Chronology
Life and work year by year. Every entry is documented; we welcome additions and corrections.
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1970s
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27 March 1974
Pepl as guitarist at the Musikverein: “Missa Criolla” with the Arnold Schoenberg Chor
Vienna
In the Brahms Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Arnold Schoenberg Chor under Erwin Ortner performs Ariel Ramírez's “Missa Criolla” on Wednesday, 27 March 1974, as its Austrian premiere. Pepl plays guitar, alongside Fritz Ozmec (drums), Ewald Zimmermann (double bass) and Harald Neuwirth (harpsichord).
Concerts
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23 June 1975
Mini festival at the HTL Saalfelden
Saalfelden
On Monday, 23 June 1975, Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, Harry Pepl, Wayne Darling and Fritz Ozmec, the Austrian jazz drummer, play at a first mini festival at the HTL (technical college) in Saalfelden (Salzburg, Austria), three years before the first “3 Tage Jazz” from which the Jazzfestival Saalfelden grew.
Concerts
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25 September 1975
Hip Jargon with Werner Pirchner at the Vienna Funkhaus
Vienna
On Thursday, 25 September 1975, Hip Jargon plays with Pepl (guitar), Wayne Darling (double bass) and Fritz Ozmec (drums) in the Great Broadcasting Hall of the Funkhaus in Vienna, Austria; the guest is Werner Pirchner on vibraphone. The recording from the ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) radio archive is broadcast on 5 June 2020 in Ö1’s (the ORF's cultural radio channel) “In Concert”, which calls Hip Jargon “the nucleus of the famous ‘Jazz-Zwio’”.
Concerts
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1977
Premiere of Pirchner’s “Präludium und Fiasko”
Innsbruck, Tyrol
At the Kongresshaus Innsbruck (Tyrol, Austria), the Eisenbahnermusik Innsbruck under Florian Pedarnig gives the premiere of Werner Pirchner’s “Präludium und Fiasko” for wind band, vibraphone and guitar (PWV 9), with Pirchner on vibraphone and Pepl on guitar. An excerpt can be heard on the soundtrack of the Pirchner film “D.U.D.A!” (2014).
Concerts
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7 October 1977
With Marianne Mendt in Deutschlandsberg
Deutschlandsberg
On Friday, 7 October 1977, Pepl plays in the festival hall of the Arbeiterkammer (Chamber of Labour, the statutory body representing employees) in Deutschlandsberg (Styria, Austria) in a concert by the Austrian singer Marianne Mendt, with Harald Neuwirth (piano), Wayne Darling (bass) and Erich Bachträgl (drums). The organiser is the Kulturkreis Deutschlandsberg, a local cultural association; the archive of the steirischer herbst (festival of contemporary art in Styria) lists the evening and names the guitarist by his baptismal name, “Harald Pepl”.
Concerts
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2 February 1979
Jazzzwio at the Jazzforum Mödling
Mödling
On Friday, 2 February 1979, the Jazzzwio with Werner Pirchner (vibraphone) and Harry Pepl (guitar) played for the Jazzforum Mödling, a jazz association founded in 1978 in Mödling, Lower Austria, Austria; according to the association's chronology the venue was “St. Michael”. The photographer Erich Petzwinkler captured the evening, and his picture of Pepl with the Gibson Les Paul is in the archive (more photos in the picture archive of the Jazzforum Mödling). Twelve days later, on Wednesday, 14 February 1979, Pepl and Pirchner opened for the Dutch guitarist Harry Sacksioni in Vienna.
Concerts
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May 1979
Concert with Friedrich Gulda in Graz
Graz
For early May 1979 the Burgenländische Freiheit announced “a concert of superlatives” at the Münzgrabenheim in Graz: Friedrich Gulda, the Viennese pianist and composer, on piano with the two former ORF Big Band (ORF: Austria's public broadcaster) musicians Wayne Darling (bass) and Harry Pepl (guitar).
Concerts
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7 September 1979
Guitar duo with Voja Brković at the Debrecen Jazz Days
Debrecen, Hungary
At the 8th Debrecen Jazz Days (Debreceni dzsessznapok) in Hungary, according to the local paper the country’s largest representative jazz festival, Pepl plays at midnight on Friday, 7 September 1979, in the Bartók Hall in a duo with the Yugoslav guitarist Voja Brković, that is, in the night to Saturday; afterwards the pianist Gusztáv Csík gives a solo concert. The Debrecen daily “Hajdú-Bihari Napló” announces the “Austrian-Yugoslav guitar duo” twice that day. In the festival review of Sunday, 16 September 1979, Gábor Turi ranks the duo among the top group of the five-day festival with 7,000 visitors and praises its virtuoso technique and perfect interplay.
Concerts
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16 November 1979 to 24 November 1979
Tour with the Vienna Art Orchestra
Austria
Pepl played on the tour for the debut album “Tango from Obango” (Steyr, Linz, Dornbirn, Feldkirch, Vienna, Graz). The album was recorded on 22 and 23 November 1979.
Concerts
1980s
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1980s
Guitar duo with Christy Doran in Switzerland
Switzerland
In the early 1980s, according to the family, Pepl plays in Switzerland in a guitar duo with the Lucerne guitarist Christy Doran, then the leading figure of the jazz rock band OM. Doran lists Pepl among his duo partners in his biography, and Pepl himself later recalled playing with him in Switzerland. Dates and venues have not come down to us. An unreleased tape recording of the duo, about 98 minutes long, is in the sound archive for signed-in users.
Concerts
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23 March 1980 to 25 March 1980
Concerts with the Vienna Art Orchestra
Vienna, Zurich, Basel
With the Vienna Art Orchestra, the Viennese jazz big band led by Mathias Rüegg, Pepl played in Vienna (Jazzspring), Zurich and Basel; in June 1980 the “Concerto Piccolo” tour of Austria followed.
Concerts
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14 June 1980 to 15 June 1980
Pirchner/Pepl Duo at the Festival for Contemporary Music in Neuwied
Neuwied
On Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 June 1980, Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, and Harry Pepl play as the Pirchner/Pepl Duo, the Jazzzwio, at the 3rd Festival for Contemporary Music in the Engers sports hall in Neuwied (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany). The same poster lists Albert Mangelsdorff, the Gary Burton Quartet, OM & Manfred Schoof, the Pat Metheny Group, Egberto Gismonti, the Contact Trio, the duo Fryderyk/Gurtu, the Ch. Spendel Quartet and Piirpauke. In 1982 Pirchner and Pepl returned to Neuwied with Jack DeJohnette.
Concerts
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September 1980
Jack DeJohnette sits in spontaneously at Saalfelden
Saalfelden
At the Jazzfestival Saalfelden (major jazz festival in the Salzburg region of Austria), Jack DeJohnette stepped onto the stage during a performance by the Jazzzwio, Pepl's duo with the Austrian composer and vibraphonist Werner Pirchner, and played along spontaneously. A tape of the session with more than an hour of music survives in the estate; Pepl noted the year 1980 on it. Among other things, it features Pirchner's “Hos'nt Raga” and an intro with DeJohnette at the piano.
Concerts
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7 November 1980 to 8 November 1980
Concerts with Benny Goodman in Berlin
Berlin
Pepl played two concerts at the Berlin Philharmonie with Benny Goodman, Don Haas, Peter Witte and Charly Antolini. Goodman announced a guitar solo without warning, and from it “Harry Pepl's Blues” arose spontaneously. According to a letter of 15 November 1980 from Goodman's manager Kurt A. Müller, Goodman “really got going” during Pepl's solo at the start of the second concert and was “full of praise” afterwards. Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, in whose honour the concerts were held according to family tradition, attended the first concert. The recording was released in 1993 on “B.G. World-Wide” and in 1996 as “Berlin 1980”.
Concerts
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12 July 1981
Jazzzwio at the Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux
Pepl was called to the telephone in Graz during a lesson and agreed to appear at the guitar festival in Montreux, but as a duo with Pirchner. The concert on Sunday 12 July 1981 is regarded as the first big step in Pepl's international career. The live recording was released as an LP on WEA. Billboard, the US music trade magazine, listed Pepl on Saturday, 27 June 1981, in the programme of this guitar day alongside James “Blood” Ulmer, Biréli Lagrène, Lee Ritenour and Larry Coryell.
Concerts
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4 September 1981
Benny Goodman at the Tivoli, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
For a television show at the Jazzhus Slukefter, Pepl played with Goodman, Jimmy Maxwell, Svend Asmussen, Don Haas, Peter Witte and Charly Antolini. Goodman later sent him a photo with the dedication “for Harry, a great guitarist”. In 2006 the Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) dated the concert film to 1980.
