broadcast on Saturday, 6 September 2025, 23:03 to 24:00, with the guests Daniel Pepl, Clemens Salesny and Martin Bayer.
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The accompanying article mentions John Scofield and the MIDI guitar and points to the concert at Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) on 28 September 2025.
In the 1980s Harry Pepl was one of the most sought-after guitarists in Europe.
The incredible improvisations and rapid cascades of sound, delivered in the most exciting way at the highest technical level, thrilled not only the audience in Montreux in 1981
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2025 · Other · DE
violafalb.com (Website Viola Falb): Biografie Viola Falb
Viola Falb
Biography on the website of the saxophonist and composer Viola Falb, covering her training, bands such as FALB FICTION and the saxophone quartet PHOEN, and a list of awards up to 2025. It lists the Harry Pepl Prize under 2016; the contemporary reports in Falter and NÖN document the award in November 2015.
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20 March 2024 · Interview · DE
mica music austria (Online): „Uns geht es darum, Gegensätze in unserer Musik zu manifestieren.“ (Raphael Preuschl, Fabulous Austrian Trio, im mica-Interview)
Michael Ternai
Interview with the bassist Raphael Preuschl on the 20th anniversary of the Fabulous Austrian Trio with Alex Machacek and Herbert Pirker.
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Speaking of Machacek's guitar playing, he says it seeks to lift the limits of a string instrument, and recalls Harry Pepl's piece “Man könnte Klavierspielen müssen”.
Harry Pepl once wrote the song ‘Man könnte Klavierspielen müssen’. I believe it is Alex's intention to lift the limitation of a string instrument and to take on the polyphonic freedom of a keyboard instrument.
Raphael Preuschl
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25 September 2020 · Radio · DE
Ö1, In Concert: „Fünf Österreicher und eine Cool-Jazz-Legende“ (Das Harald-Neuwirth-Konsort mit Lee Konitz 1976 im Wiener Funkhaus)
Helmut Jasbar (Gestaltung)
Programme with a historic concert document from the ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) archive: on 14 June 1976 the Harald Neuwirth Konsort performed in the Large Broadcasting Hall of the Vienna Funkhaus, with Harry Pepl (guitar), Werner Pirchner (vibraphone), Wolfgang Wüst (double bass) and Fritz Ozmec (drums) and the guest Lee Konitz. The programme was broadcast on 25 September 2020 at 14:05.
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The members of the ensemble were guitarist Harry Pepl, vibraphonist Werner Pirchner, double bassist Wolfgang Wüst and drummer Fritz Ozmec
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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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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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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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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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13 September 2019 · Radio · DE
Ö1, In Concert: „Harry Sokal, Harry Pepl, Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark, Daniel Humair“ (Österreichisch-französisches Gipfeltreffen 1984 in Wien)
Klaus Wienerroither (Gestaltung)
Programme with an unreleased concert recording from the ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) archive: in 1984 the saxophonist Harry Sokal played in Vienna with the guitarist Harry Pepl, the bassist Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark and the drummer Daniel Humair.
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The programme was broadcast on 13 September 2019 at 14:05.
the Viennese guitar master Harry Pepl
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16 November 2018 · Other · DE
Kronen Zeitung: „A Tribute To“ (Tagestipp)
Listing on the day of the concert: “The Lonely Single Swingers” present a tribute evening on Friday, 16 November 2018, at 8.30 p.m. at the Jazzit in Salzburg, Austria (Elisabethstraße 11), to the composer and jazz guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005. The quartet interacts with previously unreleased recordings from his last creative period. With a band photo.
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The quartet interacts with Pepl by means of previously unreleased recordings from his last creative period.
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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).
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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.
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27 March 2018 · Radio · DE
SRF 2 Kultur, Jazz & World aktuell: „Was für die Magengegend“
Roman Hošek (Editorial)
Programme on [SRF 2 Kultur](https://www.srf.ch), the cultural radio station of Swiss public broadcasting, on Tuesday, 27 March 2018, 20:00 to 21:00, repeated on Friday, 30 March 2018. Alongside Hugh Coltman, Sons of Kemet and Shake Stew it presents a portrait of the Austrian saxophonist [Clemens Salesny](person:clemens-salesny). According to the playlist it also features Harry Pepl's “[Single Swing](werk:single-swing)” (Fullmax Recordings).
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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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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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11 September 2017 · Obituary · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (Online, APA): „Wiener Jazzgitarrist Andy Manndorff 60-jährig gestorben“
APA
APA obituary of the Viennese guitarist and composer Andy Manndorff (1957 to 2017).
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It quotes an interview with mica (Austria's music information centre) in which Manndorff names Harry Pepl as the only teacher who was able to teach him anything, and traces his stations in Amsterdam, New York and Vienna.
I was never a good student either; the only teacher who could teach me anything was Harry Pepl. And he gave me a spirit to take with me
Andy Manndorff
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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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13 September 2016 · Other · DE
NÖN (Niederösterreichische Nachrichten): „Tribut an Harry Pepl“
Preview under the label “Highlight”: the Jazzclub Melk presents “A tribute to Harry Pepl” on Friday, 23 September 2016, at 8 p.m. at the Tischlerei in Melk, Lower Austria, Austria.
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Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger pay their respects to the jazz musician who died in 2005: besides partly familiar compositions, the quartet interacts with previously unreleased music from Pepl's last creative period, “Harry Pepl's Lonely Single Swinger Band”. With a band photo.
The Melk jazz club dedicates a performance at the Tischlerei to the “giant of improvisation”.
