At the beginning of June, I heard that Simon Fell was seriously ill in hospital with advanced cancer. Sadly, and shockingly, he deteriorated very quickly and passed away at the end of that month.

Simon was a portal for me into improvised music. In May 1994, I chanced upon a concert by Peter Brötzmann, Willi Kellers, Alan Wilkinson and Simon Fell at The Grapes Inn, Sheffield and I was blown away. The next time I saw Simon play was a year later at Dr Brown’s pub in Huddersfield, this time with Alan Wilkinson and Paul Hession. The music was extreme, visceral and life affirming. As Simon said of the trio in an interview with Ben Watson: “We are not afraid to go too far. That’s what makes other people’s music fragmented – people want to vary the picture. We’ll have a climax and carry it further, instead of saying, Phew look at that! We say, Sod good taste – go for more!” (The Wire 93, November 1991).

After the gig at Dr Brown’s, I plucked up the courage to talk to Simon and ask if we could play together. In a typical instance of his generosity of spirit, he said yes, and the next day we met and played: it propelled me into 20 years of engagement with improvised music.

Simon always played his bass with great energy and commitment to the moment. He played with unfettered abandon and precision, with a beatific look on his face. Simon would often thrust himself past the edge of physical comfort in performance, especially when playing with the group Descension (with Charles Wharf, Tony Irving and Stefan Jaworzyn). I loved listening to Simon recounting his experience of the legendary gig supporting Sonic Youth in 1996 and the riot that ensued.

Simon and I have played together in so many formations over the years: The Simon Fell Septet at the Purcell Room (1996); as part of the infamous Butch Morris conduction tour of the UK (1997); as part of Derek Bailey’s Company in Marseille and New York (1999 and 2001), and as part of The London Improvisers Orchestra (1998–2000). I have performed countless of his compositions and been part of his ambitious big band formations and recorded projects. Many were memorable but his BBC Radio 3 commission Positions & Descriptions (2007) for Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival was an immense and sophisticated realisation of his quest to achieve a syntheses of contemporary composition, improvisation and jazz. He honed this part of his work throughout his career and his Compilation series epitomise this endeavour the most. Here he explains his motivations to Julian Cowley: “Why can’t you have great jazz, great improvisation and great contemporary classical music all at the same time? I’ve discovered all the hundreds of thousands of reasons why not as I’ve gone along, still trying to make it happen, still hoping to one day square that circle. I’ve tried to do the same thing in more subtle ways in my composed work for as long as I can remember.” (The Wire 198, August 2000)

Performing Simon’s pieces was always a welcome challenge. Musicians would be asked to shift quickly between very complex notation, graphic scores and free improvisation, all under his demanding and critical gaze. Mark Sanders wrote recently of his experience working with Simon: “Simon was a one off, his faith in the musicians was amazing, I’ll miss the rehearsals, he would always say at the start ‘don’t worry about the written music being difficult, it’s just part of the journey...’ then count us in... then shout ‘No no no no not like that!’ He’d glance at me to see me smile and raise his eyes to the ceiling. He worked us hard but I always enjoyed it.”

I played with Simon most notably as part of the trio IST, with Mark Wastell, where we played a combination of semi-composed pieces and free improvisation. In 1995, when we first played as a trio together, I was so ecstatic, and drove back from Chelmsford to London in some kind of delirious state. And I was so happy when I found out that the music from that first meeting would appear on an LP called Anagrams To Avoid (1997). We played many extraordinary concerts together: as support for Derek Bailey and John Zorn at the Barbican (2000), a stunning concert at the Tempio Civico Dell'Incoronata, Lodi (2002), and at the Total Music Meeting, Berlin (2001). It was in 2001 while playing at Tonic in New York with IST and Company that Butch Morris came up to Simon and me, gave us a hug, and invited us to play on the following night for his Conduction #118. This only added more delight to what was already for me an amazing series of concerts.

Simon would always do what was necessary to get his projects off the ground and was a meticulous organiser and record label boss. In 1983 he formed the Bruce’s Fingers label and as his website proudly states he published “37 years of pathologically independent releases”. Simon often came up with inventive tag lines for his label such as “MUSIC OUTSIDE FASHION”. The label included an impressive roster of musicians: Keith Tippett, Alex Ward, Su Lyn, Sarah Gail Brand, Marilyn Crispell, Chris Burn, Edith Alonso, Martin Archer, Joe Morris and Steve Noble. Among my favourite releases are his beautiful field recording cassettes as part of his Field Series 1–6 and the wonderful CD Playing With Tunes by Something Else with Simon, Mick Beck and Paul Hession.

Simon was thoroughly ethical in his approach to music making and to collective work. He was a great mentor and he set the bar high, as he should have. He was an insightful and critical intellectual who could dissect and respond eloquently to what was going on around him. This is evidenced in his long detailed letters to me as well as in his articles, “Report On The Composition Of Improvised Music, 1 To 4” published in Rubberneck magazine. Simon studied English literature at Cambridge University and it left its mark on his music: “When I read a poem I pick up on multiplicity, polyvalence, ambiguity. A possibility of multiple readings. It’s my feeling that compared to modern poetry, or the fiction of Joyce or Beckett, music is too clear-cut, too two-dimensional, on account of its time-based nature.” He recalls a lecture by the distinguished poet JH Prynne, and being “amazed at the many different ways he could find of reading through a four-line extract. It led into a new dimension. I’m trying in my music to reintroduce some of the element of listening as an active contribution.” (The Wire, August 198)

He was later able to map out his analysis more fully in his doctoral thesis at Huddersfield University, “A more attractive ‘way of getting things done’ freedom, collaboration and compositional paradox in British improvised and experimental music 1965–75” (2017).

Simon and his wife Jo moved to St Dizier-Leyrenne in France around 2004 and started a new life for themselves where Simon connected deeply with many French musicians. Jo Fell is an artist in her own right and a wonderful and sensitive photographer. Her photographs always appeared on Simon’s records and examples of her work can be found in her beautiful publication Improvisers 1988–1998. Jo also built Simon a beautiful five string double bass and I remember Simon proudly pointing out the detail, craft and care that had gone into building the instrument.

Simon and I were in touch several times earlier this year, planning future record releases, as well as IST’s 25th year celebratory concert, which was planned for April 2021 at the Hundred Years Gallery, London. We were also planning for him to come to Swansea and play. Simon was dedicated, rigorous, virtuosic and I will miss his friendship, conversation, humour and his music terribly.

Rhodri Davies’s musical dedication For Simon Fell can be found on the AMPLIFY 2020 Quarantine Bandcamp page. Profits will be donated to Jo Fell.

Jo Fell’s Improvisers 1988-1998 is available via Bandcamp, and Mark Wastell has released a fundraising record of IST performing live at Club Room, London, in 1996.