Concerts
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17 October 1981
Donaueschingen with the Vienna Art Orchestra
Donaueschingen
At the Donaueschingen Music Days, one of the oldest festivals of contemporary music (since 1921), in Germany, Pepl plays on Saturday, 17 October 1981, at 8.30 pm in the Donauhalle in the SWF Jazz Session “Jonny tritt ab, keine Jazz-Oper für Stimmen und Instrumente in zwei Teilen” (Jonny Exits, no jazz opera for voices and instruments in two parts) by Mathias Rüegg, with the Vienna Art Orchestra, the Viennese jazz big band, the Stadtkapelle Radolfzell, a town band, the singers Karin Krog, Lauren Newton and Maggie Nicols and John Surman (saxophone). The producer was Joachim-Ernst Berendt, jazz editor of Südwestfunk (SWF), the public broadcaster for south-western Germany, who founded the New Jazz Meeting in Baden-Baden in 1966. It is the last traceable collaboration with the Vienna Art Orchestra. Kohler dates the evening to 1982, the festival archive to 1981.
Concerts
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6 November 1981
Jazzfest Berlin
Berlin
On Friday, 6 November 1981, at 11 pm the Jazzzwio with Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, plays at the Jazz Fest Berlin at the Metropol in Berlin, Germany, on a double bill with Defunkt; this is how the Berliner Festspiele announced it in the Hamburg music magazine Sounds. The first piece is called “Berlin '81, die Erste”. The set list of eight pieces, among them “Gegenwind”, “Homesick” and “White Smoke”, with their durations (around 85 minutes in all) is preserved by the Rockpalast archive, a private fan archive on Rockpalast, the music programme of WDR television (West German Broadcasting); it lists the evening among the Rockpalast recordings at the Metropol from 3 to 8 November 1981, with U2, John Scofield and James Blood Ulmer. A radio recording of the concert survives in the estate; whether the television recording was broadcast and survives is open.
Concerts
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1 April 1982
Austria Drei in Graz
Graz
Concert at the Studentenhaus Münzgraben with Michael Di Pasqua on drums, after which the trail of the band, as far as it can be reconstructed, goes cold.
Concerts
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1 October 1982
Ars Electronica: “Jazz und Elektronik” (Jazz and Electronics)
Linz
At the Ars Electronica evening “Jazz und Elektronik” in the Great Hall of the Brucknerhaus in Linz, Pepl plays in the Ars Electronica Workshop Ensemble with François Jeanneau, Wolfgang Dauner, Jasper van't Hof, Adelhard Roidinger and Daniel Humair; Alphonse Mouzon's quartet also performs. The programme calls Pepl “one of the leading jazz guitarists in Europe”.
Concerts
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October 1982
Jazzzwio at the Student Centre in Zagreb
Zagreb, Croatia
In October 1982 the Jazzzwio plays in the music salon of the Student Centre in Zagreb (Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia). In February 1983 the critic Miro Križič writes in the Slovenian music magazine “Glasbena mladina” that the combination of the prepared vibraphone, from which Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, drew “incredible sounds full of vibrating sensitivity”, with the modern guitar created “a wealth of musical ideas, rhythms and brilliant improvisations” (translated from the Slovenian). The day of the concert is not recorded.
Concerts
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2 October 1982
German Jazz Festival Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main
Pepl and Pirchner played in the Großer Saal of the Alte Oper, including titles such as “Wiener essen Frankfurter”.
Concerts
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27 October 1982
Jazzzwio at ŠKUC in Ljubljana
Ljubljana, Slovenia
For Wednesday, 27 October 1982, at 7 pm, ŠKUC, the Student Cultural Centre in the old town of Ljubljana (Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia), announces a concert by the Jazzzwio, organised together with the Austrian Cultural Institute in Zagreb: Pepl on electric and acoustic guitar, Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, on tenor vibraphone and marimba. The Slovenian daily “Delo” prints the announcement on the day before and on the day of the concert.
Concerts
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30 October 1982
Steirische Herbst Band at the ISCM World Music Days
Graz
At the World Music Days of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM), held in Graz, Austria, in 1982 as part of the steirischer herbst festival, Pepl plays in the Steirische Herbst Band under Erich Kleinschuster, the Austrian jazz trombonist: on Saturday, 30 October 1982, at 10 pm in the Saal Steiermark of the Graz Congress, in the same slot as the Vienna Art Orchestra under Mathias Rüegg. The band includes, among others, Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, Christian Muthspiel, Hans Koller, the Austrian saxophonist and pioneer of European jazz, Eje Thelin, Leszek Zadlo, Adelhard Roidinger, Karlheinz Miklin, Harald Neuwirth, Wayne Darling and Erich Bachträgl. Until 4 November the band appears four more times in the exhibition hall of the Congress; whether Pepl played every time is not documented individually.
Concerts
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22 November 1982
The Jazzzwio opens the jazz series at the Kasper-Keller in Linz
Linz
On Monday, 22 November 1982, a jazz series that would last 35 years begins at the Kasper-Keller beneath the Café Jentschke in Linz (Upper Austria, Austria): for the first evening the landlord Hans Peter Kasper books the “Zwio” of Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, and Harry Pepl.
Concerts
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December 1982
Bratislava Jazz Days
Bratislava
At the PKO Hall in Bratislava, Pepl played the standard “St. Thomas” with the formation “The International Conclave”; the live recording was released in 1983 on the double LP “Bratislava Jazz Days 1982”.
Concerts
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1983
At the 1st Musikfest Bleiburg
Bleiburg
In 1983 Harry Pepl plays at the 1st Musikfest Bleiburg (Carinthia, Austria). 35 years later, on 15 November 2018, his music returns to Bleiburg with the Lonely Single Swinger Band at the Brauhaus Breznik.
Concerts
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30 May 1983
“Daniel Humair and Friends” at the Théâtre de l'Atelier, Paris
Paris, France
On Monday, 30 May 1983, Pepl plays guitar in the concert “Daniel Humair and Friends” at the Théâtre de l'Atelier in Paris, France, which is recorded by Radio France (France's public radio broadcaster). According to the catalogue note of the INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel, the French archive for radio and television), the other musicians are Daniel Humair (drums), Eric Le Lann (trumpet), Harry Sokal (alto saxophone), Joachim Kühn (piano), Werner Pirchner (vibraphone, percussion) and the bassists Mike Richmond and Dave Holland. The programme includes Pepl's “Good-bye, Baby Post”. It is the first concert evidence of his playing with Holland; two days later comes the International Jazz Session at the Musée d'art moderne.
Concerts
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1 June 1983 to 2 June 1983
International Jazz Session at the Musée d'art moderne, Paris
Paris, France
On Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 June 1983 the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris (the City of Paris's museum of modern and contemporary art) stages an “International Jazz Session” in two parts: the first features Joachim Kühn, the German pianist, Mike Richmond, the American bassist, Bennie Wallace and Daniel Humair, the Swiss drummer; the second features Harry Pepl, Harry Sokal, the Austrian saxophonist, and Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist.
Concerts
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22 January 1984
Pirchner, Pepl, Di Pasqua concert in Salzburg
Salzburg
The poster “Jazz im Theater” announces Werner Pirchner, Harry Pepl and Michael Di Pasqua on Sunday 22 January 1984, 8 pm, at the Elisabethbühne Salzburg; the archive of Salzburg’s Jazzit lists the evening in its concert history, with Pirchner on vibraphone and marimba.
Concerts
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25 March 1984
Jazzzwio in the Conservatory Hall, Innsbruck
Innsbruck
The Innsbruck live recording of Sunday 25 March 1984 forms the second part of the release “Live In Concerts”.
Concerts
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10 June 1984
Michel Portal Plus at the Angoulême jazz festival
Angoulême, France
On Sunday, 10 June 1984 (Whit Sunday), Pepl plays at the jazz festival in Angoulême, France, in Michel Portal’s large line-up Michel Portal Plus, with Michel Portal, Harry Sokal, Joachim Kühn, Claude Barthélemy (electric bass), Jean-Paul Celea and Jean-François Jenny-Clark (double bass), Daniel Humair and Mino Cinelu. Radio France, the French public radio, records the concert; the programme includes a title “Pepl's theme”, and France Musique broadcasts “Mazurka” and “Angola” from it on 8 July 1985. On Whit Monday Pepl plays with Air Mail at the moers festival.
