Press on Wolfgang Reisinger
What was written and broadcast about Harry Pepl and Wolfgang Reisinger: reviews, portraits, interviews and obituaries, with summary and source.
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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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10 June 2022 · Radio · DE
Ö1, Spielräume (Sendungsseite auf orf.at): „Nachruf auf Wolfgang Reisinger“
Andreas Felber (Gestaltung)
Programme on the death of the drummer Wolfgang Reisinger, who died unexpectedly in Vienna on Wednesday, 8 June 2022. Felber calls him Austria’s most internationally renowned jazz drummer and recalls his ensembles of the 1980s, among them Air Mail with Harry Pepl and Wolfgang Puschnig, the Vienna Art Orchestra and his work in France.
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6 May 2010 · Portrait · DE
mica – music austria (Online): „Porträt: Wolfgang Reisinger“
Portrait of the drummer Wolfgang Reisinger at mica – music austria (Austria’s music information centre).
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Besides Part Of Art, he names Air Mail with Wolfgang Puschnig, Mike Richmond and Harry Pepl as the second important band of his own during his time in the Vienna Art Orchestra. Pepl, he says, was the first of the great musicians from whom he could learn a lot, “a real genius”. He recounts how John Scofield called out “I’ll kill you!” to Pepl as they changed over on stage, and mentions tapes of a live performance that are almost better than the two studio albums.
Time and again I have had the good fortune to meet great musicians from whom you could really learn a lot, and the first of them was definitely Harry Pepl. He was a real genius and a great guitarist, with an energy and seriousness that showed you where things could go.
Wolfgang Reisinger
I still remember well how we once came off the stage, John Scofield went on, and in passing he said to Harry, ‘I’ll kill you!’. Those are the little experiences you don’t forget. That really was a totally hot band back then.
Wolfgang Reisinger
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15 March 2006 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (APA0260, culture): „Starke Töne: JazzWerkstatt Wien lädt wieder zum Festival ins WUK“
APA (initials leh/aku)
Preview of the second festival of the JazzWerkstatt Wien at the WUK in Vienna from 16 March to 8 April 2006. The evening of 19 March is dedicated to the memory of Harry Pepl and Bumi Fian, with guests such as Wolfgang Puschnig, Wolfgang Reisinger and Raphael Preuschl.
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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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December 2005 · Obituary
Intervals, Newsletter von David Liebman (Website): „Passings: Harry Pepl“, Intervals Volume 14, Nr. 1
Dave Liebman
Obituary by the American saxophonist Dave Liebman in the “Passings” section of his newsletter “Intervals”, published on his website upbeat.com/lieb (later daveliebman.com) a few weeks after Pepl’s death.
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Liebman calls Pepl a “groundbreaking guitarist” with whom he recorded several times and recalls their first recording together with the drummer Wolfgang Reisinger: from his guitar, via the computer, Pepl played a Bösendorfer grand piano (Bösendorfer is the Viennese piano maker) whose keys were moving by themselves. He is referring to “Schönberg Improvations” (recorded in November 1989). His verdict: “This was in the 80’s-far ahead!!” In the same section he pays tribute to Shirley Horn, Steve Marcus and Richard Pryor. The page survives only in the Internet Archive.
a groundbreaking guitarist that I had the pleasure to have recorded with several times … He had a Busendorfer piano playing music programmed from his computer-the keys were moving, the sound was a piano but it had come from the guitar. This was in the 80’s-far ahead!!
The American saxophonist Dave Liebman in December 2005, a few weeks after Pepl’s death, in the obituary section of “Intervals”, the newsletter on his website. He recalls recording “Schönberg Improvations” in 1989 with Wolfgang Reisinger: Pepl played a Bösendorfer computer grand piano (Bösendorfer is the Viennese piano maker) from his MIDI guitar, its keys moving by themselves (Liebman spells it “Busendorfer”)
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2001 · Review · DE
Concerto (music magazine), issue 5/2001, p. 54: „Fünf Variationen österreichischer Jazzkunst“ (Austrian Jazzart)
Jörg Weitlaner
Joint review of the first five CDs of Universal Music’s Austrian Jazzart series (reissues of Austrian jazz albums).
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First comes “Light Blues” by Air Mail, the quartet’s second and last record, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Wolfgang Reisinger and Mike Richmond. Pepl describes the band’s “telepathic understanding”; the review quotes from the liner notes (by Andreas Felber according to Discogs) his playing “marked by rough, jagged cascades of notes” and highlights the then still young MIDI technology. For Wolfgang Puschnig’s “Pieces Of The Dream” (No. 5) Pepl is named among the duo partners.
playing marked by rough, jagged cascades of notes
Andreas Felber
The interplay of the whole band, in which we had developed a telepathic understanding, was what made Airmail special for me.
Looking back in 2001 on his quartet Air Mail
Harry Pepl
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10 December 1997 · Review · DE
Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt (p. 28): „World Groove Music mitten im Innviertel“
Harald Liehmann
Report from the INNtöne weekend: on the first evening Pepl plays first piano, then drums with the trumpeter Franz Hackl; on the second evening he joins the session of Michel Portal and Stephen Kent with Wolfgang Reisinger and Steve Shehan on piano and guitar.
