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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16 September 1979 · Review · HU
Hajdú-Bihari Napló (Tageszeitung des Komitats Hajdú-Bihar, Debrecen, Hungary): Nr. 217: „Fesztivál öt napig. Összefoglaló a debreceni dzsessznapokról“
Gábor Turi
Review of the 8th Debrecen Jazz Days 1979 (“Festival for five days”): four venues, ten concerts, three jam sessions, more than twenty ensembles and 7,000 visitors, organised by the radio together with the Kölcsey Ferenc cultural centre.
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Turi divides the performers into three groups according to their performance and places the guitar duo Pepl and Brkovity in the top group, alongside Ganelin, Mirrors, Gusztáv Csík, the duo Viklický and Andršt and Jasper van ’t Hof; he highlights the duo’s virtuoso technique and perfect interplay.
the virtuoso technique and perfect interplay of the guitar duo Pepl and Brkovity came as a surprise
Gábor Turi in his review of the 8th Debrecen Jazz Days (Hungary) in September 1979, at which Pepl played at midnight in a duo with the Yugoslav guitarist Voja Brković; Turi ranks the duo among the top group of the festival
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18 February 1983 · Review · SL
Glasbena mladina (Slovenian music magazine): Nr. 5: „Plodna jazzovska jesen ’82 v Zagrebu“ (Fruchtbarer Jazzherbst ’82 in Zagreb)
Miro Križič
Review of the Zagreb jazz autumn of 1982 with the fourth International Jazz Fair from 11 to 15 October (with Martial Solal, Stan Tracey, Hans Koller and Joachim Kühn, among others) and further concerts.
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In the same month the duo Jazzzwio (printed “Jazzwio”) with Werner Pirchner (tenor vibraphone, marimba) and Harry Pepl (guitar) performed in the music salon of the Student Centre. Križič praises the combination of Pirchner’s prepared vibraphone and the modern guitar, which, he writes, created a wealth of musical ideas, rhythms and brilliant improvisations.
The combination of the prepared vibraphone, from which Pirchner drew incredible sounds full of vibrating sensitivity, and the modern guitar created a wealth of musical ideas, rhythms and brilliant improvisations.
Miro Križič in his review of the Zagreb jazz autumn of 1982 in the Slovenian music magazine “Glasbena mladina”, on the concert of the Jazzzwio of Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl in October 1982 in the music salon of the Student Centre in Zagreb, Croatia
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17 January 1984 · Review · FR
Le Monde: „Berio, Aperghis et Portal: les anges et les démons“
Concert report in Le Monde on a programme with works by Luciano Berio and Georges Aperghis and a performance by Michel Portal. Pepl played in Portal’s group during these years.
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16 March 1985 · Review
Billboard (US-Musikfachzeitschrift mit den Branchen-Charts, gegründet 1894): Album Reviews, Jazz-Fusion: „Werner Pirchner / Harry Pepl / Jack DeJohnette“ (Recommended)
In its issue of Saturday, 16 March 1985 (vol. 97, no. 11), Billboard, the US music trade magazine founded in 1894 and home of the industry’s leading charts, reviews the ECM album (ECM 1237, via PolyGram Special Imports) on p. 66 in its Album Reviews under Jazz-Fusion and rates it “Recommended”, Billboard’s label for new releases the editors expect to chart in their format and for albums of superior quality. The unsigned capsule review calls Pirchner a mallet stylist, Pepl an acoustic guitarist and DeJohnette a timemaster, and describes a delicate, mood-rich chamber jazz record that recalls the strongest early productions in this vein by Manfred Eicher, founder and producer of ECM. At the same time, DownBeat presented the album on a full page in its April 1985 issue; this has its own entry in the press archive.
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a delicate chamber jazz set rich in moods; recalls producer Eicher’s strongest early forays into this stream
Unsigned capsule review in the Album Reviews under Jazz-Fusion, rated “Recommended”, of the ECM album by Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Jack DeJohnette; Manfred Eicher is the founder and producer of ECM
1983 date teaming mallet stylist Pirchner, acoustic guitarist Pepl and timemaster DeJohnette
Unsigned capsule review in the Album Reviews under Jazz-Fusion, rated “Recommended”, of the ECM album by Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Jack DeJohnette
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18 May 1985 · Review
The New York Times (Section 1, p. 10): „MUSIC: AUSTRIAN AVANT-GARDE“
John Rockwell
Review of the opening night of the festival “Beyond the Sound of Music: New Austria/New York” at the Ohio Theater in SoHo, at which the Jazzzwio with Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner performed together with the drummer Don Moye.
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Rockwell heard the first set, 40 minutes long, and found the music pleasant but not significant enough for the opening of a festival series; the evening began about an hour late. The Wednesday of the festival week was 15 May 1985.
relaxed and cool, in the ECM Records manner
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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, 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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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 blast of heat) 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 blast of heat)
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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1988 · Review
Fanfare (US-Magazin für Plattenkritik): Kritik zu „Volver“ (ECM 1343), Fanfare Band 12, Nr. 1
Edward Strickland
In Fanfare, the American record review magazine, the critic Edward Strickland reviews the ECM album “Volver” by Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi.
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Rava’s contribution to the title track is appropriately subdued, his muted trumpet briefly recalling Miles Davis; Pepl’s guitar adds a great deal to the mood, and the support from Furio Di Castri (bass) and Bruce Ditmas (drums) is understated and exemplary. He recommends the record.
Harry Pepl’s guitar adds greatly to the moody mix
The American critic Edward Strickland in 1988 in Fanfare magazine on the ECM album “Volver” by the Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava and the Argentine bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi (recorded in October 1986), on which Pepl plays guitar
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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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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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17 August 1988 · Review · FR
Le Monde: „Michel Portal: « Men's land »“
F. M. (wahrscheinlich Francis Marmande)
Record review in Le Monde, the Paris daily, of Michel Portal's Amiens recording “Men's Land” (Label Bleu).
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The review calls the line-up “particularly well chosen” and lists Jack DeJohnette, Dave Liebman, Mino Cinelu, Harry Pepl and Jean-François Jenny-Clark. It is signed with initials, very probably “F. M.” for Francis Marmande, the paper's jazz critic.
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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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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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9 May 1993 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 22): „Pepl-Uraufführung beim Artis-Quartett-Zyklus“
Werner Schuster
Concert review of the Artis-Quartett evening in the Brahms Hall, with Brahms’s Piano Quintet and the world premiere of Pepl’s string quartet between Beethoven and Brahms.
