In 1954 he served on the board of the first Newport Jazz Festival and appeared at the event in his priest collar, acting as master of ceremonies for concerts and moderator of panel discussions.
His guests included national jazz figures, like Cannonball Adderley and George Shearing, among others, as well as local Boston musicians like "Boots" Mussulli, Herb Pomeroy and Al and Buzzy Drootin.
The show was popular in the New York area, and many great jazz musicians performed on it; including Duke Ellington (in a trio with Horace Silver and Johnny Hodges), The Modern Jazz Quartet, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, Bill Evans, Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson, Peggy Lee, Mongo Santamaría, Gene Krupa, and Joe Williams, among others.
O'Connor became a fixture on the New York jazz scene, and remained one even after being named director of the Mount Paul Novitiate, a church training center in Oak Ridge, New Jersey, four years later.
Nevertheless, he remained the "Jazz Priest" to the end, producing benefit concerts by Marian McPartland and other musicians for Straight and Narrow with the help of his longtime friend George Wein.