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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.
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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.
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19 May 2016 · Interview · DE
Die Presse (Online): „Kärntner Jazzer mit langem Atem“
Samir H. Köck
Interview with Wolfgang Puschnig on his 60th birthday. Puschnig names the seven years with Airmail, Harry Pepl’s band, as one of the highlights of his career; Pepl is only a side topic of the conversation.
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the seven years with Airmail, the band of the guitarist Harry Pepl, who died in 2005
As a guitarist he was outside every norm. That opened up a new, more flexible approach to phrasing for me.
Wolfgang Puschnig
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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.
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Al Foster and the Harry Pepl project
The late grandmaster of impulsive improvisation
An impulsive homage to one of the greats of European jazz.
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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.
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an artistic high-wire act in which fragments of Pepl’s recordings were also played in
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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).
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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The Viennese guitarist and musical border-crosser was in a class of his own
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3 December 2015 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume: „Spielräume“ vom 3. Dezember 2015 (Musik aus allen Richtungen, Harry Pepls Wiederkehr)
Andreas Felber (Gestaltung)
Programme of 3 December 2015, 17:30, on the occasion of Pepl’s 70th birthday and the tenth anniversary of his death: Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger perform Pepl’s music (5 December 2015, Porgy & Bess, Vienna jazz club).
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It also covers new CDs of Austrian production.
Agnes Heginger, Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer and Peter Primus Frosch play Harry Pepl
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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).
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the Harry Pepl Prize to the composer and saxophonist Viola Falb
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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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19 September 2015 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „Die Ö1 Jazznacht“: „Erinnerungen an Harry Pepl“
Christian Bakonyi
Broadcast for the 70th birthday on Saturday, 19 September 2015, 23:03 to 24:00, with the studio guests Daniel Pepl, Agnes Heginger, Clemens Salesny and Martin Bayer.
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Also played is an archive find of the trio with Herbert Joos and Tony Oxley from Tamsweg, dated 15 December 1988.
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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.
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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.
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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 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.
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Through his collaboration with the guitarist Harry Pepl he rose to become an internationally sought-after jazz virtuoso
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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.
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This year the Harry Pepl Prize was awarded for the fourth time as part of the “Austrian Soundcheck” in Graz.
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21 November 2013 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „Schon gehört?“: „Schon gehört?“ (Kulturtipps vom 21. November 2013)
Cultural tips from the radio station Ö1 (the ORF's cultural radio channel): the Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz), a cooperation between the jazz department of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and gamsbART (Graz concert promoter), devotes an evening at the Dom im Berg in Graz, Austria, billed as “Super Sax”, to the saxophone, among others with the trio of Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer and Peter Primus Frosch. On 22 November Salesny receives the Harry Pepl Prize, awarded this year for the fourth time.
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On 22 November this encouragement prize goes to the alto saxophonist Clemens Salesny.
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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.
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2010 · Other · DE
Land Niederösterreich, Festschrift „Kultur im Spiegel der Zeit. 1960–2010 Kulturpreise Niederösterreich“: „Musik. Eine Kulturgeschichte der Möglichkeiten und Unmöglichkeiten“
Irene Suchy
Music essay “Musik. Eine Kulturgeschichte der Möglichkeiten und Unmöglichkeiten” (“Music: a cultural history of possibilities and impossibilities”) by the Ö1 editor Irene Suchy in the commemorative volume “Kultur im Spiegel der Zeit. 1960–2010 Kulturpreise Niederösterreich”. Suchy describes the work of the juries, who may also “highlight what has been overlooked”, citing as an example Harry Pepl, whom the jury honoured shortly before his death; she links his career with the “legendary ORF Big Band”. In the list of prizewinners Pepl appears with the promotion prize of 1991 and the Lower Austrian prize of honour.
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the great instrumentalist and composer Harry Pepl
Pepl’s career with the legendary ORF Big Band
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2010 · Encyclopaedia · DE
mica music austria, music database: Stefan Heckel (Eintrag mit dem Harry-Pepl-Preis 2010)
Entry in the mica (Austria's music information centre) music database on the Styrian pianist, accordionist and composer Stefan Heckel.
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The biography calls him a holder of the Harry Pepl Jazz Prize 2010, and the list of awards gives the Harry Pepl Prize 2010 at gamsbART's Austrian Soundcheck festival in Graz, Austria.
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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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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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20 February 2009 · Review · DE
Die Presse (Online): „Wolfgang Schalk: Wanted“
Samir H. Köck
Short review of the album “Wanted” by the Styrian guitarist Wolfgang Schalk, recorded in Los Angeles. It singles out the piece “And Harry Said Goodbye”, which Schalk dedicated to Harry Pepl.
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Particularly beautiful is ‘And Harry Said Goodbye’, dedicated to the unforgotten colleague Harry 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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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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3 December 2008 · Press release · DE
Kunstuniversität Graz, Mitteilungsblatt 5 (Online): „Mitteilungen der Abteilung für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit“ (Harry-Pepl-Preis 2008 an Daniel Riegler)
The gazette of the Kunstuniversität Graz (University of Music and Performing Arts Graz) of 3 December 2008 announces that the trombonist and composer Daniel Riegler receives the Harry Pepl Prize 2008. The scholarship, endowed with 4,000 euros, requires an engagement with Pepl's work, the result of which is to be presented in 2009; the prize was awarded on 17 November 2008.
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The scholarship, endowed with 4,000 euros, comes with the requirement to engage with the work of Pepl, the jazz guitarist and KUG professor who died in 2005
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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.