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The critic praises the Artis-Quartett and considers the fragile work too good to serve as an interlude between the great pieces.
his work, hesitantly starting again and again, fragile, conveying grief, is too good for use as a sandwich filler
his hesitant, ever re-beginning, fragile work conveying grief is too good to be a sandwich filling.
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30 May 1993 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 21): „Raab-mood - eine Suche“
Peter Klimitsch
Mood report from the first day of the Whitsun jazz festival in Raab (Friday, 28, to Sunday, 30 May 1993) with the Gary Bartz Quartet and Horace Parlan.
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Air Mail played with Jean-Paul Celea (called “Jean-Pierre” in the text) instead of Palle Danielsson on double bass; Pepl is described as „Gitarren-Mastermind“ [“guitar mastermind”].
Airmail, with Jean-Pierre Celea instead of Palle Danielsson on double bass, was devoted to guitar mastermind Harry Pepl.
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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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1994 · Review · DE
Buchkultur (Vienna): Musiktipp „Harry Pepl Quartet: N. Y. C. imPressure“
The Viennese magazine Buchkultur recommends the album “N.Y.C.
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Impressure” by the Harry Pepl Quartet: recorded after a concert in New York City, it conveys the impressions of the four musicians. The tip appears next to new releases by the Austrian singer-songwriter Hans Söllner and the band Hole.
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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
is among the most exciting things produced in this country in recent years.
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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24 May 1994 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 17): Kurzkritik vom Innviertler Jazzfestival in Raab
initials „CT“ (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
Report from the third day (Sunday, 22 May 1994) of the Innviertel jazz festival in the Rothuberhalle in Raab: Jack DeJohnette spontaneously joins Idris Muhammad’s Afro Beat and later plays a duo with Pepl, who holds dialogues on guitar synthesizer with DeJohnette on piano and drums.
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Alternating between piano and drums, he engaged in dialogues with Harry Pepl on guitar synthesizer.
These were sound meditations between expansive and concentrated, in lyrical solitude and orchestral fullness of sound.
Kürzel CT (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
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24 May 1994 · Review · DE
Der Standard (p. 10): „Zwischen Räucherstäbchen-Blues und festlicher Marching-Band-Tarnung“
Ljubiša Tošić
Festival review from Raab with Dr. John, Ray Anderson and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Beyond the nostalgic acts, Tošić singles out the live session of Jack DeJohnette (drums and piano) and Harry Pepl.
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Drummer and pianist Jack DeJohnette and guitarist Harry Pepl, for instance, gave a live session there.
after all, there were moments of intensity that one would not have wanted to miss on any account
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26 May 1994 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 8): „Neue Symptome einer Krankheit“ (Das Jazzfestival in Raab ist als „Innviertler Jazzfestival“ wiederauferstanden)
Wolfgang Lamprecht
Review of the first Innviertel jazz festival, which Paul Zauner continued with his own association after the end of the association Kunst und Kultur Raab.
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Lamprecht highlights Jack DeJohnette, who appeared above all as a pianist and played an intimate duo with Pepl on drums.
as a kindred-spirited improviser on drums in a thrillingly intimate dialogue with the string electronics player and creative sound colourist Harry Pepl
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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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19 August 1995 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Könnte Jazz sein“ (Neues von Österreichern)
Wolfgang Gratzer
CD column on Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Wolfgang Mitterer.
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Gratzer recalls a Jeunesse evening by the Jazzzwio, which made it as far as the Montreux Jazz Festival, calls the album “Gegenwind” a collector’s item and reviews Pepl’s roughly 20-minute commissioned work “Anspannen, Überspannen, Abspannen” for STUDIO PERCUSSION graz (Extraplatte 242-2), underlaid with a tape Pepl recorded on MIDI guitar.
were, in their day, attuned to one another in the most original improvising manner
Thus five sound pictures open up whose colourful motion exerts a considerable pull
were back then attuned to each other in the most original improvising way. Their “Gegenwind” album now turns out to be a collector’s item.
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5 November 1995 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 26): Plattenkritik zu „Abstract Truth - Beginnings“
initials „CT“ (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
Review of the CD “Beginnings” by Abstract Truth (PAO Records, Taufkirchen an der Pram, supported by the state of Upper Austria): music for quiet hours, in which Pepl shapes the two-part melody group and electronically steers his instrument from vibraphone to organ registers.
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In the two-part melody group, guitarist Harry Pepl is the defining creative force.
Kürzel CT (vermutlich Chris Thommark)
He controls his instrument electronically, from the vibraphone to the organ register.
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26 February 1996 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 16): „Mythos und Zielpunkte“
Review of two CDs by Günter Meinhart’s STUDIO PERCUSSION graz.
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Extraplatte 242, with pieces by Pepl, Wolfgang Muthspiel and Armin Pokorn, offers in the reviewer’s words colourful, electronically supported expression; Pepl wrote „albträumerische Filmmusik“ [“nightmarish film music”].
Richly coloured, electronically supported expression with an enormous range
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9 December 1997 · Review · DE
OÖ Nachrichten (culture section): „Wiederholt wechselnde Bündnisse“
Robert Urmann
Review of the INNtöne festival weekend at Zell an der Pram Castle with some 26 musicians in around 14 changing line-ups.
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Urmann misses a concept but praises the Motus string quartet, the Gospel Harmoniers and Pepl’s playing on piano and drums. According to Urmann, Pepl also created outstanding moments with Michel Portal “as a string player”, that is, on guitar. This is Urmann’s account: the preview in the Wiener Zeitung of Tuesday, 11 November 1997, had written in connection with Pepl’s new CD that he was “not playing guitar but piano”; whether he played guitar at the festival remains open.
The piano and drum playing of the guitarist Harry Pepl attracted attention.
As a string player he created fabulous special moments with Michel Portal, who phrased with a keen sense of sound on bass clarinet and soprano.
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10 December 1997 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 28): „Gemeinsame Jazzsprache“
Chris Thommark
Review of INNtöne in the baroque hall of Zell an der Pram Castle: Alvin Batiste as the integrating figure, Michel Portal as mediator, Franz Hackl accompanying Pepl’s piano impressions on trumpet.
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Trumpeter Franz Hackl soulfully accentuated Harry Pepl’s piano impressions
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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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5 April 2000 · Review · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 18, culture): „Im Zentrum der Einkreisung“ (Uraufführung von Harry Pepls grandiosem „Zeitraffer“ im Schömer-Haus)
Ewald Baringer
Review of the premiere of “Zeitraffer” for percussion ensemble and tape on Saturday, 1 April 2000, at the Schömer-Haus in Klosterneuburg (Lower Austria, Austria), in the concert series of the Essl Collection.
