Atlantic early 60's recordings: Stereo with mono fold-down?

Hello and welcome, boneman. I'm not sure that's the best way to play a trombone, there, but since you are the boneman, we'll defer to you.

In any case, I have only one stereo Atlantic LP : Rufus Harley's "Bagpipe Blues" from the mid-60's, which I enjoy very much. All of my other Atlantic LPs are mono and most are from the late 50's. There's probably no way to be sure, but my guess would be that they used a fold-down method, which would simply be the sum of both channels into a single channel, and should provide a fine, genuine mono experience.

Slide Hampton is someone I know little about other than from a few Woody Shaw LPs, which I adore. I will look this one up.

Thanks!! I appreciate the info - and it seems to confirm what I am 'homing into' the more I read. Stereo recording. In that case - I will be pursuing a stereo LP (and this is coming from a guy who likes mono and even has a mono cart, for those 'monos').

On the music front - Slide Hampton really put together a great group, with his Octet. It is incredibly nimble - and what I mean my that is, it can sound like a tight big band at one moment, and then instantly transform into vehicle for some (blistering yet soulful) solos, like a small ensemble. I've known of this album for years, but just recently re-listened to it and went "geez - that's good".

Clifford - I'll check out the LP you suggested; Pathe' discs are great, but can be hard to come by.

On the "boneman" front, Slide Hampton plays his trombone backwards (slide is moved via left arm, bell over right shoulder. 'Southpaw', so to speak. Very unorthodox in the 'bone world). Given my profile picture, my credibility on this front may be either heightened or diminished

Boneman, that's very interesting about Slide! Thanks for the insight.

gst, he's also superb on a Dexter Gordon date with Dizzy Reece done in Copenhagen in 1969, released on MPS as -- get this -- "A Day in Copenhagen." 

This is a pretty interesting record, a Czech big band date adding Slide and the John Surman Trio (with Barre Phillips and Stu Martin) for a rangy, hard-swinging set, and usually obtainable cheaply.

Hello and welcome (to the forum, anyway)!

The album jacket indicates that Tom Dowd recorded this album. Tom Dowd was one of the early adopters of 8-track technology (I'm pretty sure his first 8-track recordings go back as far as 1957), so I'd be willing to bet that this album was recorded to 8-track tape, then distinct stereo and mono master tapes would have probably been made before lacquers were cut (I doubt they skipped this step). So for albums recorded by Dowd from the late-50s and early 60s, stereo and mono both have their own "true" and dedicated mixes...that's my understanding, anyway.

By the way: I can't get enough Curtis Fuller so I guess I'm a 'bone fan.