News
News from the archive: releases, broadcasts, concerts and finds.
- 19 October 2026New sources on France
Festival archives, Le Monde and the French national library document Harry Pepl's concerts with Air Mail and the Michel Portal Unit in the mid-1980s in more detail.
- 19 October 20261985 in the USA: Billboard recommends the ECM album with Werner Pirchner and Jack DeJohnette
Billboard rated the trio album “Recommended” in March 1985; DownBeat presented it on a full page in April 1985.
- 19 October 2026“Another planet”: Wolfgang Muthspiel on his teacher Harry Pepl
A 2004 thesis on Wolfgang Muthspiel documents how formative Harry Pepl was for him, with voices from Muthspiel and Jojo Mayer and a photo from 1992.
- 19 October 2026New sources: Debrecen 1979, steirischer herbst, Istanbul 1986
A Hungarian daily newspaper, the archive of the steirischer herbst festival and a Turkish jazz database document concerts by Harry Pepl between 1977 and 1986, among them an acclaimed guitar duo at the Debrecen Jazz Days in 1979.
- 19 October 2026Pori Jazz 1992: Harry Pepl with John Purcell’s Blue Brass Connection
The archive of the Pori Jazz Festival in Finland, one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe, documents three performances by Harry Pepl in July 1992, with John Purcell, Kenny Davis, Ronnie Burrage and Paul Zauner, the core of the later band Abstract Truth.
- 19 October 2026New sources from Slovenia, Croatia, the United Kingdom and Slovakia
A Slovenian daily newspaper and a Slovenian music magazine document concerts by the Jazzzwio in Ljubljana and Zagreb in October 1982, the earliest known so far in what was then Yugoslavia. They are joined by the British release week of “Cracked Mirrors” and a Slovak report on the duo with Jack DeJohnette in 1994.
- 19 October 2026In the archive of French broadcasting: concerts with Harry Pepl from 1983 to 1987
The catalogue of the INA lists concert recordings and broadcasts by Radio France and FR3 with Harry Pepl, with Michel Portal, Daniel Humair, Dave Holland, Air Mail and the quintet of Enrico Rava and Dino Saluzzi. Five concerts were previously unknown.
- 17 October 2026New: “The Paradox of Simultaneity”
How can tracks recorded alone, one after another, sound like a band improvising together? A study of Harry Pepl’s home studio recordings, with signal and listening analysis.
- 24 June 2026Ö1 Radiosession: Michael Kahr and Martin Harms
In the relaunched “Ö1 Radiosession”, the duo of Michael Kahr and Martin Harms plays Austrian jazz history, from Anton Karas to Harry Pepl.
- 4 April 2026Ö1 Jazznacht: Stefan Heckel in conversation
The pianist, Harry Pepl Prize winner and author of the dissertation on Pepl is the guest of the Ö1 Jazznacht on 4 April 2026.
- 18 December 2025Press reports on the concert at the Stockwerk in Graz
Kleine Zeitung, a daily newspaper from Graz, and Kronen Zeitung report on the Open Music evening with the band.
- 26 November 2025Austrian Jazz Award 2025: 2nd place for “Live”
The album takes 2nd place in the Best Album category at the Austrian Jazz Award (award for jazz from Austria).
- 27 October 2025Jack DeJohnette has died
The drummer who formed the 1983 ECM trio with Harry Pepl and Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, has died at the age of 83.
- 6 September 2025Ö1 Jazznacht for the 80th birthday
Christian Bakonyi devotes an edition of the Ö1 (the ORF's cultural radio channel) Jazznacht to Harry Pepl on 6 September 2025.
- 22 August 2025Album “Live” released
The album “Harry Pepl (tape) & The (Lonely) Single Swinger Band: Live” is released by Fullmax Recordings.
- 14 November 2024Flip Philipp plays Pirchner and Pepl
The vibraphonist Flip Philipp devotes a concert at the Seidl-Keller in Bruck to the music of Werner Pirchner and Harry Pepl.
- 20 June 2022Wolfgang Reisinger has died
The Air Mail drummer died unexpectedly in June 2022.
- 8 August 201950 years of ECM: Pepl rarities go digital
For the anniversary of the renowned European jazz label ECM, JazzEcho presents digitised rarities, including “Schattseite” and the trio album with Pirchner and DeJohnette.