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The six musicians of STUDIO PERCUSSION graz played on the circular galleries around the audience; Baringer heard a deeply feeling, very contemporary musician and hoped the piece would come out on CD.
A truly brilliant stroke by the legendary guitarist and composer.
A play with waves and tides, in the pull of the speed of the moment
On his work “Zeitraffer”, 2000
Harry Pepl
This was no bloodless composer at work, but a deeply feeling, very contemporary musician who has emotion and creative intelligence equally at his disposal.
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26 November 2000 · Review · DE
Neue Zeit (p. 38, culture): „Die Moderne in der Perkussion“
Andreas Fellinger
Review of an evening of Berndt Luef’s “Autumn Concerts” at the Forum Stadtpark in Graz (Austria): STUDIO PERCUSSION graz, just back from a drum festival in Seoul, played works by Adriana Hölszky and Iannis Xenakis and Pepl’s “Zeitraffer” with tape.
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ORF (Austria’s public broadcaster) recorded the concert for its programme “Zeit-Ton”.
a brilliant, atmospherically dense, wildly grooving “Zeitraffer” by Harry Pepl
Harry Pepl’s brilliant, atmospherically dense, wildly grooving “Zeitraffer”
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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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26 August 2002 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 10, culture): „Grooven nach Mitternacht“ (Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2002)
Clemens Panagl
Report from the 24th International Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Salzburg, Austria). On Saturday, 24 August 2002, Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel paid tribute to Pepl and Pirchner and showed how relevant the Pirchner and Pepl oeuvre still is.
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Avalanches of sound also characterise the playing of the Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl.
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28 November 2002 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 14, culture): „Heimweh, Jodler und Zwiefache“
initials „PAC“
Short review of Wolfgang and Christian Muthspiel’s homage to the Jazzzwio on Tuesday, 26 November 2002, at the Ziegelstadel in Hallein (Salzburg, Austria).
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It starts from the Jazzzwio piece “Homesick”, whose homesickness leaves open whether it is for faraway places or for home itself.
the duo also made audible the timeless aesthetic qualities of a music that has lost nothing of its relevance
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24 January 2003 · Review · DE
Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung (p. 41, culture): „Diffizile Jazz-Spielereien“
Martin Juen
Review of the concert by the Wolfgang Muthspiel Trio with Marc Johnson and Brian Blade on Wednesday, 22 January 2003, at the Spielboden in Dornbirn (Vorarlberg, Austria), opening the “Jazz&” series.
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Alongside Thelonious Monk and Vince Mendoza, Muthspiel paid tribute to his teacher Pepl in the programme.
Muthspiel’s most formative teacher, Harry Pepl
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22 November 2003 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 30): „Nostalgische Bruderschaft“ (Muthspiel und Muthspiel im Grazer M59)
initials „ME“
Review of Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel’s evening at the Graz jazz club M59 in Münzgrabenstraße 59 with compositions by Pirchner, the film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes” and the programme “Early Music”.
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At the same venue the brothers had heard the Jazzzwio as young listeners.
25 years ago the Muthspiel brothers themselves sat in the audience at Münzgrabenstraße 59 and marvelled at Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl.
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17 December 2003 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 30, culture): „Exzellente Musiker und exzellente Musik“ (Österreichische Jazz-Produktionen 2003)
Werner Rosenberger
Review of the year’s Austrian jazz releases with gift tips. From the “Austrian Jazzart” series Rosenberger singles out the concert recording “Live at Miles Smiles” by Pepl, Pirchner and Georg Polansky.
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Very lively, too, an almost historic live recording, “Live at Miles Smiles”
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18 May 2004 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten (p. 12, culture): „JAZZ“ (Wolfgang Muthspiel: „Air, Love & Vitamins“)
Short review of Wolfgang Muthspiel’s trio album “Air, Love & Vitamins” (Quinton Records) with Marc Johnson and Brian Blade, whose title comes from Pepl’s composition, with concert dates in Salzburg, Freistadt and Vienna.
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The title comes from a composition by the grand old master of jazz guitar, Harry Pepl
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31 August 2004 · Review · DE
Der Standard (p. 24, culture): „Sicherheitsdenken und ‚positive Signale‘“ (Ausklang des Jazzfestivals Saalfelden 2004)
Andreas Felber
Report from the Saalfelden jazz festival 2004. In one of his rare solo concerts, on Sunday, 29 August 2004, Wolfgang Muthspiel reflected, among other things, the playing of his teacher Pepl.
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the rugged rhapsodic style of a Harry Pepl
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6 November 2004 · Review · DE
APA-Basisdienst (APA0059, culture): „‚Es fehlen die Visionäre‘: Dennoch hohes Niveau im heimischen Jazz“ (Salzburger Jazzherbst 2004)
Christoph Lindenbauer
Assessment of the Austrian concerts at the ninth Salzburger Jazzherbst (jazz festival in Salzburg, Austria).
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As one of two truly risky projects the APA (Austria Presse Agentur, national news agency) names the “Habanero” slide show, in which young horn players improvised to Pepl’s sounds and Rainer Rygalyk’s pictures.
The photographer Rainer Rygalyk and the former world-class guitarist Harry Pepl invited young horn players to improvise over sampled sounds and pictures.
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29 April 2006 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 25): „Zu einer Hommage an Werner Pirchner und Harry Pepl geriet der …“ (GrazJazz 2006)
initials „TS“
Short review of the third evening of GrazJazz 2006 at the Orpheum in Graz (Austria): Christian Muthspiel, Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid paid homage to the music of Pirchner and Pepl, a demanding and dignified tribute.
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finally Christian Muthspiel, Franck Tortiller and Breinschmid paid homage to the music of the two recently deceased exceptional talents
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30 April 2006 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 86, culture): „Der spürbare Geist des Komponisten“ (GrazJazz 2006)
Franz Remmalk (Schreibung laut APA)
Review of the third day of GrazJazz 2006: with his new trio Christian Muthspiel arranged the music of Pirchner and that of his long-time musical companion Pepl; with Franck Tortiller on vibraphone the result was a superbly polished concert with a strikingly transparent sound.
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a superbly polished concert that lingered on long afterwards, piece by piece
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2007 · Review · DE
Concerto (music magazine), issue 2/2007, p. 6 (CD-Tipps): „Born in Austria“ (CD-Tipp zu „Against The Wind“)
Alfred Krondraf
Short review of the album “Against The Wind. The Music Of Pirchner & Pepl” by the Christian Muthspiel Trio with Georg Breinschmid and Franck Tortiller: Muthspiel devotes himself for the second time to the music of the “two musical free spirits”, and Tortiller turns “the Zwio into a more than perfect trio”; the substance of the interpretations only reveals itself on repeated listening.
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Christian Muthspiel now devotes himself for the second time to the music of the two musical free spirits
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15 April 2007 · Review · DE
Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung (p. 77, culture): „Pepl und Pirchner in besten Händen“
Martin Juen
Review of the Christian Muthspiel Trio concert at the Spielboden in Dornbirn on Friday, 13 April 2007: the trio refreshes the pieces respectfully, and in every arrangement fresh fruit grows on old ground. Juen dates the Jazzzwio to 1978 to 1985.
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quite different and yet outstanding personalities of the Austrian jazz scene
Harry Pepl (1945-2005) and Werner Pirchner (1940-2001) were rather different and yet outstanding personalities of the Austrian jazz scene
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15 April 2007 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 111, culture): „Schatz“ (CD-Kritik zu „Against The Wind“)
initials „TSC“
Short review of the album “Against The Wind” (Universal): Christian Muthspiel finds an ingenious translation for the music that belongs to his “innermost vocabulary”; Pirchner’s film comes as a DVD bonus.
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It is a “hats off!” to the most original Jazzzwio from Tyrol to Texas: the late Harry Pepl & Werner Pirchner.
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18 April 2007 · Review · DE
Falter (p. 66, Kultur: Neue Platten): „Neue Platten“ (Chr. Muthspiel Trio: „Against the Wind“)
initials „K. N.“
Record review: in an only gently ironic, rather romantic way the album combines blues with Alpine elements, for instance in Pepl’s “Die alte Mär und das Mann”, and in the dialogue of trombone, marimba, vibraphone and bass creates a mostly light-footed groove.
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The album by the elder of the two Muthspiel brothers is dedicated to the work of the twin stars Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner, who have sadly already left us
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11 June 2007 · Review · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 50, culture): „KRITIK Schräges Sprach- und Klangspiel“
Gottfried Sengstschmid
Review of Christian Muthspiel’s evening at the Stadttheater in Wiener Neustadt (Lower Austria, Austria) during the “Wiener Neustädter Frühling”: after the Jandl solo performance, the trio with Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid paid homage to Pirchner and Pepl.
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a cheerful, if wistful, remembrance of the two colourful characters of the former “Jazz-Zwio”
a homage to Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl, a jaunty if wistful remembrance of the two colourful birds of the former “Jazz-Zwio”
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27 September 2007 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 47): „Den Konventionen ausweichen“ (Gedenken an die Jazzlegenden Pepl & Pirchner)
initials „PB“
Review of the Christian Muthspiel Trio concert at the Posthof in Linz (Upper Austria, Austria) on Tuesday, 25 September 2007, with Pirchner’s film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes”: the trio renders the scores with spherical lightness yet vital expression.
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Both are remembered for the illustrious coherence of their compositional and improvisational interplay.
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3 October 2007 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung (p. 63, culture): „Charakterkopf, kunstsinnig geschliffen“
Otmar Klammer
Review of the Christian Muthspiel Trio’s Pirchner/Pepl programme on Monday, 1 October 2007, at the Generalmusikdirektion in Graz: a grand concert of touching chamber-music intimacy, in which Pirchner’s compositions were in the foreground and Pepl was only touched upon.
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Harry Pepl, Pirchner’s congenial partner in the legendary “Jazzzwio”
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22 September 2008 · Review
All About Jazz (US-Jazzmagazin im Internet, gegründet 1995): „Wolfgang Schalk: Wanted“
Mark F. Turner
Review of the album “Wanted” (Frame Up Music, 2008) by the guitarist Wolfgang Schalk from Styria, Austria, in All About Jazz, the US online jazz magazine founded in 1995, with 4 out of 5 stars.
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Schalk recorded the album in Los Angeles, USA, with Geoffrey Keezer (piano), Dave Carpenter (bass) and Marvin “Smitty” Smith (drums). Mark F. Turner singles out the moving ballad “And Harry Said Goodbye”, which Schalk dedicated to Harry Pepl; he calls Pepl a European guitar master and one of Schalk’s influences. Schalk’s tone and phrasing on this piece are delicate and warm.
There’s also moving balladry as heard on the emotive “And Harry Said Goodbye,” dedicated to another Schalk influence, European guitar master, Harry Pepl.
From the review of Wolfgang Schalk’s album “Wanted” (2008); the guitarist from Styria, Austria, dedicated the ballad to Harry Pepl, who had died in 2005
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18 January 2009 · Review · DE
Kurier (p. 38, culture section): „JAZZZWIO: Harry Pepl & Werner Pirchner (Universal)“
Werner Rosenberger (initials „ros“)
Short review of the reissue “Live in Concerts” with audio and video recordings from Montreux 1981 and Innsbruck 1984.
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Two original home-grown musicians, both of whom had to go far too soon and are unforgotten
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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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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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24 February 2009 · Review · DE
KULTUR, Zeitschrift für Kultur und Gesellschaft (Dornbirn): „JazzZwio: Live in Concerts“ (CD-Tipp)
Peter Füssl
CD recommendation by Peter Füssl in KULTUR, a cultural magazine from Vorarlberg, Austria, for the CD/DVD “Live in Concerts” (Universal, 2009).
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Füssl recalls the legendary JazzZwio of Pepl and Werner Pirchner between 1977 and 1985 and describes the contents: 43 minutes from the 15th Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland) in 1981 and excerpts from concerts at the Szene Wien in Vienna (1983) and the Konservatoriumssaal in Innsbruck, Austria (1984), with pieces such as “The Day We Know Paul Desmond is Gone”, “Against The Wind”, “Hosent’Raga” and “Air Love And Vitamins”. He calls the two “absolute individualists” whose interplay adds up to far more than the sum of its parts, notes that so far mainly the Muthspiel brothers (the Austrian jazz musicians Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel) have kept their memory alive, and hopes the recordings will bring the Jazzzwio wider recognition, above all among younger musicians.
