Brian O'Connor (2 of 2)

Interviewer: So you just said you had one more thought.

Brian: Yeah, one of many little anecdotes because I went to a lot of interviews – which is how I met many of my heroes - with Stan Britt, who was a freelance writer on jazz. But even worse than me, he did try to make money at it, but didn’t. You know, he knew more about jazz than more or less anyone else I know but he couldn’t capitalise, he had no business sense at all. But he was a brilliant interviewer. And I went along with him when he interviewed André Previn and Stan was not the most impressive of people when you first saw him: he looked as if, you know, he’d just come out of a shelter. And he shambles in and you see the look on André Previn’s face – this was repeated at many interviews – but I tell you, when Stan started talking to him, what was meant to be about a half hour interview turned into two hours because Stan was telling André Previn who he played with in the ‘50s and André Previn had forgotten, so the two were talking like mad. But just before it started, Stan had one of these old fashioned cassette recorders, battery-run. But because he was not financially successful, he didn’t like running it on the batteries: he used to like it being plugged into the mains. André Previn was sitting nearer the socket and Stan actually asked him if he’d go under the table and plug the plug into…So you’ve got this maestro, who’d looked at Stan as if he’d just come out of a shelter, scrabbling around under the table, plugging his recorder in. You couldn’t believe it! I expected him to explode. But no, he was terrific and I tell you what, by the time the interview ended, Stan had him eating out of the palm of his hand because Stan was just so good and knowledgeable, without being overbearing. He was just into chatting. But, unfortunately, he never did anything with the chats. They’ve all been recorded on cassette. They’re with British Sound Archive at the moment but, of course, they only have about one or two people working on it and it’s going to be a long time before they’re available. But a lot of classic interviews with long-gone stars that have never seen the light of day. [00:02:41]

Interviewer: You said you attended those as well.

Brian: Yeah, I attended a lot of them.

Interviewer: And did you ever actually get involved on the interview side of it?

Brian: No, again, I’m taking photos, it’s good of them to let me take photographs. I said ‘hello, how are you? Good to be here,’ and that sort of thing…sometimes the odd comment but basically I let Stan weave his magic with them because he was just so good. But it was good. And of course, you know, if we had a drink afterwards or shook hands then there was a bit more involvement. But during the basic interview I just sat and enjoyed being in the presence of a hero. Terrific stuff.

Interviewer: Thank you.