Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » SFQ: Thirteen Rectangles

SFQ: Thirteen Rectangles

Item: Thirteen Rectangles
Rating: 0
Author: Glenn Astarita

By Glenn Astarita
December 26, 2002
View read count

Long hailed as one of the finest bassist/composers to grace Britain’s always flourishing modern/free jazz arena, Simon H. Fell has released much of his most prolific work on his Bruce’s Fingers label. With this outing, he leads a quintet through fourteen interrelated pieces, distinguished by various degrees of momentum and complex, harmonic formations. As Fell states in the liners, “ The structure of the work is derived from the 1930 painting by Wassily Kandinsky known in English as Thirteen Rectangles. "

Fell and associates implement geometrically inclined themes to coincide with gobs of heated and/or subdued improvisational episodes. The band can also swing, amid abstract doses of traditional jazz concepts and free style opuses. The bassist enables his musical associates with the ability or option to reconfigure themes and time signatures. Fell provides the instrumentalists with a great deal of flexibility – where they can veer off and alter the inherent compositional forms, yet not stray too far off course. This compelling effort should rouse the interests of the avant-gardists, modernists and whomever else might be up for the occasion. (Recommended...)

Bruce’s Fingers

FOLLOW Glenn Astarita and get notified whenever a new article published.
Glenn is a senior writer and editor at All About Jazz.

Track Listing

1.Start Frame + Soft Hard (interpolation 1) 2.Rectangle 1 3. Rectangle 2 4. Rectangle 3 5. Rectangle 4 & 5 6.Rectangle 6 7. Rectangle 7 8.Soft Hard (interpolation 2) 9. Rectangle 8 10. Rectangle 9 11. Rectangle 10 12. Rectangle 11&12 13. Rectangle 13 14.Soft Hard (interpolation 3) + end frame

Personnel

Sfq

Alex Ward: clarinet

Album information

Title: Thirteen Rectangles | Year Released: 2002 | Record Label: Bruce's Fingers

About Sfq

PREVIOUS / NEXT

I'm Back in Therapy and It's All You...
< Previous

Mr. Dodo
Next >

Become a Sustaining Member

Since 1995, All About Jazz has championed jazz as an art form and supported the musicians who create it. Over three decades, it has grown into one of the world's leading jazz resources, serving hundreds of thousands of readers, musicians, presenters and industry professionals each month.

Help Build the Future of All About Jazz

Your support helps us continue building All About Jazz for the next generation—expanding our editorial coverage, preserving jazz history, developing new community features and creating better ways to discover the music and the people behind it.

Become a sustaining member for as little as $20 per year and you'll immediately enjoy an ad-free experience along with access to subscriber features and future articles for a full year.

Together, we're not simply sustaining All About Jazz—we're building its future. Thank you for being part of the journey.