Concerts
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11 June 1984
Air Mail in Moers
Moers, Germany
On Whit Monday, 11 June 1984, Air Mail plays at the Moers Festival (renowned festival for jazz and improvised music in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) in the ice rink hall, with the trumpeter Karl “Bumi” Fian as fifth man. The concert brings the band its breakthrough; in 1985 the debut “Prayer for Peace” is released on Moers Music. In 1986 the Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck, a local paper in Tyrol, called the evening a “much-noticed international debut”.
Concerts
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21 June 1984
NDR jazz workshop with the Family of Percussion in Hamburg
Hamburg
On Thursday, 21 June 1984, Pepl, Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, and Steve Swallow play as guests of the Family of Percussion led by the Swiss drummer Peter Giger at NDR jazz workshop no. 191 in Studio 10 of the broadcasting house in Hamburg, Germany (NDR: Norddeutscher Rundfunk, public broadcaster for northern Germany). The programme includes Pepl's „Das Auge des Maulwurfs“ [“The Mole's Eye”]; the producer is Michael Naura.
Concerts
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23 September 1984
Portal Unit at the Schlachthof in Graz
Graz
Pepl's first reconstructible concert with Michel Portal, George Lewis, Joachim Kühn, Jean-François Jenny-Clark and Daniel Humair. The concert on Sunday, 23 September 1984, in the former slaughterhouse was a guest performance of the steirischer herbst (festival of contemporary art in Styria, Austria) in the “Falso Loco” series; the festival archive names the ensemble “Michel Portal Unit featuring Harry Pepl”. Festivals in France followed.
Concerts
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October 1984
Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw
Warsaw
According to the family, Pepl plays at the international festival Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw, Poland, in October 1984 (25 to 28 October 1984); the festival poster later hung in his home studio. The Kleine Zeitung, a daily newspaper from Graz, in 1988 and his information sheet also list Warsaw among the places he performed; line-up and programme are not yet documented; probably with Wolfgang Puschnig, possibly also Harry Sokal (the family's assumption, not documented). According to the Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck, a local paper in Tyrol, in 1986, a festival in Warsaw was part of Air Mail's international debut, along with Moers and Cologne; the paper gives no year.
Concerts
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27 October 1984
Tenor Madness at the Festival de Jazz de Paris
Paris, France
On Saturday, 27 October 1984, Pepl plays at the Festival de Jazz de Paris, France, in Tenor Madness, a group with three tenor saxophonists: Daniel Humair (drums), Jean-François Jenny-Clark (double bass), Joachim Kühn (piano) and François Jeanneau, Harry Sokal and Larry Schneider (tenor saxophone). Radio France, the French public radio, records the concert; the Compagnie Lubat and the quartet of Jean-Louis Chautemps play the same evening.
Concerts
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March 1985
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22 March 1985 to 23 March 1985
Théâtre de la Ville, Paris
Paris
The Michel Portal Unit played as a quintet with Portal, Pepl, Jenny-Clark, Humair and Mino Cinelu. Further concerts followed at the Centre Pompidou and at the Paris Museum of Modern Art.
Concerts
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30 March 1985
Air Mail at the Jazzspelunke
Vienna
On Saturday 30 March 1985 Air Mail, with Pepl, Wolfgang Puschnig, Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger, played at the Jazzspelunke in Vienna. A recording of this evening exists.
Concerts
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12 May 1985
Concert at the Miles Smiles club
Vienna
On the Sunday before the flight to New York, the Jazzzwio played at short notice at the Miles Smiles club in Vienna, with the drummer Georg Polansky. The live recording was released on CD in 2003.
Concerts
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15 May 1985
New York: “Beyond the Sound of Music”
New York
On Wednesday 15 May 1985, Pepl and Pirchner, with Don Moye, played at the Ohio Theater in Soho at the festival “New Austria / New York”. The New York Times reviewed the festival on 18 May. On 25 March 1985 steirischer herbst (festival of contemporary art in Graz, Austria) had confirmed Pepl's participation by letter: a presentation of contemporary Austrian art marking the 40th anniversary of the liberation and the 30th anniversary of the State Treaty, with the Austrian Cultural Institute in New York and “The Kitchen” as producer. The festival “Beyond the Sound of Music. New Austria / New York” (15 to 19 May) was a showcase of contemporary Austrian art, and the trio opened it at 7.30 p.m., on the same evening as the sculptor Hartmut Skerbisch with his installation “Container” and the Viennese composer Otto M. Zykan with “Samples”. In the following days the Austrian writers H. C. Artmann, Wolfgang Bauer, Alfred Kolleritsch, Ingeborg Day and Jürg Laederach read, presented by the American novelists John Irving and Walter Abish; the New York composer and guitarist Rhys Chatham played with Blizz Frizz from Graz, alongside architecture, photography and film (Austrian Information, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 3 to 6).
Concerts
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July 1985
Jazzzwio with Don Moye in Bolzano
Bolzano
Concert by Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, Harry Pepl and Don Moye at the Walther-Haus in Bolzano.
Concerts
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10 October 1985 to 23 October 1985
Jazzzwio concerts in Graz and Kindberg
Graz, Kindberg
Kohler names 10 October 1985 in Graz and 23 October 1985 in Kindberg as the last verifiable concerts of the Jazzzwio. The archive of the steirischer herbst (festival of contemporary art in Styria, Austria) documents the evening in Kindberg on Wednesday, 23 October 1985, at the Gasthof Prettenthaler as a double concert with the Martin Wiederhofer Trio in the “Mürztaler Werkstatt” series, with Walter Schmocker and Robert Riegler among the performers. The archive does not list a concert on 10 October, but it does list a further Jazzzwio evening on 24 October in Graz. After that their paths parted, and Pirchner turned to composition. A live recording from Niš dated 28 October 1985 is chronologically later still.
Concerts
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17 October 1985
Trio with Daniel Humair and Jean-François Jenny-Clark in Graz
Graz
On Thursday, 17 October 1985, Pepl plays at the Katholisches Studentenhaus Münzgraben, a Catholic student centre in Graz, Austria, in a trio with Daniel Humair and Jean-François Jenny-Clark, his partners from the Michel Portal Unit. At the same venue the drummer Humair shows his exhibition “Malerei und Grafik” (painting and graphic art); the evening is part of the steirischer herbst festival 1985.
Concerts
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24 October 1985
Jazzzwio at the Münzgraben in Graz
Graz
On Thursday, 24 October 1985, one day after Kindberg, the Jazzzwio plays with an unnamed guest at the Katholisches Studentenhaus Münzgraben in Graz, Austria, in the “Open Spoons” series of the steirischer herbst festival, which in October 1985 also presented two concerts by Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, and a conversation with the ECM founder Manfred Eicher. Kohler names 23 October in Kindberg as the last verifiable concert in Austria; the festival’s archive documents this later evening.
Concerts
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28 October 1985
Naissus Jazz 85 in Niš
Niš
The Jazzzwio played live in the hall of the Niš Symphony Orchestra, Yugoslavia, together with Barry Altschul and Walter Schmocker. The piece “The Theme” was released in 1986 on a Diskos compilation.
Concerts
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7 March 1986
Michel Portal at the Banlieues Bleues festival in Montreuil
Montreuil, France
At the 3rd Banlieues Bleues festival (jazz festival in the Seine-Saint-Denis département near Paris, France, since 1984), Michel Portal plays on Friday, 7 March 1986, in the Salle des fêtes of Montreuil with Jack DeJohnette, Mino Cinelu, Jean-François Jenny-Clark and Harry Pepl. This is how the festival's archive records it, and this is how the evening appeared in the concert listings of the Paris daily Le Monde (issue of 8 March 1986). According to the festival archive it is Pepl's only appearance at Banlieues Bleues between 1984 and 1990. The rehearsals on Wednesday, 5 March 1986, at the Paris club Jazz à Paris (13th arrondissement) were captured by the Magnum photographer Guy Le Querrec.
Concerts
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10 March 1986
Michel Portal Unit: concert recording by Radio France
On Monday, 10 March 1986, three days after Banlieues Bleues, Radio France, the French public radio, records a concert by the Michel Portal Unit: Michel Portal, Pepl, Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Mino Cinelu, Jack DeJohnette and the percussionist Jean Schwartz, 1 hour 48 minutes. The track list names Pepl’s “Radlbremser” with Portal’s “Pastor” and Pepl’s “Das Auge des Maulwurfs” with Portal’s “No Forte”, according to Daniel Pepl two pieces each, played in direct succession or segueing into each other, plus “Halley's Comet Light Blue Blues”. The record in the catalogue of the INA, the archive of French radio and television, does not name the venue.