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After that Harry Pepl played, first on piano, then on drums, while Franz Hackl stayed with his trumpet.
Their joy in playing carried over seamlessly to the audience.
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19 May 1993 · Report · DE
Der Standard (Seite S5, column „Veranstaltungen zum Vorausplanen“): „Frische Luftpost“
Ljubiša Tošić (initials „tos“)
Listings tip: Air Mail, one of the most successful Austrian bands, has re-formed after a long break, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Harry Pepl, Wolfgang Reisinger and Palle Danielsson on double bass. Concert at the Vienna jazz venue Reigen.
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“Air Mail” was one of the most successful Austrian bands.
Almost everything this country has to offer in jazz of international quality is gathered here.
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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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September 1988 · Programme booklet · DE
Jazz Festival Willisau, Programmheft 1988: „Jazz in Willisau: Coming Dates“
On p. 110, under “Jazz in Willisau: Coming Dates”, the programme of the 14th Jazz Festival Willisau (canton of Lucerne, Switzerland) of 1 to 4 September 1988 announces a double concert by Airmail (Harry Pepl, Wolfgang Puschnig, Mike Richmond, Wolfgang Reisinger) and Depart (Harry Sokal, Heiri Känzig, Jojo Meyer) for Saturday, 3 December 1988, at 8 p.m. at the Mohren. According to the concert list, poster and press documentation of the Willisau Jazz Archive, the Ray Anderson Quartet played that evening; whether Air Mail's concert was cancelled or postponed is not known.
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8 March 1988 · Report · DE
APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Jazz aus Österreich“
initials „hmf/fwi/ca“
Record column on Austrian jazz: Air Mail with Wolfgang Puschnig, Harry Pepl, Wolfgang Reisinger and Mike Richmond, successful abroad as well, releases “Light Blues” on PolyGram.
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“Cracked Mirrors” with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen was initiated and co-financed by the Graz arts association gamsbART and taken over by ECM (the renowned European jazz label).
“Cracked Mirrors” is the name of the LP featuring the three jazz musicians in truly outstanding form.
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26 September 1986 · Other
Bizim Caz, Datenbank des Jazz in der Türkei (online): „Air Mail“, Şan Tiyatrosu, 2. Bilsak Caz Festivali
Database entry on the Air Mail concert on Friday, 26 September 1986, at 10 pm at the Şan Tiyatrosu in Istanbul, Turkey, at the 2nd International Bilsak Jazz Festival, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Harry Pepl, Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger; organiser BİLSAK.
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July 1986 · Review · FR
Jazz Hot, no. 432: „Amiens : le temps du jazz“
Franck Bergerot
Festival report by Franck Bergerot in the July/August issue of Jazz Hot, the French jazz magazine founded in 1935, on the “Le temps du jazz” festival in Amiens (France) from 13 to 24 May 1986, at which the festival also launched its record label, Label Bleu.
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Under the heading “Coup de chaleur” (roughly: a heatwave) he describes Air Mail's concert: fired up by Wolfgang Puschnig, driven by Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger, shaken up by an utterly unexpected Harry Pepl. To Bergerot it sounded as if Pepl wanted to pay tribute to the guitarist Joseph Dejean, who had died ten years earlier; in his playing he found again the thread of a history of the guitar that he had thought lost. The music was free, fresh, uninhibited and full of energy, and he had not enjoyed himself so much in a long time. The report gives no date for the concert. Thirty-five years later Bergerot paid tribute to Pepl again in Jazz Magazine, as “the late Austrian jazz guitarist”.
Air Mail, fired up by Wolfgang Puschnig, driven by the rhythm section of Mike Richmond / Wolfgang Reisinger and shaken up by an utterly unexpected Harry Pepl.
Franck Bergerot in Jazz Hot on Air Mail's concert at the “Le temps du jazz” festival in Amiens, France, in May 1986, under the heading “Coup de chaleur” (roughly: a heatwave)
There I found again the thread of a history of the guitar that I feared I had lost for good.
Franck Bergerot on Pepl's guitar playing at Air Mail's concert in Amiens, France, in May 1986; just before, he writes that had Pepl wanted to pay tribute to the guitarist Joseph Dejean, who had died ten years earlier, he could not have gone about it any differently
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July 1986 · Review · FR
Jazz Hot, no. 432: „Du jazz sous les pommiers“
Alain Guerrini
Festival report by Alain Guerrini in the July/August issue of Jazz Hot, the French jazz magazine founded in 1935, on the 5th Jazz sous les pommiers in Coutances (Normandy, France) from 3 to 10 May 1986. On the closing night, at the theatre, Guerrini discovered Air Mail with Wolfgang Puschnig, Harry Pepl, Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger as “un groupe prodigieux”, a prodigious group: from the Berlin ballad to hard rock, their music brought almost a century of music history back to life. As the most telling piece he names “Halley Comet”, probably Pepl's “The Halley's Comet Light Blue Blues”. The Eddy Louiss Big Band closed the evening. Jazz Hot names Puschnig as the band's leader; according to Daniel Pepl, Air Mail had no leader, and the statement is an error in the report. Guerrini gives 10 p.m. as the starting time, the festival archive 9 p.m.
