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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5 February 2024 · Portrait
European Jazz Masters Of The Past (Blog): „European Jazz Masters Of The Past #2: Harry Pepl“
Wulf Müller
Detailed biographical essay by the former producer at PolyGram Austria and co-founder of “Jazz Live”, with photographs from the family collection. Müller first met Pepl in 1984 at an Air Mail concert in Vienna. He describes the Jazzzwio and the time with Benny Goodman, the making of the “Schönberg Improvations”, whose idea Pepl brought to his office, and the solo piano record “Flow” from 1996, recorded without corrections. Some biographical details, such as his birth and the start of his teaching in Graz, differ from the documented sources.
a very humble, charismatic and private person with a great sense of humour. Someone who was constantly looking for new ideas
While Harry was building his reputation as one of Europe’s most interesting and unique guitarists
He swings like hell
Harry Pepl on Benny Goodman
Musically, I still find this album exciting, challenging and powerful.
Harry sat down at the piano, which he never really learned to play, nor practised, and plays, let’s the music flow through him.
After a few moments I don’t feel time anymore. An emotion of happiness floats through me and the sounds stream on their own
Harry Pepl
the most spectacular record of one of the most original guitar players of European Jazz in those years
Andreas Felber
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5 January 2011 · Portrait · DE
Kurier: „Jazz mit Herz, Witz und Bauchgefühl“
Werner Rosenberger
Portrait of Wolfgang Puschnig ahead of his project “For The Love Of It” at the Vienna Konzerthaus. Besides his work with Linda Sharrock, the Kurier calls his projects with Harry Pepl in Air Mail legendary; the same text appeared on kurier.at.
Legendary, too, his collaboration with the singer Linda Sharrock or his projects with Harry Pepl (“Air Mail”).
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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). 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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1984 · Portrait · DE
Jazzlive (österreichisches Jazzmagazin): „Harry Pepl (Gitarre)“, Porträt mit Titelbild
Multi-page portrait with a cover (“Portrait: Harry Pepl”). It reports that Pepl had been voted the third-best Austrian jazz musician of the year the year before, with the same ranking among guitarists, behind Pat Metheny and James Blood Ulmer. It mentions a concert with Werner Pirchner, the Family of Percussion and Steve Swallow in Hamburg, Germany, a seminar by Peter Giger in Wengen, Switzerland, with Ronald Shannon Jackson, and a performance in Moers, Germany, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Wolfgang Reisinger and Mike Richmond. The performances mentioned, Moers in June 1984 and the jazz workshop of the NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the public broadcaster for northern Germany) in Hamburg, date the issue to 1984; Nikolaus Kohler cites the collaboration with the Family of Percussion from Jazzlive no. 14, September 1984. It is one of two Jazzlive covers featuring Pepl; the second shows him with Air Mail (no. 20, April 1985).
There is no doubt that Harry Pepl must today be counted among the leading jazz guitarists in Europe.