Simon H. Fell

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Simon H. Fell (born January 13, 1959 in Dewsbury ; † June 28, 2020 ) was a British double bass player and composer ; he is best known for his work as a free improvisation musician and as a composer of complex post-serialist works.

Live and act

Fell began playing the double bass in 1973. From 1978 to 1981 he studied English literature at Fitzwilliam College of Cambridge University , and therefore has links to many poets who with the Cambridge scene to be associated (a later work, Music for 10 (0) includes settings of texts by the poet and music journalist Ben Watson ).

Shortly after graduating from Cambridge University in 1984, Fell began publishing solo albums, receiving several Arts Council (and other) scholarships to continue his music studies. He initially improvised in a trio with drummer Paul Hession and saxophonist Alan Wilkinson , which was still oriented towards free jazz and released several recordings, including Bogey’s and the group’s only studio album, foom! foom! foom! . Her sonically most extreme statement, however, was The Horrors of Darmstadt , which was published by Shock in 1994. (The title is a sarcastic quote from a BBC announcer about the temporary Darmstadt dogmas of serial music .)

Other groups in which Fell was a member are the Trio Badland (under the direction of saxophonist Simon Rose with first Mark Sanders , later Steve Noble on drums), the improvising string + percussion ensemble ZFP (with Carlos Zingaro , Marcio Mattos and Mark Sanders) and SFQ, a quartet / quintet with changing composition, in which the clarinetist Alex Ward was a constant. (Fell's 2001 version of his 70-minute SFQ composition Thirteen Rectangles was broadcast twice by the BBC and subsequently nominated for Best New Work at the 2002 BBC Jazz Awards ).

In the Trio IST (with Rhodri Davies and Mark Wastell ) he was one of the pioneering groups in the development of the ultra-quiet aesthetic that characterizes electroacoustic improvisation . Fell played in many other ensembles, including the London Improvisers Orchestra and the Company Week of Derek Bailey .

Fell crossed three musical worlds in his works, new classical music, jazz and free improvisation; he called the resulting hybrid fourth stream . He started a series of compositions called Compilation (four such projects have been published so far). In addition to professional improvisers such as Evan Parker and John Butcher , Fell often deliberately used less experienced musicians to create these pieces. Between 1998 and 2004 he also wrote numerous compositions for The London Improvisers Orchestra ( Papers , Happy Families , Köln Klang , Ellington 100 (Strayhorn 85) , Morton's Mobile , Too Busy and Three Mondrians ).

Other compositions are about

  • Kaleidocycles , a 60-minute piece for improvising double bass players and orchestra (2000)
  • Thirteen New Inventions , for piano (commissioned by Philip Thomas ) (2005)
  • Positions & Descriptions (for 18 musicians & prerecorded materials), which premiered at the 2007 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
  • The Ragging of Time (for sextet), which premiered at the Marsden Jazz Festival 2014.

Discographic notes

  • Hession / Wilkinson / Fell + Joe Morris  : Registered Firm ( Incus 1998)
  • IST: Consequences (Of Time and Place) (Confront 1997)
  • Lol Coxhill / George Haslam / Paul Hession / Paul Rutherford / Simon Fell Termite One (Bruce's Fingers CD 2000)
  • Brötzmann / Wilkinson Quartet: One Night in Burmantofts (Bo'Weavil CD 2007)
  • Chris Burn / Philip Thomas / Simon H. Fell: The Middle Distance (Another Timbre 2010)
  • IST: Berlin (Confront 2013)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary. Arlbank, June 29, 2020, accessed on July 3, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Obituary. Free Jazz Blog, June 29, 2020, accessed July 3, 2020 .
  3. ^ RIP Simon H. Fell. Avant Music News, June 28, 2020, accessed July 3, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b Simon Fell Biography. Simon H. Fell, accessed July 7, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Collage Is One of My Weapons (interview at Metropolis)
  6. ↑ a b catalog raisonné. Simon H. Fell, accessed August 17, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Fell, Simon H.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British double bass player and composer
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Dewsbury
DATE OF DEATH June 28, 2020