A New Devon Record Label is Born

A new record label for original music has been born in these parts.

Nightjar Records is a vinyl and downloads record label formed on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon to showcase new and original music from the region. The label is the creation of artist-musician Marcus Vergette. He features alongside a growing roster of artists from the world of jazz, experimental and improvised music. “The purpose of Nightjar Records is to share this music with you, get more gigs for these wonderful musicians, and make more music,” says Marcus. The label has some criteria: anything released can be performed live and it will make vinyl records (using a company making records from eco-vinyl to minimise Nightjar’s footprint).

The Farm is the first release on the label and is a long-player by Marcus that paints a portrait of the life on the land he nurtures near Dartmoor.

The Farm features literal field recordings, including the sounds of birdsong…and hoverflies, as well as Marcus on bass, Matthew Bourne on piano, Steve Buckley on penny whistle, lyrics by England’s Poet Laureate Ted Hughes as well as some endangered 15th century bells.

“The first song, 31 birds, is the dawn chorus, and the bells that Steve Buckley’s whistle accompanies at the end are the evening chorus, so the whole thing is a bit like a day in my mind,” says Marcus.

Fellow Devonian jazz artist Kate Westbrook has also penned lyrics for the record. Marcus is a regular in the band she appears in with husband Mike Westbrook. The Westbrooks’ legendary contribution to the UK’s jazz and avant-garde stretches back for decades, as does Marcus’s collaboration and friendship with the pair.

The Farm is available for sale as a vinyl LP or as an album download on the label’s Bandcamp site here: www.nightjarrecords.org

Multitasker Marcus in the media

Marcus is a sculptor, bellmaker and fine artist, an environmentalist farmer as well as a bass-player. And these elements are woven through The Farm – and Nightjar Records. His campaign to save the bells of Highampton – which pre-date Michaelangelo and feature on The Farm  – was covered earlier this year on BBC Radio 4. Hear the programme here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0027tdw

Other artists on the roster at Nightjar Records

Copper Sounds – an artist duo who make their own bells and “use traditional and contemporary processes to explore the physical and visual nature of sound”. 05Ric – multi-instrumentalist, ace percussionist, vocalist and performance artist Emma Kate Matthews – “composer, artist, architect, musician”, Goldbeard – a transtonal electronica duo , Tom Unwin – pianist, composer, arranger, with filmic qualities and a cinematic view of jazz. His projects including The King Tut Trio and The Blow-Up and Mama Tokus – a soulful jazz, soul songwriter and spoken word artist

Next up for Nightjar Records

Marcus’s work appears in an exhibition that opened at Make Southwest in Bovey Tracey on March 21 in Devon called Sound & Silence. There will be a live performance of The Farm album at the gallery on Friday 4 April, with Marcus and fellow Nightjar Records artists Copper Sounds and Emma-Kate Matthews. Learn more and buy tickets here

Marcus performs with The King Tut Trio and The Blow-Up and their live albums will be released later this year on Nightjar Records. They will be continuing their residency at Plymouth’s Cafe Momus on Sunday 6 April. More details: https://wegottickets.com/mamatokus

UK Jazz News have covered Marcus and his work in an article that states “A record label that harnesses just some of that creative energy should be one to watch” Read the full piece here:https://ukjazznews.com/marcus-vergette/