Concerts
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May 1986
Air Mail at the Amiens jazz festival
Amiens, France
In May 1986 Air Mail plays at the 5th Festival international de jazz d'Amiens, the jazz festival of the Maison de la Culture d'Amiens, the town's arts centre (France), which ran from Tuesday 13 to Saturday 24 May. In Jazz Hot, the French jazz magazine founded in 1935, Franck Bergerot reviews the concert with Wolfgang Puschnig, Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger at the festival, then called “Le temps du jazz”, and hears “un Harry Pepl tout à fait inattendu”, an utterly unexpected Harry Pepl. A recording of just over 31 minutes survives in the family archive. The exact day is not yet documented. On Tuesday, 13 January 1987, FR3, the French regional television channel (today France 3), shows a programme with the British jazz big band Loose Tubes and Air Mail in its series “Le Temps du jazz”, recorded at the Maison de la Culture d'Amiens and including Pepl's “The Eye of the Groundhog”. The catalogue note of the INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel, the French archive for radio and television) does not give the recording date; the recording probably comes from this festival.
Concerts
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10 May 1986
Air Mail at Jazz sous les pommiers in Coutances
Coutances, France
On Saturday, 10 May 1986, Air Mail plays, at 9 p.m. according to the festival archive and at 10 p.m. according to Jazz Hot, at the theatre in Coutances (Normandy, France), on the closing night of the 5th Jazz sous les pommiers, the town's jazz festival (since 1982), with Wolfgang Puschnig, Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger. According to the festival's programme text it is the band's first concert in France; it introduces Pepl as “the new star of guitar-mad jazz fans”. The Eddy Louiss Big Band and Blue Lips play on the same evening. Alain Guerrini writes in Jazz Hot, the French jazz magazine founded in 1935, that he discovered “un groupe prodigieux” there, a prodigious group.
Concerts
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14 May 1986
Air Mail at the New Morning, Paris
Paris, France
On Wednesday, 14 May 1986, Air Mail plays at the New Morning, a jazz club in Paris (France), with Wolfgang Puschnig (soprano saxophone), Mike Richmond (bass) and Wolfgang Reisinger (drums). It is a club concert on the band's French tour, four days after the festival in Coutances. The Paris concert paper “Tempo” of 15 April 1986 announced the evening as the “Harry Pepl quartet”. The INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel, the French archive for radio and television) holds a concert recording of Air Mail by Radio France (France's public radio broadcaster), which it dates to the following day; whether it is the same concert remains open. According to the catalogue note, the band plays Pepl's “Mulwolf”, which his son Daniel Pepl identifies as “Das Auge des Maulwurfs” (Eye of the Groundhog), as well as “Light blue blues” (“Halley's Comet Light Blue Blues”) and “Bike breaker” (“Radlbremser”). Jazz Hot, the French jazz magazine founded in 1935, reports that on that Wednesday the American saxophonist Archie Shepp played at the New Morning, with the singer Dee Dee Bridgewater as a guest.
Concerts
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24 May 1986
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June 1986
Air Mail at the Neuwied jazz festival
Neuwied, Germany
In June 1986 Air Mail plays at the 9th Neuwied jazz festival (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany). This is how it appears in the band's tour plan, printed by the Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck, a local paper in Tyrol, and in the festival's programme overview on Wikipedia, which lists “Harry Pepl’s Airmail” alongside the Dave Holland Quintet, John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra and the John Scofield Band. The day and venue are not yet documented.
Concerts
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19 June 1986
Air Mail at the Hotel Sonne, Landeck
Landeck, Austria
On Thursday, 19 June 1986, Air Mail plays at 8.30 p.m. at the Hotel Sonne in Landeck (Tyrol, Austria), according to the announcement the last concert before the summer break, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Mike Richmond and Wolfgang Reisinger. The Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck, a local paper delivered to every household in the district, announces the band as “one of the best contemporary quartets on the European jazz scene” and prints its tour plan for May and June 1986 with the festivals in Coutances, Amiens, Maur near Zurich and Neuwied.
Concerts
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26 September 1986
Air Mail at the Bilsak Jazz Festival in Istanbul
Istanbul, Turkey
On Friday, 26 September 1986, Air Mail plays at 10 pm at the Şan Tiyatrosu (Şan Theatre) in Istanbul, Turkey, at the 2nd International Bilsak Jazz Festival (II. Uluslararası Bilsak Caz Festivali), with Wolfgang Puschnig (alto saxophone), Mike Richmond (double bass) and Wolfgang Reisinger (drums). According to its poster, the festival brought 33 foreign musicians in nine groups to Istanbul and then to Ankara, among them Albert Mangelsdorff and Hermeto Pascoal; whether Air Mail also played in Ankara is not documented. As early as June 1986 the Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck, a local paper in Tyrol, Austria, had reported invitations to festivals in Istanbul, Ankara and Basel.
Concerts
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27 September 1986
Rava/Saluzzi Quintet in Istanbul
Istanbul, Turkey
On Saturday, 27 September 1986, one evening after Air Mail, Pepl plays at the same festival at the Şan Tiyatrosu in Istanbul, Turkey, at 11 pm in the quintet of Dino Saluzzi and Enrico Rava, with Furio Di Castri (double bass) and Bruce Ditmas (drums). It is the earliest documented concert of the quintet with Pepl so far, before the recording of “Volver” in October 1986.
Concerts
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10 October 1986
Rava/Saluzzi Quintet with the NDR Bigband
Hamburg
During the European tour, the quintet of Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi, with Harry Pepl, played together with the NDR Bigband (NDR: Norddeutscher Rundfunk, public broadcaster for northern Germany) at the Fabrik in Hamburg-Altona.
Concerts
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13 October 1986
Rava/Saluzzi Quintet at “Jazz in Gütersloh”
Gütersloh
Concert at “Jazz in Gütersloh”, with Bob Moses instead of Bruce Ditmas on drums.
Concerts
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3 November 1986
Rava/Saluzzi Quintet at the Festival de Jazz de Paris
Paris, France
On Monday, 3 November 1986, a few weeks after the recording of “Volver”, the quintet of Dino Saluzzi and Enrico Rava plays with Pepl, Furio Di Castri and Bruce Ditmas at the Festival de Jazz de Paris, France. Radio France, the French public radio, records the concert; the programme includes “Volver” and Pepl’s “More Far Out Than East”.
Concerts
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May 1987
Concerts and sessions in France
Paris
In spring 1987 Pepl played several concerts in France, including sessions with Jack DeJohnette and Dave Liebman in Paris. In April the Austria Presse Agentur had announced sessions with DeJohnette, Michel Portal and Mino Cinelu for May; in June it reported his successes and praise from John Abercrombie.
Concerts
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5 July 1987
Air Mail at the Wiesen jazz festival
Wiesen
On Sunday, 5 July 1987, Air Mail was on the programme of the festival at the “Jazzianer-Fort” in Wiesen, Burgenland, on the same day as George Russell’s big band and the Johnny Griffin Quartet. The Austria Presse Agentur announced the band with „Österreichs erstem Gitarristen Harry Pepl“ [“Austria’s foremost guitarist Harry Pepl”].
Concerts
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16 April 1988
Trio Pepl/Joos/Christensen at the Szene Wien
Vienna
On Saturday, 16 April, Pepl, Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen play at the Szene Wien, a Viennese venue for concerts, in Simmering, Vienna, Austria; the poster advertises the LP “Cracked Mirror” on ECM. The year is not on the poster; judging by the weekday and the following concerts in Linz (20 April) and Katsdorf, it was probably 1988.
Concerts
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20 April 1988
Cracked Mirrors live at the Posthof Linz
Linz
Concert of the trio Pepl, Joos and Christensen. For the tour in spring 1988 the trio rehearsed at the family home in Hernstein, Lower Austria, Austria; Christensen stayed there as Pepl's guest for a considerable time.
Concerts
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22 April 1988
Trio Pepl/Joos/Christensen at the Hotel Mader, Katsdorf
Katsdorf
Two days after the concert at the Posthof in Linz, the trio with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen played at the Hotel Mader in Katsdorf.
Concerts
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December 1988
Joos, Pepl and Oxley at the Dieselstraße in Esslingen
Esslingen am Neckar
At the year-end concert of the series “Jazz in der Dieselstraße”, Pepl played with Herbert Joos and Tony Oxley at the Dieselstraße culture and communication centre in Esslingen; the Stuttgarter Zeitung and the Eßlinger Zeitung reviewed the concert.
