drums, percussion
Wolfgang Reisinger
1955 – † 2022
Member of Air Mail and drummer on “Schönberg Improvations” (1990). In 2010 he called Pepl “a real genius” and the first of the great musicians from whom he could learn a lot. As Pepl's son Daniel Pepl remembers, he often came to Hernstein, Lower Austria, Austria, to make music, for joint projects and for drum recordings in the home studio.
Drummer. According to Kohler, he initiated the founding of Air Mail.
Voices
To me he was a Franz Schubert kind of guy: incredibly beautiful songs, but of the highest quality, and the next moment completely bizarre and jagged.
The drummer Wolfgang Reisinger. “Schubert Franzl” is the affectionate Viennese way of referring to Franz Schubert (1797 to 1828), the Viennese composer celebrated for his songs
It was an extreme pull. Suddenly playing with someone who stands up there, two floors above us, steps on the gas so confidently and carries everything along with him.
Time and again I have had the good fortune to meet great musicians from whom you could really learn a lot, and the first of them was definitely Harry Pepl. He was a real genius and a great guitarist, with an energy and seriousness that showed you where things could go.
I still remember well how we once came off the stage, John Scofield went on, and in passing he said to Harry, ‘I’ll kill you!’. Those are the little experiences you don’t forget. That really was a totally hot band back then.
showed me how it’s really done
An Austrian idiom, literally “where Bartl fetches the cider”: the drummer names Pepl as the first musician who showed him how it is really done, alongside only the German jazz pianist Joachim Kühn and the US saxophonist Dave Liebman
Recordings together
Listen and watch
AirMail - Live At Amiens Jazz Festival 1986
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Airmail: Die alte Mär und das Mann (Jazzspelunke Wien, 30.03.1985) (Live at Jazzspelunke Wien, 1985)
“Die alte Mär und das Mann” (Harry Pepl), 11:01, live recording of Airmail at the Jazzspelunke in Vienna on 30 March 1985: Harry Pepl (guitar), Wolfgang Puschnig (alto saxophone, flute), Mike Richmond (bass), Wolfgang Reisinger (drums). Fullmax Recordings, 2020 (ISRC ATPK12000131). According to Daniel Pepl it shows the band’s uncanny interplay; prepared in 2020 for the Ö1 radio programme.
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Harry Pepl: Eastern Island Ears (Schönberg Improvations, 1990)
“Eastern Island Ears” (Harry Pepl), 3:47, from the album “Schönberg Improvations” (Amadeo, 1990; MIDI guitar and Atari computer with Bösendorfer 290SE grand piano, Dave Liebman, Wolfgang Reisinger). Prepared in 2020 as a suggested listening tip for the Ö1 radio programme.
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Harry Pepl: Herbstzeitlose Arbeitslose (Schönberg Improvations, 1990)
“Herbstzeitlose Arbeitslose” (Harry Pepl), 2:47, from the album “Schönberg Improvations” (Amadeo, 1990), with Johannes Enders (tenor saxophone). Prepared in 2020 for the Ö1 radio programme.
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In the chronology
- 1983 Air Mail finds its line-up
- 11 June 1984 Air Mail in Moers
- 2 February 1985 Recording of “Prayer for Peace”
- 30 March 1985 Air Mail at the Jazzspelunke
- May 1986 Air Mail at the Amiens jazz festival
- 10 May 1986 Air Mail at Jazz sous les pommiers in Coutances
- 14 May 1986 Air Mail at the New Morning, Paris
- 24 May 1986 Air Mail in St. Gerold
- 19 June 1986 Air Mail at the Hotel Sonne, Landeck
- 26 September 1986 Air Mail at the Bilsak Jazz Festival in Istanbul
- November 1989 Recording of “Schönberg Improvations”
- 7 February 1990 Presentation concert for “Schönberg Improvations”
- 14 July 1990 “What It Is” with Thomas Pernes at the Wiesen jazz festival
- May 1993 Air Mail re-forms
- 5 December 1997 INNtöne Festival with Michel Portal
- 19 March 2006 JazzWerkstatt Wien: In memoriam Harry Pepl
In the press
- 11 June 1984 moers festival, Festivalarchiv (online): Archiv 1980 bis 1989: 11. Juni 1984, Eissporthalle
- 15 April 1986 Tempo (Paris), Nr. 3: „En concert: tous les programmes jusqu’à fin juin“
- 10 May 1986 Jazz sous les pommiers, Festivalarchiv (online): „Air Mail“ (Programm der 5. Ausgabe, Samstag, 10. Mai, 21 Uhr, Théâtre)
- 15 May 1986 Radio France, „Concert de jazz“ (Mitschnitt im INA-Katalog): „Concert de Air Mail“
- 15 May 1986 Radio France, „Concert de jazz“ (Mitschnitt im INA-Katalog): „Concert de jazz : [émission du 00/00/00]“
- 20 June 1986 Gemeindeblatt für den Bezirk Landeck, Nr. 25: „Jazz-Formation »Air Mail« gastiert in Landeck“
- July 1986 Jazz Hot, Nr. 432: „Du jazz sous les pommiers“
- July 1986 Jazz Hot, Nr. 432: „Amiens : le temps du jazz“
- 26 September 1986 Bizim Caz, Datenbank des Jazz in der Türkei (online): „Air Mail“, Şan Tiyatrosu, 2. Bilsak Caz Festivali
- 8 March 1988 APA-Basisdienst (Austria Presse Agentur), Rubrik APA JAZZ NEWS: „Jazz aus Österreich“
- September 1988 Jazz Festival Willisau, Programmheft 1988: „Jazz in Willisau: Coming Dates“
- February 1990 Tschin Bumm (Musikmagazin, Rubrik Technik, S. 52): „Harry Pepl im Studio: Das Bösendorfer-Projekt“
- 19 May 1993 Der Standard (Seite S5, Rubrik „Veranstaltungen zum Vorausplanen“): „Frische Luftpost“
- 10 December 1997 Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt (Seite 28): „World Groove Music mitten im Innviertel“
- 2001 Concerto (Musikmagazin), Ausgabe 5/2001, Seite 54: „Fünf Variationen österreichischer Jazzkunst“ (Austrian Jazzart)
- December 2005 Intervals, Newsletter von David Liebman (Website): „Passings: Harry Pepl“, Intervals Volume 14, Nr. 1
- 2006 Jazzzeitung (Seite 6): „Ciao Habanero“ (Harry Pepl 1945 bis 2005)
- 15 March 2006 APA-Basisdienst (APA0260, Kultur): „Starke Töne: JazzWerkstatt Wien lädt wieder zum Festival ins WUK“
- 6 May 2010 mica – music austria (Online): „Porträt: Wolfgang Reisinger“
- 10 June 2022 Ö1, Spielräume (Sendungsseite auf orf.at): „Nachruf auf Wolfgang Reisinger“
- 10 September 2026 Facebook (Thomas Palme): „...noch eine Harry Pepl Story zu seinem heutigen 81 Geburtstag“