[S Clark]

I picked up a mono reissue of Art Blakey's "A Night at Birdland" Vol 2.  Reading the cover showed it was recorded live in Feb. 1954. But a friend has a Blue Note stereo copy, and discogs shows several early stereo pressing....
But stereo was really rare up until about '56-'57.  I just can't believe they were set up to record stereo at a club in '54.  Are these "enhanced" stereo recordings?

[dB Cooper]

I heard of an Ellington scholar who transcribed two early Ellington releases and they looked to be note for note. They realized that they had been recorded on adjacent mics and cutting decks, and if combined would yield... wait for it... stereo, decades after the original recordings were made, having been done before stereo existed. (This was from the direct-to-disc era so they could issue more pressings that way.) I don't know how they dealt with speed diffs between the two cutting machines and keeping the phase relationships correct.

That being said, I have never heard a 'enhanced-stereo' (originally mono) recording that didn't sound like crap, so they're usually easy to identify. '54, I'd say near-zero chance of it being true stereo.

[S Clark]

According to an article in the London Jazz Collector, Rudy van Gelder and Blue Note didn't start recording "two track" until 1957.
I suspect that "A Night at Birdland" was manipulated to create a "stereo" version to meet the demand for the newest and coolest thing- stereo. 
And my buddy told me it's not one of his better Blue Note recordings, while my Blue Note mono repressing is crystal clear (but disappointingly with a couple of bubbles that tic  )

https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2014/07/24/guest-post-how-they-heard-it-blue-note-records-and-the-transition-from-mono-to-stereo/

[richidoo]

It was definitely recorded in mono, since the first multitrack recorder was developed in 1955 and the first stereo phono cartridge wasn't sold until 1958. Even in 1959 Kind of Blue was recorded on 3 separate mono recorders synced together.

With the 60s demand from audiophiles for stereo, all those classic jazz albums were remastered. It's very easy to convert to stereo with reverb, delay, EQ, pan, etc. Some less subtle than others. 

Bruce Lundvall (Blue Note pres.) told me in '85 that he was at that Birdland gig and said the "atmosphere was electric." Everyone in attendance knew the significance of what they were witnessing and it affected him deeply. He and many other musicians made career decisions based on that record, as did I. 

[S Clark]

Thanks for the info and that story!  When this Covid thing is more under control, I'd love to buy you a beer or two or three and pick your brain about jazz.   

[richidoo]

Thanks, I'd love that.