Concerts
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10 December 1988 to 17 December 1988
Austrian tour with Herbert Joos and Tony Oxley
Austria
The tour schedule lists Mödling, Wörgl, Nüziders, Klagenfurt, Graz and Mauterndorf. Tony Oxley replaced Jon Christensen, who was unavailable; an ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) recording exists of the concert in Tamsweg on 15 December.
Concerts
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15 December 1988
Trio with Herbert Joos and Tony Oxley in Tamsweg
Tamsweg
On the Austrian tour, the ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) recorded the concert of Harry Pepl, Herbert Joos and Tony Oxley in Tamsweg; Ö1 (the ORF's cultural radio channel) broadcast the archive find in its Jazznacht in 2015.
Concerts
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1989
Cracked Mirrors at the Stadtgarten in Cologne
Cologne
The trio with Herbert Joos and Jon Christensen played at the Stadtgarten in Cologne (Cologne venue for jazz and new music), and television recorded the concert.
Concerts
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12 March 1989
Spring jazz festival at the Kurhalle Oberlaa
Vienna
At the spring jazz festival in the Kurhalle Wien-Oberlaa on Sunday, 12 March 1989, the line-up announced, alongside Carla Bley and Steve Swallow and The Leaders, Wolfgang Puschnig’s projects with Harry Pepl, Hans Koller, the Austrian saxophonist and pioneer of European jazz, and Linda Sharrock.
Concerts
1990s
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7 February 1990
Presentation concert for “Schönberg Improvations”
Vienna
At the Wiener Konzerthaus, one of Vienna’s two great concert halls, Wolfgang Puschnig and Wolfgang Reisinger played live along with the self-playing grand piano; Pepl operated only the sustain pedal.
Concerts
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14 July 1990
“What It Is” with Thomas Pernes at the Wiesen jazz festival
Wiesen
At the Wiesen jazz festival on Saturday, 14 July 1990, Pepl played in the “Special Project” of the composer Thomas Pernes with Wolfgang Puschnig and Wolfgang Reisinger. The Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Bill Frisell Group and the Michael Brecker Band were on the bill the same day. With “What It Is”, Pernes wanted to overcome the narrowness of styles and boundaries.
Concerts
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4 August 1991
Opening concert of the Lower Austrian Jazz Academy with Jamaaladeen Tacuma
Zeillern
On Sunday, 4 August 1991, Pepl opened the Lower Austrian Jazz Academy in the courtyard of Zeillern Castle in a quartet with Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Alex Deutsch and Johannes Enders. Beforehand he told Der Standard, a Vienna daily, it might become „eine ganz freie Angelegenheit“ [“an entirely free affair”].
Concerts
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November 1991
Closing concert of the ZeitgeNÖssischer Herbst
Lower Austria
The third concert series “ZeitgeNÖssischer Herbst” of the state of Lower Austria (20 September to 28 November 1991, around 11,000 visitors) ended with a highly successful concert by Pepl. Der Standard, a Vienna daily, counted the closing concert among the highlights.
Concerts
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June 1992
Harry Pepl Quartet at the Knitting Factory
New York
In early June 1992, shortly before the recording of “N.Y.C. Impressure”, the quartet played at the Knitting Factory (New York music club for jazz and the avant-garde) in New York. The club's invitation gives 2 June, Nikolaus Kohler the day before the recording.
Concerts
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7 June 1992
Harry Pepl Group at the Raab jazz festival
Raab, Upper Austria
On Whit Sunday, 7 June 1992, the Harry Pepl Group played its new programme at the jazz festival in Raab in the Innviertel, on the same evening as Wolfgang Puschnig’s “Alpine Aspects” and Ronnie Burrage’s band.
Concerts
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17 July 1992 to 18 July 1992
Pori Jazz Festival with John Purcell’s Blue Brass Connection
Pori, Finland
At the 27th Pori Jazz Festival in Pori, Finland, one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe, Pepl plays in the band listed in the festival archive as “John Purcell´s Blue Brass Connection”: with the Upper Austrian trombonist Paul Zauner, whose Blue Brass Connection had been touring with US jazz musicians since 1985, and with John Purcell, Graham Haynes, Ron Burton, Kenny Davis and Ronnie Burrage. The archive lists three performances: on Friday, 17 July 1992, on the main stage at Kirjurinluoto, in a programme starting at 5 pm that the archive also lists for Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band, in the evening at the Village Gate, and on Saturday, 18 July 1992, at the Nuorisokeskus, the youth centre. A few months later Purcell, Davis, Burrage, Zauner and Pepl formed the core of Abstract Truth.
Concerts
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12 August 1992
Faculty concert of the Lower Austrian Jazz Academy
Zeillern
At the Lower Austrian Jazz Academy at Zeillern Castle (9 to 15 August 1992), Pepl played in the faculty concert (“Jazzakademie All Stars”) on Wednesday, 12 August, with Claus Stötter, Bobby Dodge, Martin Fuss, Joris Dudli and Ines Reiger. The Kurier, a Vienna daily, called him the „Gitarrenguru der österreichischen Jazzszene“ [“guitar guru of the Austrian jazz scene”].
Concerts
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31 October 1992
Frankfurt-Wien-Connection at the Deutsches Jazzfestival Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main
At the 24th Deutsches Jazzfestival Frankfurt (Germany’s oldest jazz festival, organised by the public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk) the Frankfurt-Wien-Connection plays the second concert in the Bockenheimer Depot on Saturday, 31 October 1992: Harry Pepl (guitar), Stefan Lottermann (trombone), Michael Riessler (bass clarinet), Claus Stötter (trumpet), Bob Harrison (bass) and François Laizeau (drums), with compositions by Pepl. The hr produces the recording itself and, according to its archive, broadcasts it on hr2 the same day. Details from the database extract of the hr media archive (case AS_2026_0421, Tuesday, 20 October 2026); the copy of the recording remains in the family archive.
Concerts
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May 1993
Air Mail re-forms
Vienna
In May 1993 Air Mail performed again after a long break, at the Vienna jazz venue Reigen with Wolfgang Puschnig, Harry Pepl, Wolfgang Reisinger and Palle Danielsson. Der Standard, a Vienna daily, wrote that almost everything this country had to offer in jazz of international quality was gathered there. The concert at the Raab jazz festival followed at the end of May.
Concerts
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5 May 1993
Concert in the former synagogue in St. Pölten
St. Pölten
On Wednesday, 5 May 1993, Pepl played in the former synagogue in St. Pölten with John Purcell, Paul Zauner, Jeff Andrews and Ronnie Burrage, a line-up from the circle of Abstract Truth.
Concerts
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28 May 1993 to 30 May 1993
Last Air Mail concert in Raab
Raab, Upper Austria
At the Whitsun jazz festival in Raab (Friday, 28, to Whit Sunday, 30 May 1993), later known as INNtöne (jazz festival in Diersbach, Upper Austria), Air Mail played for the last time, with Jean-Paul Celea on bass (Palle Danielsson had been announced) and the piece “Dinozzo”. Shortly before, the band had re-formed after a long break at the Reigen in Vienna. A professional recording exists.
Concerts
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23 September 1993 to 25 September 1993
“Die Innviertler Seele” at the Festival der Regionen
Aspach, Obernberg, Zell an der Pram
For Paul Zauner’s project “Die Innviertler Seele” at the Festival der Regionen (Upper Austrian arts festival), George Lewis, Gene Jackson, Harry Pepl and Christian Radovan met Innviertel zither music and a traditional brass band: on Thursday, 23 September 1993, at the Gasthof Zwink in Aspach, on the 24th in the multi-purpose hall in Obernberg and on the 25th at Zell an der Pram Castle.
Concerts
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1994
Concerts with Labarrière, Jackson and Mitterer
Kyiv, Graz, Vienna
Harry Pepl plays one of his last concert series with Hélène Labarrière (double bass), Gene Jackson (drums) and Wolfgang Mitterer (synthesizer), among other places in Kyiv (Ukraine), there according to Mitterer also with Paul Zauner, probably in Slovakia, in Graz with Wolfgang Puschnig and at Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) in Vienna. No recording has survived in the family archive; of the Graz concert at the Graz Meeting, the Austrian Mediathek holds a recording that can only be heard on site.