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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
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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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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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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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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.
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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
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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.
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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.!
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November 2006 · Programme booklet · DE
GamsbART-Post 5/2006 (GamsbART-Verein, Graz): programme November to December 2006: Harry Pepl Gedenkpreis, 14. Austrian Soundcheck, Katholisches Studentenhaus Münzgraben
Heimo Steps; Otmar Klammer
Programme booklet of the Graz festival with the first texts on the Harry Pepl Prize.
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The prize for musicians under 30, a scholarship of 5,000 euros from the City of Graz, is presented on 18 November 2006 during the evening “Tribute to Harry Pepl”. Heimo Steps describes how “Cracked Mirrors” came about; Otmar Klammer describes Pepl’s “real composing”.
an incorrigible musical visionary
Pepl was a guitarist of international reputation who, with his idiosyncratic, angular and complex improvisational style, offered a European alternative to the US guitarists
Otmar Klammer, GamsbART-Post
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2006 · Encyclopaedia · DE
mica music austria, music database: Wolfgang Schiftner (Eintrag mit dem Harry-Pepl-Preis 2006)
Entry in the mica (Austria's music information centre) music database on the saxophonist Wolfgang Schiftner, born in 1982, co-founder of the JazzWerkstatt Wien.
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Among his awards it lists the Harry Pepl Prize 2006 at the Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz) in Graz, Austria, which makes Schiftner the first winner.
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2006 · Obituary · DE
Jazzzeitung (p. 6): „Ciao Habanero“ (Harry Pepl 1945 bis 2005)
Rainer Rygalyk
Personal obituary by the jazz photographer Rainer Rygalyk. Wolfgang Puschnig and Wolfgang Reisinger recall the years with Air Mail; Rygalyk describes Pepl’s last major public appearance in 2004 at the Jazz Festival in Salzburg, with playback of eight Composings and live musicians in front of his pictures.
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He is the European jazz guitarist par excellence.
I simply learned his musical language.
Wolfgang Puschnig
It was an extreme pull. Suddenly playing with someone who stands up there, two floors above us, steps on the gas so confidently and carries everything along with him.
Wolfgang Reisinger
To me he was a Franz Schubert kind of guy: incredibly beautiful songs, but of the highest quality, and the next moment completely bizarre and jagged.
The drummer Wolfgang Reisinger. “Schubert Franzl” is the affectionate Viennese way of referring to Franz Schubert (1797 to 1828), the Viennese composer celebrated for his songs
Wolfgang Reisinger
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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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8 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Jazz thing (News, Online): „Gestorben: Harry Pepl“
Martin Laurentius and Axel Stinshoff (compilation)
Short news item of 8 December 2005 giving 6 December as the date of death, which contradicts the other sources (5 December).
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It quotes Joachim-Ernst Berendt on the duo with Pirchner, names Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi and Dave Liebman, and gives the professorship as 1984 to 1995.
With his metallic, clear sound and his surprising chord progressions, Pepl developed into one of the most distinctive guitarists in Europe
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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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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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6 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Der Standard (p. 25, culture): „Harry Pepl 1945 - 2005“ (Komplexer Improvisator: Harry Pepl)
Ljubiša Tošić
Short obituary from Wiener Neustadt that honours Pepl as a complex improviser who experimented with piano and drums in his private studio.
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It names Erich Kleinschuster, the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster), the duo with Werner Pirchner, Dave Liebman, Jack DeJohnette, Benny Goodman and the Real-time Composing method with the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet.
was, in his active phase, one of the most important guitarists in the world
created a furore internationally between Berlin and Montreux with a subtle and intense form of chamber music
over the years he developed a complex musical style that worked with highly expressive, very individual polytonal melody and unfolded within ever freer band concepts
shaped by the old jazz dream of wresting from the moment a musical substance that creates something lasting and thus comes close to composition.
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5 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
Der Standard (Online, APA-Meldung): „Jazzgitarrist Harry Pepl ist tot“
APA
APA report from the day of his death, put online on the afternoon of 5 December 2005: the report states that Pepl died early on Monday in Wiener Neustadt, aged 60. The text calls him a guitarist known far beyond Austria who had worked, among others, with the Benny Goodman Quintet, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi and Michel Portal. It is not the print article by Ljubiša Tošić of 6 December 2005.
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He was a guitarist known far beyond Austria
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5 December 2005 · Obituary · DE
ORF Wien (oesterreich.ORF.at): „Jazzgitarrist Harry Pepl gestorben“ (Stilprägend)
Short obituary from the day of his death: Pepl, one of Europe’s leading jazz guitarists, has died at the age of 60 and became known through the Jazz-Zwio with Werner Pirchner.
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The text names Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi, Jon Christensen and Dave Liebman as partners, as well as his commissioned compositions for numerous ensembles and his teaching in Graz, with Wolfgang Muthspiel among his students. The neue musikzeitung took over the item with the note “Source: orf.at”.
The guitarist Harry Pepl was one of those musicians who shaped and influenced Austrian jazz at home and abroad.
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December 2005 · Obituary · DE
cultural information centre of the German Cultural Council / neue musikzeitung (nmz-red/leipzig, source: orf.at): „Jazz-Gitarrist Harry Pepl gestorben“
nmz-red/leipzig
Short news item based on an ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) source, giving his life dates and his teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (contract lecturer from 1977, full professor from 1984 to 1995).
