Ian Carr :

‘My Funny Valentine’

(Ian Carr, trumpet; Nico, vocals, harmonium; keyboards, James Young; Graham Dids, perc)

Camera Obscura, Nico + the faction, 1985

IC: I don't know who that trumpet player was.

TC: Any good?

IC: Yes I think he was good.

TC: It's a guy called Ian Carr.

IC: (laughs) What? Is it really me? It sounded a bit too good for me. God, that was really good. I remember the session. The producer was John Cale...

TC: Founder of the Velvet Underground.

IC: I remember, Cale wasn't hard to work with, but he was one of those guys who always want to try something else, even when you know it's done. But we did this in one take. I was playing flugelhorn, and they put a lot of sound on it. I don't remember it, I never got a copy of the record, but a reviewer in Melody Maker praised this unknown trumpet player!

TC: It was either going to be this track or the track you did with No-man: they were very complimentary about you in the Wire, saying about how Nucleus were doing in Europe what Miles was doing in America, and what an influence you were.

IC: Well, thank you very much; when you get a pat on the back like that, it does wonders for your feelings about yourself, because a lot of the time, it's like sending messages in a bottle, you can't tell if it's survived!

TC: Ian, thanks very much.