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There I discovered a prodigious group: Air Mail
Alain Guerrini in Jazz Hot on the closing night of the Jazz sous les pommiers festival in Coutances, France, on Saturday, 10 May 1986, according to the festival programme, Air Mail's first concert in France
“Halley Comet” is the most telling piece of this cosmic quartet.
Alain Guerrini on Air Mail's concert in Coutances, France, in May 1986; “Halley Comet” is probably Pepl's “The Halley's Comet Light Blue Blues”, later the title track of Air Mail's album “Light Blues” (1988)
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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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15 May 1986 · Radio · FR
Radio France, „Concert de jazz“ (live recording, im INA-Katalog): „Concert de jazz : [émission du 00/00/00]“
André Francis (production)
Combined programme by Radio France, France’s public radio broadcaster, of three concert recordings, which the INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel), the archive of French radio and television, dates to Thursday, 15 May 1986, 3 hours 39 minutes in all.
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It opens with the trio of the trombonist Ray Anderson with Mark Helias (double bass) and Gerry Hemingway (drums), according to the record “enregistré le 15 mai 1986 à Paris” (recorded in Paris on 15 May 1986). Then come Air Mail with Wolfgang Puschnig (flute, alto saxophone, oboe), Harry Pepl (guitar), Mike Richmond (double bass) and Wolfgang Reisinger (drums), 1 hour 22 minutes, and finally the Orchestre National de Jazz, France’s national jazz orchestra, under François Jeanneau. The combined record names Paris as the venue only for Ray Anderson’s trio; Air Mail’s track list is in the separate record for this part (PHY14005647). The chronology gives Wednesday, 14 May, for Air Mail’s concert at the Paris club New Morning; whether the recording comes from that evening is open. Record PHY11006057_00 in the INA catalogue; the programme can only be heard on site at the INAthèque, which does not provide copies.
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15 May 1986 · Radio · FR
Radio France, „Concert de jazz“ (live recording, im INA-Katalog): „Concert de Air Mail“
André Francis (production)
Concert recording by Radio France of Thursday, 15 May 1986: Air Mail with Wolfgang Puschnig (flute, alto saxophone, oboe), Harry Pepl (guitar), Mike Richmond (double bass) and Wolfgang Reisinger (drums), 1 hour 22 minutes.
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The track list names Pepl’s “Mulwolf” (according to Daniel Pepl “Das Auge des Maulwurfs”), “Light blue blues” (Halley's Comet Light Blue Blues), “The man in the old sea” and “Bike breaker” (Radlbremser), plus “Nudnicks” and “A prayer for peace”. The combined record for the same day (PHY11006057_00) places Air Mail alongside the trio of Ray Anderson, “enregistré le 15 mai 1986 à Paris” (recorded in Paris on 15 May 1986), and the Orchestre National de Jazz under François Jeanneau. The chronology gives Wednesday, 14 May, for the concert at the Paris club New Morning; whether it is the same evening is open. Record PHY14005647 in the catalogue of the INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel), the archive of French radio and television; the recording can only be heard on site at the INAthèque, which does not provide copies.
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10 May 1986 · Programme booklet · FR
Jazz sous les pommiers, festival archive (online): „Air Mail“ (Programm der 5. Ausgabe, Samstag, 10. Mai, 21 Uhr, Théâtre)
Entry in the online archive of Jazz sous les pommiers, the jazz festival in Coutances (Normandy, France), for its 5th edition from 3 to 10 May 1986: Air Mail with Wolfgang Puschnig (saxophone), Harry Pepl (guitar), Mike Richmond (double bass) and Wolfgang Reisinger (drums) plays on the closing night, Saturday, 10 May, at 9 p.m. at the theatre, on the same evening as the Eddy Louiss Big Band and Blue Lips. The programme text introduces the band as “two Viennese” from the Vienna Art Orchestra, a prestigious bassist from the USA and Pepl as the “new star” of guitar-mad jazz fans, and announces Air Mail's first concert in France.
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That is Air Mail, which will touch down in Coutances for its first concert in France.
Programme text of the Jazz sous les pommiers festival for Air Mail's concert on 10 May 1986; “se poser” means to land, in keeping with the band's name Air Mail
the new star of the “guitar-mad jazz fans”
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15 April 1986 · Other · FR
Tempo (Paris), no. 3: „En concert: tous les programmes jusqu’à fin juin“
Issue 3 of the free Paris concert paper “Tempo” (concerts and records) with listings up to the end of June 1986. Under the jazz club New Morning, the “Harry Pepl quartet” is announced for 14 May 1986, with Wolfgang Puschnig (soprano saxophone), Mike Richmond (bass) and Wolfgang Reisinger (drums), i.e. the Air Mail line-up. Digitised by the “Archives du punk en France” of the University of Tours, p. 7.
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On the 14th: Harry Pepl quartet: Wolfgang Puschnig, soprano sax; Mike Richmond, bass; Wolfgang Reisinger, drums.
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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.