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The former rector of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Otto Kolleritsch, pays tribute to Pepl as a gifted guitarist and an exceptional figure. Benny Goodman, Dave Holland, Dino Saluzzi, Jon Christensen, Werner Pirchner and Dave Liebman are named.
The guitarist Harry Pepl was one of those musicians who shaped and influenced Austrian jazz at home and abroad.
neue musikzeitung, nach ORF
One of Europe’s leading jazz guitarists
neue musikzeitung, nach ORF
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17 September 2004 · Other · DE
IG Jazz Wien, Blue-Tomato-Archiv: „Rainer Rygalyk / Harry Pepl: Habanero-Slide-Show“
Event announcement for Friday, 17 September 2004 at the Blue Tomato in Vienna: presentation of photographs by the jazz photographer Rainer Rygalyk from the series “Jazzarts” with a video projection to which Pepl has added an acoustic layer of original compositions. Clemens Salesny and Wolfgang Schiftner improvise to the pictures and to Pepl’s CD.
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one of Austria’s most creative jazz musicians
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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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1 April 2000 · Programme booklet · DE
Sammlung Essl, programme Schömer-Haus: Studio Percussion graz: Xenakis, Pepl, Hölszky
Programme of the concert by Studio Percussion graz under Günter Meinhart at the Schömer-Haus of the Essl Collection in Klosterneuburg on 1 April 2000, with works by Iannis Xenakis and Adriana Hölszky and the world premiere of Pepl's “Zeitraffer”.
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With a note on the work by Pepl and a short biography covering his teaching in Graz, the International Jazz Academy in St. Pölten and the Lower Austrian Jazz Academy in Zeillern. The biography also mentions seminars at the Hamburg music university, the promotion prize (1991) and the honorary prize (1998) of the State of Lower Austria, the quarterly list of the German Record Critics’ Award for the ECM albums of 1983 and 1988, awards from French record critics for “Turbulence” and “Men’s Land” with Michel Portal, festivals in Leverkusen, Ancona and Le Mans, and the Royal Festival Hall in London.
“Le Monde” called Pepl a giant of improvisation.
Art has the task not merely to negate the tendencies of the time, but also to sharpen them.
From his text on “Zeitraffer” for the programme “Einkreisung” at the Essl Collection, a private museum of contemporary art in Klosterneuburg near Vienna, 2000
Harry Pepl
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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.
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Music: Harry Pepl (prize of honour), Friedrich Keil and Elisabeth Schimana (recognition prizes)
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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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1998 · Encyclopaedia · DE
Kulturpreis Niederösterreich (Preisträgerdatenbank des Landes): „Bewusster Grenzgänger“ (Harry Pepl, Würdigungspreis 1998 Musik)
Tribute text for the 1998 prize of honour for music. It traces Pepl as a boundary-crosser between jazz and New Music, from the Austrian Evergreens via the Fledermaus bar and the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) and the professorship in Graz to composing in real time.
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Exploring the limits was obviously always his endeavour.
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1996 · Press release · DE
information sheet (press kit, 5 pages): Infos Harry PEPL
Undated biographical information sheet, produced in 1996 at the earliest.
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It contains a short biography, collaborations, festivals and a discography, the method of Real-time Composing and a list of works with premieres for Ensemble Wien, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, Kronos Quartet, STUDIO PERCUSSION and Artis-Quartett.
has come to the fore since 1984 as a composer of European contemporary art music
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27 May 1994 · Review · DE
Der Standard: „Der Groove-Professor gibt sich recht unberechenbar“
Ljubiša Tošić
Record review of “N.Y.C. Impressure”: the funky rhythm section plays flat out, and after years dominated by play with sound, Pepl’s guitar is again recognisable as a guitar sound, with the MIDI guitar serving only as an atmospheric addition.
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Tošić hears a groovy affair with a rock-style distorted tone and highly individual phrasing; sound quality very good.
On N.Y.C. Impressure his guitar sound is once again recognisable as such.
Of course his phrasing is once again highly individual, which means: appealing and pleasantly unpredictable.
And so it may well happen that the guitar professor shines with a rock-distorted sound.
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7 May 1994 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Verständigungen über den Gartenzaun“ (Jazz-Gitarristen: Harry Pepls Comeback, Ray Cooder, Doctor Blocher, Bill Frisell)
Wolfgang Gratzer
Short review of the new album: the reviewer writes that Pepl, one of the continent’s most individual guitarists, is stepping out of his seclusion with his quartet recorded in New York (Claus Stöttner, Paul Nowinski, Jojo Mayer).
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Thanks to cleverly pre-planned pieces and compelling solos, the author counts the record among the most exciting things produced in Austria in recent years.
The Viennese Harry Pepl, who counts among the most distinctive guitarists on the continent
recorded an album which, thanks to its so cleverly conceived tracks, ploughed through with compelling solos, ranks among the most exciting things produced in this country in recent years.
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20 April 1994 · Other · DE
Österreichische Mediathek, Katalog (online): „Harry Pepl Quartet 20.04.1994 (1)“ (unveröffentlichte Aufnahme)
The Österreichische Mediathek (Austrian Mediathek), Austria’s archive of sound and video recordings at the Technisches Museum Wien, lists an unreleased recording of the Harry Pepl Quartet of Wednesday, 20 April 1994, recorded at the Orpheum in Graz, Austria, that is, at the concert of the Graz Meeting “Strings”. It is on compact cassette (shelf mark 6-69528) and can only be heard on site at the Mediathek in Vienna. The catalogue names only Harry Pepl (guitar); according to the Austrian news agency APA, the quartet played with Wolfgang Puschnig.
