Jazz at the Glad: Harry Christelis

A hypnotic fusion of jazz tradition with ambient electronics and immersive sonic landscapes.

Guitarist and composer Harry Christelis presents his new album, Preserving Fictions — an exploration of how music and art can serve as a means to preserve and document the seeming truths we see, hear, feel, and experience every day. This record sees Christelis delve deeper into a sound world that has become synonymous with his name, fusing elements of jazz and folk traditions with ambient drones and delicate electronic textures to create a truly immersive listening experience.

Featuring Christelis' long-standing quartet, the highly acclaimed musicians break free from their traditional roles within the jazz idiom. Instead, they embrace a deeply communal approach to improvisation, colouring, shaping, and delineating every moment of each piece together. Across the adventurous album, the listener is taken on a journey that moves through dreamy psychedelic trips, expansive soundscapes, delicate moments of intimacy, and furious bursts of energy — all seamlessly bound by a tone that holds sombre and hopeful feelings in harmonious equilibrium.

“With shades of ECM, Jon Hassell and late-'60s Miles Davis, these meditative, minimalist creations

are imbued with offbeat beauty” MOJO ****

"Compelling ambient music pitched somewhere between In A Silent Way-era Miles Davis and late-

era Talk Talk” The Guardian

“Exemplifies the very notion of innovative and progressive contemporary jazz” UK Vibe ****

“Breathy and textural tones that perfectly create a sense of space and memory” Soweto Kinch,

BBC Radio 3

“Music with a serene beauty” Kevin Le Gendre, BBC Radio 3