Great moments of brilliantly offbeat music and gnarled humour
the playful wit of these two strong characters, one Viennese and one Tyrolean to the core, still sounds fresh as morning dew more than 25 years after the recordings were made
On the CD/DVD “Live in Concerts” (2009) with Jazzzwio concerts from 1981 to 1984; Pepl was Viennese, Werner Pirchner Tyrolean, and each brought his own regionally coloured humour into the music
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6 March 2009 · Review · DE
Der Standard (Print 6 March 2009, online 5 March 2009, Rubrik Musikrundschau): „Zwio und Trio“ (Neue Jazz-Alben von Werner Pirchner & Harry Pepl, Pablo Milanes & Chucho Valdes u. a.)
“Musikrundschau” (music roundup) with a short review of “Jazzzwio: Live in Concerts” (Universal): according to the text, Pirchner and Pepl are worth remembering, the duo of guitar and vibraphone having supplied model examples of heated chamber music.
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The DVD is called a must. The date, 13 February 2009, is derived from the article number.
Harry Pepl, a complex guitarist of truly international stature
The creative fury, the intensity achieved there still seems to set the standard today.
Harry Pepl, a complex guitarist of truly international stature.
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10 March 2009 · Review · DE
Die Presse (p. 27, arts section): „Tränen mit John Dowland“
initials „sam“ (Samir H. Köck)
Review of the presentation of “Dancing Dowland” by the Christian Muthspiel Trio at the Porgy & Bess.
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In the second set the trio played Pepl and Pirchner; Muthspiel told how Pirchner once announced a still untitled Pepl piece on stage as “Da augschissene Wandersbuasch” (roughly: the poor wretch of a wanderer), whereupon Pepl gave it the title “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
a composition that is now regarded as an Austrian jazz classic
Samir H. Köck (Kürzel „sam“)
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18 March 2009 · Review · DE
Falter (Seite w27, Lexikon: Neue Platten): „Neue Platten“ (JazzZwio: „Live in Concerts“)
initials „KN“
Record review of “Live in Concerts”: the recordings from the early 1980s show the energy of the two, who take turns as grooving accompanists, ranging from almost free passages to the melodious romanticism of “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
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The DVD contains the Montreux concert, excerpts from a performance at the Szene Wien and interview snippets.
With their JazzZwio, the guitarist Harry Pepl and the vibraphonist Werner Pirchner were internationally sought-after protagonists of Alpine groove.
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20 March 2009 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (p. 36, Styria): „Den Namen umweht Magie: JazzZwio hieß ein Duo, das in den 80-ern ...“
initials „MG“
Short review of “Live in Concerts” with DVD: JazzZwio with Pirchner and Pepl in Montreux in 1981, plus a live recording from Innsbruck. The closing sentence appears word for word as the page header on the old website page “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
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If there are classics of Austrian jazz, here is one!
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9 November 2009 · Review · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 49, culture): „KRITIK ‚musik aktuell‘“
Gottfried Sengstschmid
Review of a Christian Muthspiel Trio concert at the Stadtmuseum in the “musik aktuell” series: after “Dancing Dowland”, the hour-long encore recalled the Jazzzwio, among other pieces with Pepl’s “Da augschissene Wandersbuasch” and Pirchner’s “Hosent'Raga”.
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an Alpine ballad (Da augschissene Wandersbuasch) by the Viennese Harry Pepl
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8 July 2010 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „Adelhard Roidinger: Schattseite (ECM 1221)“
Tyran Grillo
Review of Adelhard Roidinger's only ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, recorded in November 1981 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, with Heinz Sauer, Bob Degen, Harry Pepl, Werner Pirchner, Aina Kemanis and Michael DiPasqua.
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Grillo praises the airy, atmospheric sound, Pepl's soft guitar licks in the opening track and the Metheny-like picking in “Loveland”, and calls urgently for a reissue.
The fantastic sax solo and Metheny-esque picking lend even more elegance to the track’s progressive sound.
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24 November 2010 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung: „Schwülstige Fadesse“
MW
Report on the closing night of the 20th Austrian Soundcheck at the Orpheum in Graz: Stefan Heckel receives the third Harry Pepl Prize as the starting point for a doctoral thesis on Pepl's legacy, whose work, according to festival director Gerhard Kosel, still awaits scholarly study. As a prelude, Daniel Riegler (prize winner 2008) and Matthias Muche play three of Pepl's real-time compositions as a trombone duo.
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Since the death of the great guitarist and composer Harry Pepl (1945-2005), his work still awaits scholarly study, says Soundcheck director Gerhard Kosel.
As a prelude, Daniel Riegler (Pepl Prize winner 2008) and Matthias Muche had performed three “real-time compositions” by the master as a trombone duo.
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24 November 2010 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung: „Eine Jazz Big Band, die Seelen baumeln lässt“
Otmar Klammer
Concert report from the finale of the Austrian Soundcheck: Stefan Heckel accepts the Harry Pepl Prize, endowed with 4,500 euros, and announces that he will devote himself to the namesake's work as a scholar.
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A few days before the fifth anniversary of Pepl's death, the trombone duo Daniel Riegler and Matthias Muche plays three arrangements of Pepl pieces, among them “125/250” from the Air Mail years.
A few days before the fifth anniversary of the death of the Viennese jazz guitarist and composer, the trombone duo Daniel Riegler and Matthias Muche delivered three elegantly polished arrangements, of which the notorious “125/250” from Pepl's Airmail days came closest to his jagged style.
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11 December 2010 · Review · DE
Süddeutsche Zeitung (Landkreisteil): „Wilder Wind aus Österreich“
Patrizia Steipe
Concert report from the Kulturkeller in Feldafing (Bavaria, Germany): on Wednesday, 8 December 2010, the Christian Muthspiel Trio plays its programme “Against the Wind” with the music of Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl.
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The Süddeutsche Zeitung calls the two a cult duo and their Jazzzwio a group that gave European jazz important impulses; the preview appeared on 4 December 2010.
In the seventies and eighties Pirchner and Pepl formed the legendary “Jazz-Zwio”, a group that gave European jazz important impulses.
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20 December 2011 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „Pirchner/Pepl/DeJohnette: s/t (ECM 1237)“
Tyran Grillo
Mixed review of the 1983 ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, recorded in June 1982 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, with Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Jack DeJohnette.
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The chorus effect of the Ovation guitar and the lack of rapport among the three musicians are criticised; Pepl’s solos and the closing piece “Better Times In Sight” are regarded as strengths. The page shows 10 February 2015 as the date of the update. Almost a year later, on 13 November 2012, Grillo revised his verdict in “A second look”.