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1994 · Radio · DE
Ö1, „Aus dem Konzertsaal“ (live recording, in der Österreichischen Mediathek): „Aus dem Konzertsaal: Graz Meeting 1994 (2)“
Jörg-Martin Willnauer (presenting)
Jazz broadcast by Ö1, ORF’s cultural radio station, from the Graz Meeting 1994, featuring among others the Harry Pepl Quartet according to the catalogue of the Österreichische Mediathek (Austrian Mediathek), and presented by Jörg-Martin Willnauer.
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The recording is on compact cassette (shelf mark 6-69955) and can only be heard on site at the Mediathek in Vienna; the catalogue does not give the broadcast date. The quartet played at the Graz Meeting on Wednesday, 20 April 1994, at the Orpheum in Graz, Austria.
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1994 · Review · DE
magazine (title not preserved), record review: Harry Pepl Quartet: „N.Y.C. Impressure“
Record review of “N.Y.C. Impressure” (Extraplatte (Vienna independent label) EX 203-2, recorded 6/92 at the Active Recording Studio, New York): according to the review, Pepl, a native of Lower Austria, has been experimenting with the MIDI guitar for years, and his new hobbyhorse is real-time composing. The album is said to reflect the mood, colours and rhythmic density of New York, realised with Claus Stötter, Paul Nowinski and Jojo Mayer. Rating (8).
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The Lower Austrian Harry Pepl loves the battle with “Bits and Bytes”.
His latest hobby-horse goes by the name of “real-time-composing”.
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6 May 1993 · Programme booklet · DE
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, programme booklet, Brahms-Saal (Vienna Spring Festival 1993, Artis Quartet, concert 3): Artis-Quartett mit Stefan Vladar, Donnerstag, 6. Mai 1993, 19.30 Uhr
editor: Joachim Reiber
Programme booklet for the evening with Beethoven (Op. 18/4), the world premiere of Pepl’s string quartet “Über kurz oder lang, von der Weite und der Enge” and Brahms’s Piano Quintet.
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The discussion of the work lists commissions, festivals and awards and describes the quartet, written in February 1993, in three parts. The ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) broadcast the concert on Ö1 (the ORF's cultural radio channel) on 12 May.
from Pepl one may only expect the unexpected
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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.
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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
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1991 · Portrait · DE
Kulturpreis des Landes Niederösterreich (Broschüre 1991, Preisträgerdatenbank): „Spontane Klangerlebnisse“ (Anerkennungspreis 1991, Sparte Musik)
Tribute text from the 1991 culture prize brochure on the Lower Austrian Recognition Prize in the music category, now online in the state's database of prizewinners.
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It presents Pepl as a professor in Graz and a composer in demand: a piece for the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet is about to be premiered in Graz in the autumn of 1991, another for the Artis Quartet is planned. For two years he has been composing with his “instant” or “real-time composing”. Pepl admires Mozart, Schoenberg's piano works and Giacinto Scelsi, and has analysed the rhythmic precision of a Bach recording by Glenn Gould on his computer. The text also mentions his two years at Gerhard Bronner's “Fledermaus” bar, the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster), several wins in the Jazz Live readers' poll and Le Monde calling him a “giant of improvisation”.
It is hard to place Harry Pepl anywhere musically, and strictly speaking it is not even necessary.
Pepl, and he leaves no doubt about this in this conversation either, is a musician of the moment.
the leading French newspaper Le Monde crowned him, without further ado, a “giant of improvisation”
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27 February 1990 · Programme booklet · DE
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, programme booklet, Brahms-Saal (special society concert): Komponistenportrait Harry Pepl, Dienstag, 27. Februar 1990, 19.30 Uhr
editor: Teresa Hrdlicka
Programme booklet for the composer portrait with the Ensemble Kontrapunkte under Peter Keuschnig, with Christine Whittlesey, Pepl on guitar and guitar-to-MIDI system, Josef Pitzek and Rainer Keuschnig; the piano sound comes from the Bösendorfer (Vienna piano maker) computer grand piano. Fifteen pieces were played. The note on the work explains “Instant composing” and names “Grogos” as a commission from the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (the Vienna Musikverein, historic concert hall of the Society of Friends of Music).
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free process of composition, in which the work is already fixed in writing at the very moment in which it is invented
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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.
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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.
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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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17 December 1988 · Review · DE
Eßlinger Zeitung (weekend edition): „Perkussives“ (Joos, Pepl und Oxley)
Christa Wörner
Review of the year-end concert of the series “Jazz in der Dieselstraße” with Herbert Joos, Harry Pepl and Tony Oxley: catchy melodies and folk-song-like passages frame abstract structures, played with and against the electronics.
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By way of his guitar, Pepl also plays trumpet and piano and manages a drum solo on the guitar; Joos recalls Chet Baker, and Oxley shapes the European character of the music.
European jazz? The trio of Herbert Joos, Harry Pepl and Tony Oxley provided an example of it.
In this way Pepl managed to play a dazzling drum solo on the guitar.
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15 December 1988 · Review · DE
Stuttgarter Zeitung: „Jazz im Zauberspiegel“ (Dieselstraße: Joos-Pepl-Oxley)
lind
Concert review of the trio of Herbert Joos, Harry Pepl and Tony Oxley at the Dieselstraße culture and communication centre in Esslingen.