Concerts
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18 April 1994
“Porträt Harry Pepl” at the Porgy & Bess
Vienna
In the portrait series of the Vienna jazz club Porgy & Bess, Pepl was presented on several evenings in mid-April 1994. On Monday, 18 April, he played solo in the first part, then with Gene Jackson (drums) and Wolfgang Mitterer (keyboards).
Concerts
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20 April 1994
Harry Pepl Quartet at the Graz Meeting “Strings”
Graz
At the third Graz Meeting (jazz festival of the Graz music academy and gamsbART, dedicated to string instruments in 1994), the Harry Pepl Quartet with Wolfgang Puschnig played at the Orpheum, a concert venue in Graz, on Wednesday, 20 April 1994, on the same evening as Derek Bailey, Dieter Glawischnig’s Cercle and the double bass duo Ewald Oberleitner and Wayne Darling. The Österreichische Mediathek (Austrian Mediathek), Austria’s archive of sound and video recordings at the Technisches Museum Wien, holds an unreleased recording of the concert and the broadcast “Aus dem Konzertsaal: Graz Meeting 1994” by Ö1, ORF’s cultural radio station, featuring the quartet, both on cassette and available only on site; the catalogue does not name the other musicians.
Concerts
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22 May 1994
Duo with Jack DeJohnette at the Innviertel jazz festival
Raab, Upper Austria
On Whit Sunday, 22 May 1994, Pepl played a duo on guitar synthesizer with Jack DeJohnette, switching between piano and drums, in the Rothuberhalle in Raab. The Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s largest-circulation daily, Der Standard and the Salzburger Nachrichten singled out the duo. The Slovak music magazine “Hudobný život” also lists the duo in June 1994 among the festival’s performances, alongside the Brecker Brothers, the Dave Holland Quartet and David Murray.
Concerts
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31 July 1994
Opening concert of the Lower Austrian Jazz Academy with the Harry Pepl Quartet
Zeillern
To open the sixth Lower Austrian Jazz Academy, the Harry Pepl Quartet played at Zeillern Castle on Sunday, 31 July 1994, at 9 pm, with Claus Stötter (trumpet) and Jojo Mayer (drums) among others. Pepl taught guitar there until 6 August.
Concerts
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5 November 1994
With Harry Sokal and Friedrich Gulda at the Brucknerhaus Linz
Linz
On Saturday, 5 November 1994, after “A night with Friedrich Gulda”, “The Harry Sokal Quartet feat. Harry Pepl” played at 10 pm in the Brucknersaal of the Brucknerhaus Linz, with Friedrich Gulda as guest.
Concerts
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12 November 1995
Abstract Truth at the Reigen in Vienna
Vienna
As part of Johannes Kunz’s Vienna “Jazz-Herbst”, Abstract Truth with Harry Pepl was announced for the Reigen on Sunday, 12 November 1995, together with the Archie Shepp Quartet (announced by APA, trend and Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s largest-circulation daily; no report of the concert is known, and Daniel Pepl has questioned the year). A concert by the band scheduled for Tuesday, 24 October, at the WIST in Graz had been cancelled.
Concerts
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5 December 1997 to 6 December 1997
INNtöne Festival with Michel Portal
Zell an der Pram
According to Daniel Pepl, once he had withdrawn from the stage after 1994, there were no more planned concerts of his own. At the INNtöne festival weekend (Paul Zauner's festival of contemporary music) on Friday, 5, and Saturday, 6 December 1997, in the baroque hall of Zell an der Pram Castle, Upper Austria, he nevertheless took part in the changing line-ups; the previews had announced him by name. On the Friday, according to the OÖ Volksblatt, an Upper Austrian daily, he played “first on the piano, then on the drums”, together with the trumpeter Franz Hackl; on the Saturday he joined the group around Michel Portal and Stephen Kent, with Wolfgang Reisinger on drums and Steve Shehan on percussion. Whether he also played guitar remains open: in its preview the Wiener Zeitung, the Vienna daily founded in 1703, had written, in connection with his new CD on PAO Records: “Pepl is not playing guitar but piano”. The OÖ Volksblatt, by contrast, lists “piano, guitar” for the Saturday, and the OÖ Nachrichten, another Upper Austrian daily, wrote that “as a string player” he had created “fabulous special moments” with Portal. Toninho Horta and Alvin Batiste also played at the festival. It was his last concert appearance covered by reviews.
Concerts
2000s
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November 2000
“Zeitraffer” at the Autumn Concerts in Graz
Graz
In November 2000 STUDIO PERCUSSION graz played Pepl’s “Zeitraffer” for percussion ensemble and tape at Berndt Luef’s “Autumn Concerts” at the Forum Stadtpark in Graz (Styria, Austria), alongside works by Adriana Hölszky and Iannis Xenakis. ORF (Austria’s public broadcaster) recorded the concert for its programme “Zeit-Ton”.
Concerts
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28 July 2002 to 24 August 2002
Muthspiel & Muthspiel play Pepl and Pirchner for the first time
Krems an der Donau
Commissioned by the Glatt & Verkehrt festival (idea: Josef Aichinger) and as part of the campaign “Kunst gegen Gewalt” (Art against violence), Wolfgang Muthspiel and Christian Muthspiel presented their programme with the music of the Jazzzwio on Sunday, 28 July 2002, at 9 pm in the Minoritenkirche in Krems-Stein (Lower Austria, Austria). On Saturday, 24 August 2002, they played it at 3 pm at the 24th International Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Salzburg, Austria). Wolfgang Muthspiel had studied with Pepl in Graz until he moved to Boston in 1986.
Concerts
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24 November 2002 to 1 December 2002
Muthspiel & Muthspiel play Pepl and Pirchner
Austria
After the premiere in the summer, the brothers Wolfgang Muthspiel and Christian Muthspiel tour Austria in autumn 2002 with the programme “Muthspiel & Muthspiel play Pepl-Pirchner”. It is their tribute to the Jazzzwio and to Werner Pirchner, who died in 2001, and their first engagement with composed material. „Wir werden die Musik in unsere Sprache zu übersetzen versuchen“ [“We will try to translate the music into our own language”], says Wolfgang Muthspiel. Besides pieces from the three Jazzzwio LPs, unreleased material and their own compositions inspired by Pirchner and Pepl are planned. According to the Edition Werner Pirchner calendar, the tour ran from 24 November to 1 December 2002 to Oberwart, Vienna (Porgy & Bess), Hallein, Wels, Hall in Tirol, Dornbirn and Deutschlandsberg; further concerts followed from 2003 to 2006, including at the Treibhaus Innsbruck and the Glass Hall of the Vienna Musikverein (2005).
Concerts
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22 January 2003
Wolfgang Muthspiel Trio pays tribute to Pepl in Dornbirn
Dornbirn
The trio of Wolfgang Muthspiel with Marc Johnson and Brian Blade opened the spring programme of “Jazz&”, as the jazz series of the Spielboden is called, at the Spielboden in Dornbirn (Vorarlberg, Austria), on Wednesday, 22 January 2003, playing standards, pieces by Thelonious Monk and Vince Mendoza and music by his teacher Pepl. According to the Vorarlberger Nachrichten the band was warming up for its next record; in 2004 the same line-up released “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
Concerts
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20 November 2003 to 22 November 2003
Muthspiel & Muthspiel: 20 years as a duo with the music of the Jazzzwio
Vienna
In the twentieth year of their duo, Wolfgang and Christian Muthspiel played the music of the Jazzzwio together with Pirchner’s film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes”: on 20 November 2003 at the Porgy & Bess in Vienna (Der Standard gives the 21st), at the Graz jazz club M59, where they had heard the Jazzzwio as listeners some 25 years earlier, and on Saturday, 22 November 2003, at the Treibhaus in Innsbruck (Tyrol, Austria).
Concerts
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17 September 2004
“Habanero-Slide-Show” at the Blue Tomato, Vienna
Vienna
First performance of music by the Lonely Single Swinger Band with live musicians and photos by Rainer Rygalyk. Pepl was present at the concerts.
Concerts
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4 November 2004
Salzburger Jazzherbst
Salzburg
At the ninth Salzburger Jazzherbst (jazz festival in Salzburg, Austria), Rainer Rygalyk and Harry Pepl presented their “Habanero” slide show on Thursday, 4 November 2004, at 7.30 pm in the ORF regional studio in Salzburg (Nonntal), in a double bill with the Gerald Preinfalk Trio. Lorenz Raab, Wolfgang Schiftner and Clemens Salesny played live to Pepl's recordings in front of photos by Rainer Rygalyk. There is no live recording, because Pepl rejected an unpaid ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) broadcast. At the rehearsal Pepl explained his music and his concepts to the three young musicians; Clemens Salesny later became the central figure of the Lonely Single Swinger Band's live performances.
