Martin Winch: Session Supremo Guitar Man

There can't be too many New Zealand guitarists who could confidently say they've made a comfortable living from playing their chosen instrument over a period spanning decades. Martin Winch certainly can, and now has a new album 'Guitar Song' to add to his list of credits.

You've almost certainly heard Martin Winch play, whether you realise it or not. His guitar has adorned literally thousands of TV and radio commercials such as Toyota's 'Welcome to my World' campaign. He has played with a vast array of blues, pop and jazz artists from here and abroad, toured with musicals such as Chicago, Jesus Christ Superstar and My Fair Lady, lent his fine touch to hundreds of local albums and even jammed with Nigel Kennedy. Latterly he's found genuine and quite major success with his multi-platinum selling 'Espresso Guitar' albums 1 and 2. As a man who confesses to being "...no good to myself if I'm not busy..." he has also taught jazz guitar at the Auckland University School of Music for the last five years.

While the 'Espresso Guitar' concept was one of rendering classic pop songs into an easy listening, classical guitar-based instrumental form, with his latest album release 'Guitar Song' Winch composed 10 of the 12 tracks himself.

I caught up with him at his secluded Birkdale home on Auckland's North Shore, location of Canongate Studios where 'Guitar Song' was written, produced and performed by Winch with engineering help from long-time right hand man Doug Jane. I kick things off by asking whether the runaway success of the 'Espresso' albums (sales of around 80,000 units in New Zealand and 35,000 in Australia), took him by surprise.

"What surprised me most is I've spent most of my life playing rock guitar or jazz guitar, and I ended up on a nylon string!

"It did surprise me, but see, I'm in this business to survive and I'm not interested in doing anything else. And so it was an opportunity, and if I actually like the idea I'll go after anything."

Whereas the 'Espresso' sessions were produced and arranged by Carl Doy, flush from the success of his own 'Piano by Candlelight', this time all the composition, production and performance duties were handled by Winch himself, with satisfying results.

"The thing that was starting to make me very uncomfortable was that my legacy was going to be this covers guitar player who'd had some success just playing other people's tunes. So I thought, 'Okay, if there's a market for me in that style of relaxed thing, I'll get in there and write it next time'. And I did and I'm really proud of it."

Winch did have the benefit of genuine marketing guru Murray Thom, once managing director of CBS Records New Zealand, founder of Personalised Plates, and the brains behind 'Piano by Candlelight'. Even so, it seems remarkable that they were able to tap into such a rich vein of a market. By rights you would expect there to be little room at the inn, so to speak. Winch has a valid explanation for their success.