Gigs
Harry Christelis
Harry Christelis and his quartet perform music from Preserving Fictions, a captivating blend of jazz, folk, and ambient soundscapes. Expect inventive interplay, haunting beauty, and deep emotional resonance from this remarkable group of musicians.
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, a continuation and development of his 2025 EP Half Truths (recorded during the same session), 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 his long-standing quartet of Christos Stylianides (trumpet/effects),Andrea Di Biase (double bass/synth), and Dave Storey (drums), the highly acclaimed musicians constantly 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 58-minute 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.
Line Up: Harry Christelis – guitar/effects, George Crowley: tenor saxophone/effects, Andrea Di Biase – bass/synth & Dave Story – drums
“Compelling ambient music pitched somewhere between In A Silent Way-era Miles Davis and late-era Talk Talk” – The Guardian
“Music with a serene beauty” – Kevin Le Gendre, BBC Radio 3
“Breathy and textural tones that perfectly create a sense of space and memory” – Soweto Kinch, BBC Radio 3