Martin Winsor & Redd Sullivan

Many thanks to Niall Murphy for the digital remastering of the above album " Hosts Of The Troubadour and friends" on behalf of Redd and Martin...... ............................................................ ................................................. Since 1953, Martin Winsor and Redd Sullivan have been associated in folk music circles to the point where one name is synonymous with the other. Redd Sullivan never achieved the fame or adulation of many of his contemporaries in the folk world whose careers he helped shape, yet few had his charismatic presence or fund of material. He was a huge intimidating figure with a shock of red hair and a booming voice, developed in the noisy engine rooms of ocean liners (he had been in the merchant navy); his rich, colourful singing style made him a towering force in the influential Soho folk scene in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Yet it was his seemingly inexhaustible repertoire and his reference point for the upcoming artists of the day. Full of Cockney rhyming slang and anecdotes he had a boundless love of performing, that seemed to delight and infuriate in equal proportions. If he had a problem it was that the folk music fraternity did not always appreciate his motives, which primarily were to enjoy himself. He would not think twice about following a traditional English ballad with an Irish drinking song, then a music hall number, then a sea shanty, then a 12-bar blues all performed with rare fervour and ebullience. For a while he earned his living as a busker but became involved in the emergent folk club scene and joined the John Hasted skiffle group. The Thamesiders were formed around 1960 with Redd, Marian Gray, Long John Baldry, Pete Maynard and later on with Martin Carthy. He formed a successful partnership with Martin Winsor, touring and recording. They co-hosted at the Troubadour in Earls Court for several years. Martin Winsor was a singular performer who could get the best out of songs that were as diverse as Scottish ballads, music-hall songs, sea shanties, blues and jazz. His rich voice was heard to best effect on his own settings of the poems of Rudyard Kipling, he also had a great talent for accents, vocal mimicry and producing trumpet-like sounds from deep within his throat. He was manager of coffee bars such as the Gyre and Gimble and the Partisan where he encouraged singers, musicians and budding writers like Michael Moorcock and Colin Wilson, and found a place for Soho characters as various as Quentin Crisp, Iron Foot Jack and poet Iris I. Orton. For many years he worked for the Federation of British Folk Clubs and directed the Loughborough Folk Festival for the English Folk Song and Dance Society in the 1970's. He pursued an adventurous policy of choosing performers from different backgrounds and styles, which gave the festival a sparkle and energy which reflected his own. He received much acclaim as a performer singing "Norwich Gaol" in the role as the convict in Peter Bellamy's ballad opera The Transports. Though they had met and sang together since the early fifties, the flowering of the partnership between Martin and Redd Sullivan took place at the Troubadour. Almost all the big names of the folk scene made there way there. Martin's outspoken views, may explain why there are so few recorded examples of his work but those remaining show that not only was he a fine singer but also a great entertainer. In linking Redd and Martin it is easy to overlook Jeannie Steel, Martin's wife and long-time singing partner, and her countless gigs with him on the Continent where they had a faithful following. Redd Sullivan and Martin Winsor died two months apart in 1992.(Have a look at Pics for some great photo's.)