When soloing, however, it sounds fantastic
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2012 · Review
AllMusic (US-Musikdatenbank mit Kritiken, gegründet 1991): AllMusic Review: „Volver“
Scott Yanow
Capsule review in AllMusic, the US music database with reviews founded in 1991, of the ECM album “Volver” by the quintet of Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi, recorded in October 1986 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, Germany, with Harry Pepl on guitar, Furio Di Castri on bass and Bruce Ditmas on drums. The US jazz critic Scott Yanow finds that Rava’s introverted yet inwardly passionate playing matches Saluzzi’s modern tangos well; the result is fairly accessible yet still exploratory, “An intriguing set”. AllMusic gives it 3 out of 5 stars. The review is undated and has been online since 2012 at the latest; the track list gives Pepl’s “Ballantine for Valentine” as track 5.
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Rava’s introverted yet inwardly passionate playing matches well with Saluzzi’s modern tangos, and the results are fairly accessible yet still exploratory.
On the ECM album “Volver” (recorded in 1986) by the quintet of Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi, on which Harry Pepl plays guitar and is represented by his piece “Ballantine for Valentine”
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16 January 2012 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „Pepl/Joos/Christensen: Cracked Mirrors (ECM 1356)“
Tyran Grillo
Review of the 1988 ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album with Harry Pepl (guitar, Roland MIDI guitar system, piano), Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen.
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The reviewer calls the album a far better showcase for Pepl’s innovative playing than the ECM record with Pirchner and DeJohnette and highlights Joos’s “Wolkenbilder”, the MIDI passages and Pepl’s piano on the closing piece. The page shows 18 July 2021 as the date of the update. Here Grillo himself calls his first impression of the album with Pirchner and DeJohnette “faulty impressions”.
a far better showcase for Pepl’s innovative talents
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30 January 2012 · Review · DE
Die Presse: „Wer hat von wem abgekupfert?“
sam
Review of Georgie Fame with the Mike Sponza Blues Convention at the Porgy & Bess. Die Presse praises the guitarist Primož Grašič as a former student of Harry Pepl.
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the superb former Harry Pepl student Primoz Grasic
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13 November 2012 · Review
ECM Reviews (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond): „A second look: Pirchner/Pepl/DeJohnette (ECM 1237)“
Tyran Grillo
Reassessment of the 1983 ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album, almost a year after his own critical review of 20 December 2011. After readers objected, Grillo writes, he kept returning to the album and had not initially given it the attention it needed.
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He now highlights the depth of Pepl's talent, the interplay between Pepl and Pirchner as the core of the trio and Pepl's solos, and calls the record “this curious little gem”; only on the processing of the Ovation guitar does he stand by his first opinion.
I simply did not give this date the attention it deserves.
The depth of Pepl’s talent, now that I’m more familiar with it, is immediately evident in the spaciousness of his evocations.
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20 June 2013 · Review · DE
Tiroler Tageszeitung: „Im Banne von zwei Legenden“
hau
Report on the first Laurentius concert on the Bergl in Imst (Tyrol): on Thursday, 13 June 2013, Stephan Mathoi (guitar) and Philipp Hager (vibraphone) play pieces by Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl as well as their own compositions.
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Preview on 12 June 2013 (“Entgleiste Klassik am Imster Bergl”).
Admittedly, the qualities of the legendary duo of Werner Pirchner & Harry Pepl in the line-up of guitar and vibraphone are and remain unmatched.
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28 March 2014 · Review · DE
Die Presse: „Werner Pirchner: Genie und Irrsinn“
Christoph Huber
Review of Malte Ludin's documentary “D.U.D.A.!” about Werner Pirchner. Die Presse recalls the Pirchner-Pepl Jazz-Zwio and the duo's collaboration with Jack DeJohnette.
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With his kindred partner Harry Pepl he also collaborated impressively with great jazz musicians such as Jack DeJohnette.
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1 April 2014 · Review · DE
Der Standard: „Vom verspielten Tiefsinn“
Ljubiša Tošić
Review of “D.U.D.A.!” about Werner Pirchner. The film, the critic regrets, recalls only briefly the international side of his career, the JazzZwio with Harry Pepl; online as early as 31 March 2014.
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Together with the guitarist Harry Pepl, the vibraphonist Pirchner ran a “JazzZwio” whose subtly burning chamber music attracted attention throughout Europe
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1 September 2015 · Review · DE
Der Standard: „Im Salon der munteren Katharsis“
Ljubiša Tošić
Report from the final day of the Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2015: Christian Muthspiel remembers Werner Pirchner with his trio and thus also Pirchner's Jazzzwio with Harry Pepl, as chamber music marked by respectful affection for the original.
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Online as early as 31 August 2015.
Together with the guitarist Harry Pepl he formed the Jazzzwio, and Muthspiel recalls that too
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1 September 2015 · Review · DE
Salzburger Nachrichten: „Das Beste? Es kam auch diesmal zum Schluss“
Report from the Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2015: Christian Muthspiel, Franck Tortiller and Jerome Harris delve deep into the work of Werner Pirchner and also of the Viennese guitarist Harry Pepl, with whom Pirchner formed the legendary Jazzzwio.
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Muthspiel takes the “throaty K” out of this music, but successfully brings out its inner light and its elegance.
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3 September 2015 · Review · DE
Die Furche: „Traditionen kippen - und Neues entsteht“
Anton Thuswaldner
Festival report from Saalfelden 2015: with Franck Tortiller and Jerome Harris, Christian Muthspiel remembers Werner Pirchner, who formed the legendary Jazz-Zwio with Harry Pepl.
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Together with Harry Pepl he formed the legendary Jazz-Zwio
Together with Harry Pepl he formed the legendary Jazz-Zwio, to which we owe such immortal titles as “Hosentraga”, which takes up the form of the Indian raga.
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15 November 2015 · Review · DE
Kronen Zeitung (Styria): „Kritik in Kürze“
MW
Short review from the Austrian Soundcheck at the Orpheum in Graz on the tenth anniversary of Pepl's death (concert on Friday, 13 November 2015): the quartet around Clemens Salesny has an extraordinary encounter with Harry Pepl, who is virtually present through late recordings from his home studio.
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He was virtually present as a multi-instrumentalist, with those late recordings from his home studio in which he pushed through to pure, intuitive expressive sound.
interacted with the master as if he were sitting on stage, and still conquered spaces of their own, exciting, powerful, free.