Harry Pepl explains his music: rehearsal at the Salzburger Jazzherbst 2004Photo: Rainer Rygalyk Concerts
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19 March 2006
JazzWerkstatt Wien: In memoriam Harry Pepl
Vienna
At the second festival of the JazzWerkstatt Wien at the WUK in Vienna, the evening of 19 March 2006 was dedicated to the memory of Harry Pepl and Bumi Fian, with guests such as Wolfgang Puschnig, Wolfgang Reisinger and Raphael Preuschl. The JazzWerkstatt had been founded in 2004 by, among others, Clemens Wenger, Clemens Salesny, Wolfgang Schiftner and Daniel Riegler.
Concerts
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27 April 2006 to 23 July 2006
Christian Muthspiel Trio plays Pepl and Pirchner
Graz
On the third evening of the GrazJazz 2006 festival (“Heimspiel”) at the Orpheum, a concert venue, in Graz (Styria, Austria), Christian Muthspiel honoured Pirchner and Pepl with his new trio featuring Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid. In the summer the trio played at the Stadttheater in Gmunden (Salzkammergut Festwochen, Friday, 21 July 2006) and in the Minoritenkirche in Krems-Stein (Glatt & Verkehrt, Sunday, 23 July 2006), each time with Pirchner’s film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes”.
Concerts
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22 January 2007 to 17 June 2009
“Against the Wind” live: prize concert and tour
Vienna
On Monday, 22 January 2007, Christian Muthspiel celebrated the Austrian Prize of Merit for Music 2006 at the Porgy & Bess, the city’s best-known jazz club, in Vienna with his trio and the music of Pirchner and Pepl. The programme “Against the Wind” then toured until 2009, including the Spielboden in Dornbirn (13 April 2007), the Forum Kloster in Gleisdorf (30 May 2007), the Stadttheater in Wiener Neustadt (June 2007), the Posthof in Linz (25 September 2007), Mariahof (29 September 2007), the Generalmusikdirektion in Graz (1 October 2007), the Kunsthaus in Mürzzuschlag (5 October 2007), the Oval in Salzburg (30 January 2008), the Moods jazz club in Zurich, Switzerland (31 January 2008), the Amthof in Feldkirchen in Carinthia (18 May 2008), Lunz am See (25 July 2008), Rottenmann (4 March 2009), Amstetten (5 March 2009), Lienz (21 March 2009) and the Treibhaus in Innsbruck (17 June 2009), all in Austria unless stated otherwise.
Concerts
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22 November 2007 to 6 December 2007
Wolfgang Schiftner: “FM-Syndrom, A Tribute to Harry Pepl”
Graz
On Thursday, 22 November 2007, the first Harry Pepl Prize winner Wolfgang Schiftner presented his Harry Pepl programme “FM-Syndrom” at the 17th Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz, Austria) at the Generalmusikdirektion in Graz; it bears the title of Pepl’s piece “FM Syndrom”. On 6 December 2007, two years after Pepl’s death, he played at the “Tribute to Harry Pepl” at the Porgy & Bess, the city’s best-known jazz club, in Vienna, where Wolfgang Mitterer also performed.
Concerts
2010s
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11 June 2010
Robert Riegler and Primus Sitter: “Air, Love & Vitamines”
Ried im Innkreis, Upper Austria
The bassist Robert Riegler and the guitarist Primus Sitter play their duo programme “Air, Love & Vitamines” at the KIK in Ried im Innkreis (Upper Austria, Austria), with compositions by Harry Pepl, Werner Pirchner, Robert Riegler, Rebekka Bakken, Primus Sitter and Sting.
Concerts
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8 December 2010
Christian Muthspiel Trio plays Pirchner and Pepl in Feldafing
Feldafing
On Wednesday, 8 December 2010, the trio of Christian Muthspiel plays its programme “Against the Wind” with the music of Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, and Harry Pepl at the Kulturkeller in Feldafing on Lake Starnberg (Bavaria, Germany). The Süddeutsche Zeitung calls the Jazzzwio a group “that gave European jazz important impulses”.
Concerts
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13 June 2013
Stephan Mathoi and Philipp Hager play Pirchner and Pepl in Imst
Imst, Tyrol
At the first Laurentius concert in the Laurentius church on the Bergl in Imst (Tyrol, Austria), the guitarist Stephan Mathoi and the vibraphonist Philipp Hager play works by Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl as well as their own pieces on Thursday, 13 June 2013, under the motto “Entgleiste Klassik” (classical music off the rails), in the line-up of the Jazzzwio.
Concerts
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23 December 2013
Jazzzwio Legner-Rofner plays Pepl and Pirchner
Absam, Tyrol
On Monday, 23 December 2013, the vibraphonist Matthias Legner and the bassist Clemens Rofner, as “Jazzzwio Legner-Rofner”, play selected compositions by Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner at the Gemeindemuseum Absam (Tyrol, Austria), almost 30 years after the Jazzzwio. According to the announcement, the evening is meant to „die leider oft übersehenen Pepl-Pirchner-Jazztunes zeitgemäß in Erinnerung rufen“ [“bring the sadly often overlooked Pepl-Pirchner jazz tunes back to mind in a contemporary way”]. The announcement quotes Heimo Steps on the Jazzzwio.
Concerts
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4 July 2014
Pepl's music at the graduation ceremony of the University of Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt, Carinthia
At the graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Cultural Studies and the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies of the University of Klagenfurt (Carinthia, Austria) on Friday, 4 July 2014, in the Hans Romauch Hall, the Primus Sitter Trio (Primus Sitter, guitar; Stefan Gfrerrer, double bass; Emil Krištof, percussion) played Harry Pepl's “Air, Love & Vitamins” for the procession. Later in the programme came Sitter's own piece “Drei Diplomaten für H.P.” (Three diplomats for H.P.).
Concerts
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August 2015
Christian Muthspiel remembers Pirchner and Pepl in Saalfelden
Saalfelden
At the Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Salzburg, Austria) at the end of August 2015, Christian Muthspiel plays his homage “Homesick” for Werner Pirchner's 75th birthday with Franck Tortiller and Jerome Harris, recalling the Jazzzwio with Harry Pepl, among others with “Against the Wind” and “Air, Love & Vitamins”. Ö1 broadcasts the recording on 14 July 2016.
Concerts
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13 November 2015
Premiere of the “Tribute to Harry Pepl” at the Austrian Soundcheck
Graz
On Friday, 13 November 2015, Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger present for the first time their programme with Pepl's late home-studio recordings at the Orpheum extra in Graz (Styria, Austria) during the 24th Austrian Soundcheck, on the tenth anniversary of his death. The Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s largest-circulation daily, wrote that they interacted with the master “as if he were sitting on stage”.
Concerts
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14 May 2016
INNtöne Jazz Festival 2016
Diersbach
Harry Pepl (tape) with Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger played on Saturday, 14 May 2016, at the INNtöne Jazz Festival in Diersbach (Upper Austria, Austria). The four interpret Pepl’s pieces, improvise on them and respond to his recordings from his home studio, the programme of the 2015 double CD. Der Standard, a Vienna daily, announced the concert as a „formidables Beispiel“ [“formidable example”] of an engagement with history that can „delikate Ergebnisse zeitigen“ [“yield delicate results”].
Concerts
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10 June 2016
“Pepl Reloaded” at the Bruckner University Linz
Linz
At the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz, Austria, the “Harry Pepl Working Band” led by the singer and lecturer Agnes Heginger performs the evening “Pepl Reloaded”: students play Pepl’s compositions and improvise to his home-studio recordings of the Lonely Single Swinger Band, with Pepl heard on tape. The musicians include Stefan Bogensberger and Quang Huy Michael Vu (piano), Tao Deva Stingl (violin), Tobias Pöcksteiner (double bass), Michael Naphegyi and Raphael Schuster (drums), Lothar Beyschlag (trumpet), Klaus Trappl and Victoria Pfeil (saxophone), Sarah Koell (vocals) and Hasan Ibrahim (bouzouki).
