Not long ago, I bought a recent pressing of a recording titled, "Back to Back - Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues". In addition to Ellington and Hodges, it features Sweets Edison and Leslie Spann on trumpet and guitar, playing half a dozen blues standards. The pressing is very good and the treatments of tunes like Beale Street, and Weary Blues are first rate - provided you listen from an adjoining room.

The original recording was, I'm guessing, made in the late 50's or early 60's and the stereo separation was grossly overdone. The listener's perspective is that of the rhythm section with Ellington, Spann, and Hodges on the extreme right, and Edison alone on the far left. Only the bass and drums live in both channels.

Thinking how much better a mono presentation would have sounded, I decided to write the record off to Redbook format and try to mix it down. That was a lesson in humility. Given the mix I have to begin with, I've decided that it can't be done. But maybe I'm the weak link. Maybe some of you who are more clever than I have an approach which I might use to get rid of the annoying imaging. Any suggestions ?