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11 December 2015 · Review · DE
Der Standard (RONDO): CD-Tipp zu „Harry Pepl & Salesny/Bayer/Frosch/Heginger“
Ljubiša Tošić
CD tip in RONDO (Der Standard's magazine) on the double CD released by Fullmax Recordings: unreleased recordings by the great guitarist, over whose lines and songs Clemens Salesny and Agnes Heginger, among others, lay their art; the second CD brings arrangements of Pepl classics.
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The late great guitarist Harry Pepl with unreleased recordings!
Works extremely well.
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16 December 2015 · Review · DE
Falter: „Neue Platten“ (Jazz)
KN
Short review of the double CD released by Fullmax Recordings: the idea of using Pepl's unreleased improvisations as the starting point for further improvisation convinces the Falter only in part, the second CD with Pepl's compositions all the more.
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on which the whole range and the idiosyncrasy of Pepl's compositions, with great verve and just as much wit
the whole spectrum and the idiosyncrasy of Pepl’s compositions, presented with great verve and just as much wit (plus a few guest musicians).
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18 December 2015 · Review · DE
Kleine Zeitung: CD-Tipp zu „Harry Pepl & Salesny/Bayer/Primus/Heginger“
Short review of the double CD: Pepl, a “guitar giant”, can wondrously be heard again after his death; a quartet around Agnes Heginger and Clemens Salesny weaves the improvising genius's archive recordings into something excitingly new.
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Printed on the same day in two editions (pp. 82 and 88).
He was a guitar giant
wove archive recordings of the improvising genius into something excitingly new
A quartet around Agnes Heginger (voc) and Clemens Salesny (sax) wove archive recordings of the improvising genius into something excitingly new.
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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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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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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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17 May 2016 · Review · DE
OÖ Nachrichten: „Die Inntöne begeisterten als Jazz-Reigen mit einem Klavierwunder“
Christoph Haunschmid
Review of the 31st INNtöne in Diersbach (13 to 15 May 2016): among the most exciting concerts was the homage to Harry Pepl, in which his pieces come from tape and the band comments live, with the singer Agnes Heginger outstanding alongside Clemens Salesny.
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The saxophonist Clemens Salesny, for instance, chose an innovative approach to pay tribute to Harry Pepl, who died in 2005.
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17 May 2016 · Review · DE
Passauer Neue Presse: „Da ist er wieder, dieser Zauber“
Dorothea Walchshäusl
Festival report from the INNtöne 2016: for the Passauer Neue Presse, the fusion “Harry Pepl & Clemens Salesny” with Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger is a much-discussed venture that goes all the way in experimental improvisations.
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In jagged, experimental improvisations they go all out and systematically leave familiar structures and sounds behind.
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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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10 June 2016 · Review · DE
Der Standard (RONDO): „Wolfgang Puschnig: Faces and Stories“
Review of the Puschnig compilation “Faces and Stories”: among other things it reissues the duos from “Pieces of the Dream” (1988), on which Harry Pepl can be heard alongside Carla Bley and Hans Koller.
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The great tenor saxophonist Hans Koller, a central figure of modern jazz in Europe, was also there at the time, and of course the guitarist Harry Pepl too.
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27 October 2017 · Review · DE
Passauer Neue Presse (p. 21, local news, Passau city): „G'schmackiger Fusion-Eintopf“ (Gerald Gradwohl Group im Café Museum)
Christine Pierach
Concert report on the Gerald Gradwohl Group in Passau, which pays homage to the late Viennese jazz guitarist Harry Pepl. Gradwohl says that Pepl was underrated and that Pepl taught and inspired him; Pepl is a marginal note in the report.
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25 November 2017 · Review · JA
ジャズCDの個人ページ ECM Blog (kudoecm.blog.jp): „Cracked Mirrors/Harry Pepl(G, G Synth, P)/Herbert Joos(Flh)/Jon Christensen(Ds)(ECM 1356)“
kudojazz
Review on the Japanese blog “ジャズCDの個人ページ ECM Blog” (roughly “Personal jazz CD page, ECM blog”), on which the author kudojazz discusses the records of the renowned European jazz label ECM by catalogue number.
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He lists the recording of February 1987 with Harry Pepl (guitar, guitar synthesizer, piano), the German flugelhorn player Herbert Joos and the Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen, and notes that six of the eight pieces are by Pepl and two (“Wolkenbilder 1” and “Wolkenbilder 2”) by Joos. In his view the album combines passages that sound like free improvisation with pastoral ones, and depending on the piece the Roland MIDI guitar system creates a synthesizer-like expanse. On Pepl’s pieces he notes distinctly free traits with fine riffs and broad synthesizer textures in “Reflections in a Cracked Mirror”, a small ballad with a gentle flugelhorn melody in “Schikaneder Delight”, plenty of space and freedom in “Die alte Mär und das Mann”, very fast, mechanical free playing in “More Far Out Than East”, a melody floating above the jagged guitar in “Purple Light” and a calm, piano-led melody in “Tintenfisch Inki”.
There are passages that sound like free improvisation and passages that are pastoral.
kudojazz on his Japanese blog about ECM records, on “Cracked Mirrors” (ECM 1356, recorded in February 1987) with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen
Depending on the piece, the Roland MIDI guitar system creates a synthesizer-like expanse.
kudojazz on the sound of Pepl’s Roland MIDI guitar system on “Cracked Mirrors” (ECM 1356, 1987)
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18 December 2017 · Review
Guitar Moderne (Online): „Harry Pepl: The One That Almost Got Away“
guitar moderne
Short piece in the American online magazine for adventurous guitarists.
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The author discovered Pepl in 1986 on the ECM (the renowned European jazz label) album “Volver” by Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi: his sound recalled Metheny, but with a harder attack and a freer sensibility. He recommends “Cracked Mirrors”, which still sounds fresh today.
His chorused sound and fluidity were reminiscent of Metheny, but his attack was harder and his sensibility was decidedly more “out.”
Check out “Cracked Mirror” to hear how his playing in 1988 sounds fresh even today.
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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.
The real fifth man, who once composed this music in real time on countless instruments
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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18 December 2019 · Review · IT
Tracce di Jazz (Blog): „Ritornare a ….”Volver”“
andbar
Album review on the Italian jazz blog Tracce di Jazz (“From jazz-fans to jazz-fans”).