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The author begins with critical questions about volume, the playback tape and hidden themes and then describes a bewildering game of free jazz and balladic romanticism, in which the audience accepted Pepl’s guitar synthesiser as an enrichment; he refers to the record “Cracked Mirrors”.
accepted Harry Pepl’s guitar synthesiser as an imaginative enrichment of the sound
in a piece like “Schikaneders Delight” there was also quite definitely a Mozartean cheerfulness at play.
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8 September 1988 · Portrait · DE
Die Steirische: „Vitaler Klangmaler“ (Das Künstlerporträt: Harry Pepl)
Heimo Steps
Portrait on page 12 by the manager of gamsbART (Graz concert promoter), written on the occasion of the German Record Critics’ Award (German award for outstanding recordings, chosen by a jury of critics) for “Cracked Mirrors”.
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Among other things, it tells of the time with DeJohnette in Paris, the film music with Benny Goodman and planned projects in Graz.
His musical paintings are a pleasure to listen to, not least because sensuality and warmth are inherent in them.
He is one of my favourites
Having grown up with the accordion, he does not deny our own musical tradition and lets it flow into his music.
The great stylistic diversity and his unmistakably idiosyncratic playing, not to mention his perfect command of the instrument, make even the most prominent fellow musicians rave.
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May 1988 · Press release · DE
ECM Records, Munich (press release): Harry Pepl / Herbert Joos / Jon Christensen: „Cracked Mirrors“
ECM Records
Two-page press information from the label on the album (ECM 1356, CD 833 472-2, LP 833 472-1), with the line-up: Pepl on guitar, Roland MIDI guitar system and piano, Joos on flugelhorn, Christensen on drums.
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The text describes the album as a sequence of broken genres, from parodied pianistic bliss and alienated Alpine folk music to free jazz in the spirit of Ornette Coleman, and emphasises the evidently meaningful use of electronics.
three musicians meet who are able to improvise with a great deal of sensuality and warmth even in advanced playing techniques.
This album certainly runs completely against the wind of the zeitgeist.
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22 April 1988 · Review · DE
daily newspaper (title not preserved): „Glanzvolle Dreieinigkeit“
Robert Urman
Review of the concert at the Posthof in Linz: the new trinity around Harry Pepl with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen.
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Urman describes breathtaking string artistry, birdsong and synthetic flute sounds, lovingly coloured poetry down to a hint of Gil Evans, and an electronically generated fullness of sound on an orchestral scale. On the day of publication, a Friday, the trio was still playing at the Hotel Mader in Katsdorf.
Gems of contemporary jazz, wittily crafted by a top-class trio
The three offered breathtaking string artistry, virtuosically realised visions of wilful electronic mobilisation
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April 1988 · Review · DE
daily newspaper (title not preserved): „Versierte Gefährten“ (Musikantendreieck der Extraklasse im Posthof)
-a-
Concert review of the appearance of Harry Pepl with Jon Christensen and Herbert Joos at the Posthof in Linz on 20 April 1988. The author praises the intensity, sensuality and sharpness of the compositions, the compellingly played solos and the astonishing use of electronics, and announces the trio’s forthcoming ECM (the renowned European jazz label) record. With a photo by Nöbauer.
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Austrian jazz’s guitar great, of a standing that helps to set the tone not only in Europe
Harry Pepl brings electronics into play in an astonishing way.
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10 January 1988 · Portrait · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Feldzug mit der Gitarre“
Otmar Klammer
Portrait on page 18 of the Graz guitar professor who, according to the newspaper Le Monde, was called a „Gigant der Improvisation“ [“giant of improvisation”].
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It traces his path from the Austrian Aces through commercial bands, the Fledermaus bar and the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) to the professorship, and mentions recordings with DeJohnette, Holland, Saluzzi and Portal. Remarks by Scofield and Abercrombie about Pepl are also on record.
The guitar professor in Graz is regarded internationally as one of the best in his field.
He's great, he's like a machine gun
The American jazz guitarist John Abercrombie (ECM) on Pepl’s blistering speed, meant as praise; reported in the Kleine Zeitung, a daily from Graz, in 1988
John Abercrombie
Giant of improvisation
Le Monde
internationally sought-after master of improvisation
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1988 · Other · DE
press review (Collage, compiler not named): „Cracked Mirrors“: Kritiken aus Deutschland, Österreich, Frankreich, Großbritannien und Japan
various (incl. Ken Hyder, Christa Wörner, Robert Urman)
Collage of reviews of “Cracked Mirrors” arranged around a concert photo of Harry Pepl: the review „Ausdrucksstark“ [“Expressive”] with the note on the quarterly list of the German Record Critics’ Award (German award for outstanding recordings, chosen by a jury of critics), concert reviews from Esslingen and Linz, a French review, an English one by Ken Hyder (“a marvellous feel of understatement”) and a Japanese CD review. This collection is the source of the often-quoted verdict on Pepl as one of the most innovative guitarists in Europe.
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Harry PEPL’s natural and attractive playing on his MIDI guitar creates constant “aha” moments and marks him out as one of the most innovative guitarists in the whole of Europe.
The jazz guitarist Harry Pepl proves to be a master of sound painting with his new album “Cracked Mirrors”
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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.
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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.
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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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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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17 October 1985 · Other · DE
steirischer herbst, festival archive (online): „Daniel Humair, Harry Pepl, Jean-François Jenny-Clark: Konzert“
Entry in the archive of the steirischer herbst festival on a concert and exhibition on Thursday, 17 October 1985, at the Katholisches Studentenhaus Münzgraben in Graz, Austria: the trio Daniel Humair, Harry Pepl, Jean-François Jenny-Clark and the exhibition “Daniel Humair: Malerei und Grafik” (painting and graphic art).
