English bassist Simon Fell was in a free-jazz trio with
drummer Paul Hession and saxophonist Alan Wilkinson, and then in another free-jazz trio named
Badland with saxophonist Simon Rose and drummer Mark Sander.
Fell also became a frequent Martin Archer collaborator, starting with his
tour de force Ghost Lily Cascade (january 1996).
Fell also formed (in 1995) the trio IST (Improvising String Trio) with cellist Mark Wastell and harpist Rhodri Davies, documented on:
Consequences (Of Time And Place) (april 1997),
Anagrams To Avoid (december 1995),
containing the eleven-minute Strim Stram Strellach and
the 13-minute Chwit Chwat Chwilen Bwgen,
the eleven-minute Ghost Notes (september 1998), containing Composition No 42 - Cubism,
New York (april 2001), which featured John Zorn on alto sax,
and various live albums:
Lodi (2002),
At The Club Room (july 1996),
Archif #13: BMIC 17/09/1997,
Archif #23: The Picket 11/11/1998,
and the five-disc A More Attractive Way (Confront, 2022), which collects live performances recorded between april 1996 and may 2000, notably the 34-minute Vivo Study I (april 1996), the 28-minute Orthographic Dissonance (february 1998), and the 26-minute Generating Contexts (may 2000).
Fell was mainly an avantgarde composer of ensemble music:
the eleven-movement Music for 10(0) - Symphony for 10 Improvisors and Poet - Op 28, 1993;
the 13-minute Mutual and Reciprocal Ceremonies - Composition No 26 - Version 2 for Tape, 1996:
the six-movement Composition No. 30 for large ensemble, 1998;
the eight-minute Composition No 42 - Cubism for IST, 1998;
Ellington 100 for the London Improvisers' Orchestra, 1999;
the 70-minute 13-minute Thirteen Rectangles, 1999, recorded in 2001 by clarinetist Alex Ward's quintet SFQ;
the five-movement Kaleidozyklen - Composition No 57 for improvising double bassist, clarinet, piano and orchestra, 2000;
the 60-minute Kaleidozyklen for improvising double bassist and orchestra, 2000;
the 51-minute Music for Strings, Percussion & Electronics in collaboration with violinist Carlos Zingaro, cellist Marcio Mattos and percussionist Mark Sanders aka the ZFP Quartet, 2000;
the 16-minute Too Busy for the London Improvisers' Orchestra, 2002;
the 24-minute quintet Composition No 62b - Gruppen Modulor 2 for Alex Ward's electroacoustic quintet, 2003;
the 17-movement Composition No 62 - Compilation IV - Quasi-concerto for Clarinet(s), Improvisers, Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra & Electronics, 2005;
the piano sonata Thirteen New Inventions, 2005;
Positions & Descriptions for 18 musicians and tape, 2007;
the seven-movement Composition No 75 for jazz ensemble, 2007;
the one-hour suite for sextet The Ragging Of Time, 2014.
Fell died in 2020.