Concerts
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23 September 2016
“A tribute to Harry Pepl” at the Tischlerei Melk
Melk
At the invitation of the Jazzclub Melk, Clemens Salesny (saxophone), Martin Bayer (guitar), Peter Primus Frosch (drums) and Agnes Heginger (vocals) play with Harry Pepl's home-studio tracks on Friday, 23 September 2016, at 8 p.m. at the Tischlerei Melk Kulturwerkstatt in Melk (Lower Austria, Austria); the poster lists Pepl (†) on guitar, piano, vocals and drums. The preview in the regional press called him a “giant of improvisation”.
Concerts
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24 September 2016
“Vienna Roomservice” at the Porgy & Bess
Porgy & Bess, Vienna
At the JazzWerkstatt Wien festival “Vienna Roomservice”, Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Peter Primus Frosch and Agnes Heginger play as “Harry Pepl (Tape) & Salesny/Bayer/Frosch/Heginger” on Saturday, 24 September 2016, at 8.30 pm at the Porgy & Bess, the city’s best-known jazz club, in Vienna, Austria; Möström plays on the same evening.
Concerts
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13 June 2017
“Pepl meets ProgRock” at the Kulturzentrum Hof in Linz
Linz
Almost two weeks before the evening at the Porgy & Bess, Vienna’s best-known jazz club, Agnes Heginger presents two ensembles of the Anton Bruckner Private University on Tuesday, 13 June 2017, at 8 pm at the Kulturzentrum Hof in Linz (Upper Austria, Austria), with a homage to Harry Pepl and to the progressive rock era of Yes, King Crimson and Genesis.
Concerts
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26 June 2017
“Pepl meets ProgRock” at Porgy & Bess
Porgy & Bess, Vienna
The singer and lecturer Agnes Heginger brings two ensembles of the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz to Porgy & Bess, Vienna’s best-known jazz club: a tribute to Harry Pepl with “Pepl Reloaded”, „wilder und freier österreichischer Jazz mit und inspiriert von Harry Pepl“ [“wild and free Austrian jazz with and inspired by Harry Pepl”], plus progressive rock by Yes, King Crimson and Genesis.
Concerts
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12 November 2018
Premiere of the Single Swinger Band at Porgy & Bess
Vienna
To open the concert series, Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Andi Schreiber and Valentin Duit play with Pepl's tracks on Monday, 12 November 2018, at Porgy & Bess, the city’s best-known jazz club, in Vienna, Austria; Markus Wallner handles sound and playback.
Concerts
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13 November 2018
Single Swinger Band at Tube's in Graz
Graz
On Tuesday, 13 November 2018, the quartet plays with Pepl's tracks at Tube's in Graz, Austria, as part of the Austrian Soundcheck festival. In the Kleine Zeitung, a daily newspaper from Graz, Otmar Klammer wrote of a “multifaceted excursion through the Pepl cosmos” and called Pepl the band's real fifth man.
Concerts
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15 November 2018
Single Swinger Band at the Brauhaus Breznik, Bleiburg
Bleiburg
On Thursday, 15 November 2018, the quartet plays with Pepl's tracks at the Brauhaus Breznik in Bleiburg, Carinthia, Austria.
Concerts
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16 November 2018
Single Swinger Band at the Jazzit Salzburg
Salzburg
Under the title “A Tribute To Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band”, Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Andi Schreiber and Valentin Duit play with Pepl’s tracks on Friday, 16 November 2018, at the Jazzit in Salzburg, Austria; Markus Wallner is on sound.
Concerts
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14 March 2019
Single Swinger Band at the Blue Tomato
Blue Tomato, Vienna
On Thursday, 14 March 2019, Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band plays at 8.30 pm at the Blue Tomato, a jazz club, in Vienna, Austria.
Concerts
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25 October 2019
Single Swinger Band at the Porgy & Bess
Porgy & Bess, Vienna
Concert by Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band at the Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club); recordings from it were released in 2025 on the album “Live”.
Concerts
2020s
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15 July 2020
Single Swinger Band at the Porgy & Bess
Porgy & Bess, Vienna
Concert by Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band at the Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club); recordings from it were released in 2025 on the album “Live”.
Concerts
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24 October 2020
Single Swinger Band at the Blue Tomato
Blue Tomato, Vienna
Concert by Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band at the Blue Tomato, a jazz club, in Vienna; recordings from it were released in 2025 on the album “Live”.
Concerts
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26 June 2021
Single Swinger Band at the Bambergsaal Villach
Bambergsaal, Villach
Concert by Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band at the Bambergsaal in Villach; recordings from it were released in 2025 on the album “Live”.
Concerts
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31 July 2021
Festival de Chaillol: the Tortiller and Fitzgerald-Michel duo plays Pepl
Rambaud, Hautes-Alpes, France
At the 25th Festival de Chaillol in the Hautes-Alpes (France), the duo Franck Tortiller (vibraphone) and Misja Fitzgerald-Michel (guitar) play, on Saturday, 31 July 2021, to a full house, a piece by Harry Pepl alongside their own pieces and Monk’s “Bemsha Swing”, reports Le Dauphiné Libéré.
Concerts
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25 September 2021
Les Arches en Jazz: Tortiller and Fitzgerald-Michel play “Air, Love and Vitamins”
Port-Bail-sur-Mer, Normandy, France
At the first “Les Arches en Jazz” festival in Port-Bail-sur-Mer (Cotentin, Normandy, France), the duo Franck Tortiller and Misja Fitzgerald-Michel play Pepl’s “Air, Love and Vitamins” on Saturday, 25 September 2021, at noon in the church of Notre-Dame; according to Citizen Jazz, a “gentle ballad” that leads into “a languorous meditation”.
Concerts
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30 September 2023
Concert in Syrnau
Syrnau
The band played on Saturday 30 September 2023 at 8.15 pm at the sparkasse.event.raum in Syrnau near Zwettl.
Concerts
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13 April 2024
Flip Philipp plays Pirchner and Pepl in Krems
Lower Austria
At the Salzstadl in Krems an der Donau (Lower Austria, Austria), the quartet of the vibraphonist Flip Philipp with Tobias Faulhammer, Stefan Bartus and Klemens Marktl plays the music of Werner Pirchner and his partner in the Jazzzwio, Harry Pepl, on Saturday, 13 April 2024, at the invitation of the association “That’s Jazz” and musik.aktuell.
Concerts
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14 November 2024
Flip Philipp plays Pirchner and Pepl in Bruck an der Leitha
Lower Austria
At the invitation of the cultural association Freiraum, Flip Philipp (vibraphone) plays music by Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl at the Seidl-Keller in Bruck an der Leitha (Lower Austria, Austria) on Thursday, 14 November 2024, at 8 pm, with Bertl Mayer (harmonica), Tobias Faulhammer (guitar), Pista Bartus (bass) and Klemens Marktl (drums). The NÖN, the regional weekly of Lower Austria, afterwards writes of the „Ausnahmegitarristen Harry Pepl“ [“exceptional guitarist Harry Pepl”] and of an audience listening „teilweise mucksmäuschenstill“ [“at times as quiet as a mouse”].
Concerts
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2025
The Kahr and Harms duo plays Pepl
Vienna
In the duo project “Jazz & the City (…and me)”, the pianist and jazz researcher Michael Kahr and the saxophonist Martin Harms interpret repertoire associated with musicians of Viennese jazz, among them Erich Kleinschuster, the Austrian jazz trombonist, Vera Auer, Fritz Pauer and Harry Pepl. In 2025 the duo performs at the Kultursommer Wien and records for Ö1 (the ORF's cultural radio channel).
Concerts
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11 June 2025
Jazz-Zwio 2.0 at the Treibhaus Innsbruck
Innsbruck, Tyrol
For Werner Pirchner’s 85th birthday, Matthias Legner (vibraphone) and Clemens Rofner (bass) play as “Jazz-Zwio 2.0” at the Treibhaus Innsbruck (Tyrol, Austria), twelve years after their first programme of Jazzzwio pieces.
Concerts
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28 September 2025
Concert at the Porgy & Bess
Vienna
The band, with Salesny, Bayer, Schreiber, Duit and Markus Wallner on sound, played at the Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) in Vienna on Sunday 28 September 2025, also as a stream.
Concerts
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16 December 2025
Single Swinger Band in the Open Music series at the Stockwerk in Graz
Stockwerk, Graz
Concert by Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band with Clemens Salesny, Martin Bayer, Andreas Schreiber, Valentin Duit and Markus Wallner on Tuesday, 16 December 2025, at 8 pm in the Open Music series at the Stockwerk in Graz, according to the Kleine Zeitung, a daily newspaper from Graz, the last Open Music concert of the year; the Kleine Zeitung and the Kronen Zeitung reported on Thursday, 18 December 2025.
Concerts