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23 September 1984 · Other · DE
steirischer herbst, festival archive (online): „Michel Portal Unit featuring Harry Pepl“
Entry in the archive of the steirischer herbst festival on the guest performance on Sunday, 23 September 1984, in the former slaughterhouse in Graz, Austria, in the “Falso Loco” series, with Daniel Humair, Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Joachim Kühn, George Lewis, Harry Pepl and Michel Portal.
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11 June 1984 · Other · DE
moers festival, festival archive (online): Archiv 1980 bis 1989: 11. Juni 1984, Eissporthalle
For the festival from Friday 8 to Whit Monday 11 June 1984, the online archive of the moers festival (international festival for jazz and improvised music in Moers, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) lists “Airmail (AUT)” on the last day in the ice rink hall, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Karl “Bumi” Fian, Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger, on the same evening as Pension Winnetou, Yoshiaki Fujikawa & Eastasia Orchestra and the 29th Street Saxophone Quartet. Pepl is not listed in this line-up; according to Nikolaus Kohler he played.
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30 October 1982 · Other · DE
steirischer herbst, festival archive (online): „Weltmusikfest der IGNM“, Abend „Jazz Club / Jazz Band Ball“
Entry in the archive of the steirischer herbst festival on the World Music Days of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) 1982 in Graz, Austria: on Saturday, 30 October 1982, at 10 pm the Steirische Herbst Band ’82 under Erich Kleinschuster plays in the Saal Steiermark of the Congress, with Harry Pepl among the 30 musicians named, in the same slot as the Vienna Art Orchestra under Mathias Rüegg; further dates of the band until Thursday, 4 November 1982, in the exhibition hall of the Congress.
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1 October 1982 · Programme booklet · DE
Ars Electronica 1982, Programmbuch: „Jazz und Elektronik“ mit dem Ars-Electronica-Workshop-Ensemble
Programme of the concert on Friday, 1 October 1982, 8 p.m., in the Large Hall of the Brucknerhaus in Linz: the workshop ensemble with François Jeanneau, Wolfgang Dauner, Jasper van't Hof, Harry Pepl, Adelhard Roidinger and Daniel Humair, conceived by Robert Urmann, together with the quartet of Alphonse Mouzon. The workshop in the afternoon was open to the public. The photograph of Pepl in the programme is by Rainer Rygalyk.
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recognised as one of Europe's leading jazz guitarists
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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.
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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.
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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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17 October 1981 · Other · DE
Donaueschinger Musiktage, festival archive (online): „SWF-Jazz-Session“ (Donaueschinger Musiktage 1981)
The archive of the Donaueschingen Music Days at SWR, one of the oldest festivals of contemporary music (since 1921), lists for Saturday, 17 October 1981, 8.30 pm, in the Donauhalle (hall B) the SWF Jazz Session with “Jonny tritt ab, keine Jazz-Oper für Stimmen und Instrumente in zwei Teilen” (Jonny Exits, no jazz opera for voices and instruments in two parts) by Mathias Rüegg, who also conducted. The performers were the Vienna Art Orchestra and the Stadtkapelle Radolfzell, a town band, with the singers Karin Krog, Lauren Newton and Maggie Nicols, the saxophonist John Surman and Harry Pepl (guitar); the producer was Joachim-Ernst Berendt, jazz editor of Südwestfunk (SWF), the public broadcaster for south-western Germany. For Pepl the archive lists only this evening.
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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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15 November 1980 · Other · DE
Brief aus Bangkok: „Benny Goodman war nach dem 2. Konzert voll des Lobes“: Brief an Harry Pepl nach den Berliner Goodman-Konzerten
Kurt A. Müller
Typewritten letter from Bangkok to Harry Pepl in Hernstein, a week after the concerts with Benny Goodman at the Berlin Philharmonie (7 and 8 November 1980).
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According to the family archive, the sender was Goodman's manager Kurt A. Müller, the Swiss friend of Goodman living in Bangkok who co-organised the concerts, chose the musicians in Europe and made the recordings. He reports that Goodman was full of praise after the second concert; during Pepl's solo at the start of the second concert Goodman got going as he had not done for years, and the whole quintet jammed as in Goodman's early years. Goodman's only regret was that Pepl did not play an acoustic guitar. Full text (translated from the German, address omitted): “Mr Harry Pepl, [address], 2560 Hernstein, Lower Austria. 15 November 1980. Dear Mr Pepl, My wife and I have now arrived safely back in Bangkok and still think back often and fondly to the swinging days in Berlin. After the second concert Benny Goodman was full of praise for you and your colleagues. I myself was also glad that everything went so well, because whoever plays with Benny Goodman has to be good, otherwise things can get uncomfortable, since Benny is an absolute perfectionist and demands a great deal of perfection from his musicians too. When you took off with your solo at the start of the second concert, Benny really got going, in a way I had not seen him for many years; Charly, Peter and Don Haas swung along and the whole quintet ‘jammed’ as was only the case in Benny Goodman's early years. He confirmed this to me afterwards too and was in the best of moods. The only thing he regretted was that you did not have a natural guitar, because he would have liked that even better, he said, but it was fine as it was. So once again many thanks for your fine contribution, it was truly a delight for all of us, and the audience went wild, as you can hear again on the tape recordings. The photos are being copied and I will send them to you in a few days. I would be glad to hear from you soon; perhaps you could send me a tape on which you play swinging music, I would then copy it for Benny, if you allow. Warm regards, also from my wife, and all the best. Yours, [signature]”
After the second concert Benny Goodman was full of praise for you and your colleagues.
