Harry Sokal


When speaking of Harry Sokal, you are referring one of the most outstanding and complex personalities of Austrian jazz music. There are only a few musicians from the past few decades who have had such an influential impact on the local music scene as this Vienneses saxophonist. There is hardly any international significant jazz ensemble in which this award winning musician, and, as described by music experts, “most important post-coltrane saxophonist in Europe” has not been involved. Harry Sokal is a virtuoso, who creates his own free space and to whom the words “fear of contact” are a foreign term. No matter what formation he currently collaborates with, his distinctive, very soulful, stylistically diverse, but always very clear performance gives each composition its distinctive sound.

Is it only the instrumental virtuosity that lets a musician stand out? Or is there far more required to let an independent artist position himself? Maybe it also needs courage to leave already trodden ways to have the freedom for new paths. No doubt, Harry Sokal belongs to the class of musicians who defend themselves with a vengeance from, even for a brief moment, being categorized and do not want to put up with the danger of losing themselves in repetitions, and avoid this by consistently tackling new musical projects. In addition to his instrumental skills, it is his pronounced openness to new ideas, which have made the Vienna-born one of the greatest musicians of this country. No matter whether as a solo artist or as a member in a formation, the exceptional saxophonist presents himself as an artist who is often one step ahead of his time.

An adherence to traditional jazz standards is not really Harry Sokal’s thing. The saxophonist does not see music as one closed system, subdivided into different segments, but rather as a broad field that has to be artistically adjusted. What especially distinguishes the award-winning musician, is his enormous versatility and an almost non-exuberant joy of experimentation, thus also reflected in the immense range of his musical understanding. A central component of his music is improvisation and the energetic communication with his fellow musicians. His pieces often only get their final form after the interaction. It is the spontaneous creative process itself, which gets its tension from very lyrical, stylistically clean lines and expressive sound scapes. Harry Sokal himself says: “I try to present as many colors as possible in my music and to combine a wide range of expressions and styles, to reach as many people as possible.”

Born in Vienna in 1954 and playing the piano since the age of six, Harry Sokal first studied clarinet and music theory at the Vienna Conservatory, before he opted for the saxophone. In the 70s, he toured with alternating formations to Hungary and Greece and worked for Andre Heller in 1975. From 1977 on, he performed many years with his own band “Timeless”. At the same time, the saxophonist was also a member of the Vienna Art Orchestra and remained there, with brief interruptions, until its dissolution in 2010. Harry Sokal gained major international fame with the now legendary Art Farmer Quintet, where he was a member from 1979 to 1999. Unforgettable is his time with the equally legendary Austrian-Swiss formation Depart. In the course of his career, the international reputation of Viennese grew with collaborations with jazz greats, such as Art Blakey, Dave Holland, Wynton Marsalis, Terje Rypdal, Daniel Humair, Michel Portal, Mike Richmond, Minu Cinelu, Friedrich Gulda, Idris Muhammad, Joe Zawinul, Harry Pepl, Jene Jackson, Andy Mc Kee and many more.

Despite the many, many successful years in the highly competitive music business,  the today’s 57-year old does not think about retiring. Harry Sokal still travels the world’s stages  with a lot of enthusiasm and an immense love for music. Currently, the saxophonist is touring through Europe with his new band project “Groove”, together with the organist Raphael Wressnig and drummer Lukas Knöfler.

Michael Ternai

Photos Harry Sokal: R. Rygalik

http://www.harrysokal.com