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The author, andbar, came across a second-hand copy of “Volver”, the album recorded in 1986 by the Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava and the Argentine bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi for the renowned European jazz label ECM, with Harry Pepl (guitar), Furio Di Castri (double bass) and Bruce Ditmas (drums). He finds the record somewhat underrated and worth rediscovering. For him the opening track, “Le but du souffle”, begins with a quiet soliloquy on electric guitar; he calls “Tempos de ausencias” a distillation of Argentine melody only lightly flecked by Pepl’s guitar. In Pepl’s composition “Ballantine for Valentine” he hears a free outburst in the spirit of Ornette Coleman, the pioneer of free jazz, which breaks up the calm prevailing mood of the record and widens its horizons. On Sunday, 22 December 2019 a second author on the blog replied with Rava’s own recollection of the recording session.
“Tempos de ausencias”, a distillation of Argentine melody only lightly flecked by Pepl’s guitar
andbar on the Italian jazz blog Tracce di Jazz about “Tempos de ausencias” on “Volver”, the ECM album recorded in 1986 by Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi with Pepl on guitar
“Ballantine for Valentine”, an Ornette-style free outburst that breaks up the calm moods prevailing on the record
andbar on Pepl’s composition “Ballantine for Valentine”, his only piece on “Volver”; “ornettiano” alludes to Ornette Coleman, the pioneer of free jazz
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6 April 2021 · Review · DE
Wiener Zeitung (p. 18, arts section): „Gegengift zum Corona-Blues“
Christoph Irrgeher
CD review of an album by the Schwarzenberg Trio with piano trios by Beethoven, Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Werner Pirchner.
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Irrgeher introduces Pirchner as the vibraphonist who shook up the jazz world with Harry Pepl, as far as the Montreux festival, and discusses his trio “Heimat?”. The online version appeared on wienerzeitung.at on 5 April 2021.
As a vibraphonist he shook up the jazz world together with the guitarist Harry Pepl (as far as the Montreux festival)
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2 August 2021 · Review · FR
Le Dauphiné Libéré (im Tätigkeitsbericht 2021 des Festival de Chaillol): „Festival de Chaillol: le duo Tortiller et Fitzgerald-Michel très applaudi“
Report by Le Dauphiné Libéré (regional newspaper of the French Alps) on the concert of the duo Franck Tortiller (vibraphone) and Misja Fitzgerald-Michel (guitar) at the 25th Festival de Chaillol on Saturday, 31 July 2021, in a packed community hall in the Serre-Ponçon: Val d’Avance area (Hautes-Alpes, France). Besides Tortiller’s “On ne danse qu’une seule fois” and Monk’s “Bemsha Swing”, the duo played a piece by the “Austrian composer Harry Pepl”. Preserved in the festival’s 2021 activity report, pp. 55 to 56.
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classics such as Thelonious Monk’s “Bemsha Swing”, or another by the Austrian composer Harry Pepl.
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3 October 2021 · Review · FR
CultureJazz: „13 arches... en jazz, ça porte bonheur ?“
Thierry Giard
Festival report by Thierry Giard (photos Christian Ducasse) in CultureJazz (French jazz magazine) on “Les Arches en Jazz” 2021. At the concert by Franck Tortiller and Misja Fitzgerald-Michel on Saturday, 25 September 2021, at noon in the church of Notre-Dame in Port-Bail-sur-Mer, the programme included compositions by Harry Pepl, Jim Pepper, David Crosby and Thelonious Monk alongside their own pieces. Giard had already heard the duo on 31 July 2021 in Rambaud (Hautes-Alpes).
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On the menu that lunchtime were original compositions but also pieces by the Austrian guitarist Harry Pepl, the Native American saxophonist Jim Pepper, David Crosby and Thelonious Monk.
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4 October 2021 · Review · FR
Citizen Jazz: „Les Arches en jazz, une première“
Marie Boisnel
Report by Marie Boisnel in Citizen Jazz (French jazz magazine) on the first “Les Arches en Jazz” festival in Port-Bail-sur-Mer (Cotentin, Normandy, France).
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At the midday concert in the church of Notre-Dame, the duo Franck Tortiller and Misja Fitzgerald Michel played “Air, Love and Vitamins”, Pepl’s “gentle ballad” written for the same duo of guitar and vibraphone with Werner Pirchner.
Then the gentle ballad by the Austrian guitarist and composer Harry Pepl, written for the same duo with Werner Pirchner, guitar and vibraphone, “Air, love and vitamins”, plunges us into a languorous meditation.
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9 November 2021 · Review · FR
Jazz Magazine (online): „Nevers assis le matin, debout le soir“
Franck Bergerot
Festival report by Franck Bergerot in Jazz Magazine, the French jazz magazine, from the D'Jazz Nevers festival (Burgundy, France).
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The duo of Franck Tortiller (vibraphone) and Misja Fitzgerald-Michel (guitar) played its programme “Les heures propices”, songs by the singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s, at noon on a Monday, probably on 8 November 2021. It included a piece by Harry Pepl, whom Bergerot honours as “the late Austrian jazz guitarist” who knew that melodic freshness and harmonic candour.
a borrowing from the late Austrian jazz guitarist Harry Pepl (who knew that melodic freshness, that harmonic candour and its disarming anachronisms)
The French jazz critic Franck Bergerot on a piece by Pepl in “Les heures propices”, the programme of the duo Franck Tortiller and Misja Fitzgerald-Michel (songs by the singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s), at the D'Jazz Nevers festival in Nevers, France, in 2021
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9 June 2024 · Review
Instagram (@ecm_vinylcollector): „Cracked Mirrors“ (Pepl/Joos/Christensen, ECM 1356)
Short review of “Cracked Mirrors” on the Instagram account of an ECM (the renowned European jazz label) collector.
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The album, it says, is the most idiosyncratic of the ECM records of its time and hard to classify; Pepl breaks the material into a thousand pieces.
If you're Harry Pepl, you bust it into a thousand pieces and shoot it into the ether.
Cracked Mirrors … is easily the oddest of the bunch, a nearly unclassifiable record.
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20 November 2024 · Review · DE
NÖN Niederösterreichische Nachrichten (p. 16): „Flip Philipp ließ die Schlägel tanzen“
Short report on the Freiraum concert at the Seidl-Keller in Bruck an der Leitha on Thursday, 14 November 2024: Flip Philipp (vibraphone) played music by Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl with Bertl Mayer (harmonica), Tobias Faulhammer (guitar), Pista Bartus (bass) and Klemens Marktl (drums).
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brought along the music of the Tyrolean vibraphonist Werner Pirchner and of the exceptional guitarist Harry Pepl
At times the audience listened in complete silence
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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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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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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.