When you took off with your solo at the start of the second concert, Benny really got going, in a way I had not seen him for many years
Letter from Kurt A. Müller, manager of Benny Goodman, the “King of Swing”, after the second concert at the Berlin Philharmonie in November 1980
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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.
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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
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18 July 1979 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 35, ANNO-p. 27): „Jazz International: Am Wochenende Superfestival in Wiesen!“
Programme preview of the jazz festival in Wiesen, Burgenland, in July 1979. Among the bands announced is the Erich Kleinschuster Sextet with Kleinschuster, Karl Drewo, Harry Pepl (guitar), Harald Neuwirth and Heinz Jäger.
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27 June 1979 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 48, ANNO-p. 40): „Art Orchester“ in Nickelsdorf
Announcement of the appearance of the “Wiener Art Orchester” (Vienna Art Orchestra) on Saturday, 30 June 1979, at the Jazz-Galerie Nickelsdorf.
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Werner Pirchner (vibraphone) and Harry Pepl (guitar) appear as guest soloists; the text describes the orchestra, founded in 1977, and its participants.
Werner Pirchner (vibes) and Harry Pepl (gtr) appear as guest soloists.
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3 May 1979 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 44, ANNO-p. 36): Ankündigung eines Konzerts mit Friedrich Gulda (Beat und Pop)
Short news item about a „Konzert der Superlative“ [“concert of superlatives”] with Friedrich Gulda on piano and the two former ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) musicians Wayne Darling (bass) and Harry Pepl (guitar).
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It is announced for early May 1979 at the Münzgrabenheim in Graz.
A concert of superlatives, with Friedrich Gulda on piano
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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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7 October 1977 · Other · DE
steirischer herbst, festival archive (online): „Marianne Mendt“, Konzert am 7. Oktober 1977
Entry in the archive of the steirischer herbst festival on the concert by Marianne Mendt on Friday, 7 October 1977, in the festival hall of the Arbeiterkammer (Chamber of Labour) in Deutschlandsberg (Styria, Austria), organised by the Kulturkreis Deutschlandsberg, with Harald Neuwirth (piano), “Harald Pepl (guitar)”, Wayne Darling (bass) and Erich Bachträgl (drums).
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10 August 1977 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 35, ANNO-p. 27): „Neues kurz“ (Beat und Pop)
Contemporary note from August 1977: Pepl, it says, is leaving the ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) and moving to Graz, where he is to receive a teaching appointment at the jazz department of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.
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The guitarist Olaf Weitzer is being discussed as his successor in the band; most recently Pepl could be heard with his jazz-rock group “Hedgehog” at the three-day festival in Kohfidisch.
will leave the ORF Big Band and move to Graz, where he will get a teaching appointment at the jazz department of the MHS
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9 March 1977 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 42, ANNO-p. 34): „Dick Sells mit neuer Gruppe“ (Beat und Pop)
News item about a new group of the guitarist and harmonica player Dick Sells, a new Burgenlander, who was formerly with Milestone and Hedgehodge.
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Peter Ponger, Harry Pepl and the drummer Janis Dudli play with him; Pepl, it says, is already known to visitors of the jazz pub.
also no stranger to the visitors of the jazz pub
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2 March 1977 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 42, ANNO-p. 34): „5. März: Erich-Kleinschuster-Sextett in der Jazzgalerie“
Announcement of a concert by the Erich Kleinschuster Sextet on 5 March 1977 at Hans Falb’s Jazzgalerie in Nickelsdorf. The line-up names Kleinschuster (trombone), Christof Lauer, Harry Pepl (guitar), Fritz Pauer, Heinz Jäger and Fritz Ozmec.
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5 January 1977 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 32, ANNO-p. 24): Konzertankündigung Erich-Kleinschuster-Sextett (Beat und Pop)
Announcement of a jazz concert by the Erich Kleinschuster Sextet in Burgenland, starting at 8 pm.
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The line-up is given as Erich Kleinschuster, Christof Lauer, Harry Pepl (guitar), Fritz Pauer, Heinz Jäger and Fritz Ozmec; the text adds that the group was completed by Fritz Pauer (piano) and Harry Pepl.
The group is completed by Fritz Pauer (p) and Harry Pepl (g).
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1 December 1976 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (gedruckte p. 44, ANNO-p. 36): „Damaskus: Neue Besetzung ab Jänner“ (Beat und Pop)
Note from the “Beat und Pop” page about a Burgenland band with a new line-up. Pepl appears only as a teacher: the guitarist Otto Artner is described as his student.
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Großpetersdorf guitarist and Harry Pepl student Otto Artner
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26 March 1975 · Other · DE
Burgenländische Freiheit (p. 42, ANNO-Seite): Jazzkonzert des Erich-Kleinschuster-Sextetts in Eisenstadt
Photo caption to the announcement of a jazz concert on 7 April 1975 at the Pädagogische Akademie Eisenstadt, organised by the Musical Youth of Austria and ORF Studio Burgenland (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster).
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The Erich Kleinschuster Sextet plays with Harald Pepl on guitar; the ORF records the concert for the Ö3 (the ORF's pop radio channel) series “Jazz mit Erich Kleinschuster”. The form “Harald Pepl” matches his baptismal name.
Harald Pepl (guitar)