Older Jazz recordings


Help me understand something with older Jazz recordings. I really do enjoy jazz more and more, but I am also an audiophile. I have been listening to more jazz recently. I often search for "top jazz albums of all time" on google and then listen on Qobuz. But I am wondering why some of these older jazz albums have no soundstage? Like last night I was listening to Somethin Else by Cannonball Aderly. It is great album. If I just casually listen as I am working or playing billiards or something, it sounds great, but when I sit and listen on my system everything, every instrument was center focus, no separation. Just trying to understand why a lot of older jazz recordings are like this. I know I have listened to several where all I heard was sax from the left speaker and piano and drums from the right with absolutely nothing in between. I have other older recordings from Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck that sound fabulous and have a nice laid out soundstage as well. Just trying to understand why some of these great recordings sound so closed in or almost mono.
Thanks
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Showing 1 response by lowrider57

Right, the center image are mono recordings.

Alternatively, early stereo had three channels, left, center, right. So you hear hard left and hard right instruments.