Mono or Stereo?

Generally I prefer mono pressings of my records, if they are available. I tend to like the sound better and, to me, they are more authentic. There are exceptions, though, and I discovered one the other day. When I was in Academy LPs last week in Manhattan I noticed a copy of this LP: La Vern Baker Sings Bessie Smith, Atlantic 1281. This is a great LP, if you are not familiar with it, featuring a swinging jazz band including Paul Quinichette, Buck Blayton, Sahib Shihab, Vic Dickenson and others. Anyway, I knew that my copy at home was a stereo pressing and the one in the store was a mono pressing with the black label, an original copy, and the price was fair, $20 if I recall. So I purchased it thinking I would upgrade the copy in my collection. I got home, cleaned the black-label copy, put it on the turntable and felt there was something missing. So I took out the stereo copy and it sounded better: Fuller, clearer and crisper. I am not an audiophile and I

generally don’t distinguish that clearly between different versions, but I heard a clear difference between these two recordings. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me on an Atlantic LP. I much prefer the stereo version of Coltrane Jazz versus the mono version. On the La Vern Baker LP, the upshot is that I’m keeping the stereo version in my collection. As for the black-label mono version: I’m keeping that as well. As I said, this is a record I like a lot. Here’s a clip to show you why, in stereo, of course:

There\’ll Be A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight