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I remember the whole story. Not Fantasy's finest hour; they reacted like jerks.

I listened to my LP of Vol. 3 of the "All Night Sessions" this morning again and did not hear any sonic anomalies like you describe them. FWIW, if you fancy listening in to a faint radio station "behind" the music, I'd suggest Country Routes RFD 9004 (Bob Wills - Harmony Park Airshots January 1953). 

Don't you wish they had gotten some people who really know the music to give short talks about the various developments in jazz.  And not Wynton Marsalis, who is knowledgeable and a good player but should be taken in micro-doses. Without getting too technical they could have gotten somebody like Dick Hyman to play the same thing as swing, vs bebop for example and show the characteristics and some of the nitty gritty of it.  Instead we got non-musicians, enthusiastic but vague, going on about how great various players were. We have a notion they are great; tell us why.

I remember watching the entire series of videos (they were aired on one of our TV channels and I taped them to VHS) and I was truly impressed by the historic footage. And this is one of the reasons I've kept them and why I'd like to watch them again (but am not sure I'd want to find out how the VHS cassettes have stood the test of time and whether my VHS player might foul up  so somehow keep postponing it ). But the interviews and narrations? I dunno ... And the skewedness of how and why (as if ...) the entire history of jazz could be hinged on Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington ... Oh well ... (The same goes for the accompanying book IMO, BTW, although on a different level it is an interesting and rewarding one, though to be taken with a grain of salt when it comes to how balanced the presentation of the history really is.) Overall it really looks like one of those cases of someone succeeding in the media world by placing himself in the center of attention of "key players" and multiplicators in the business, regardless of how substantial and well-founded the KNOWLEDGE he has to offer really is. But isn't that what the media business has been all about for along time? Making waves and slinging easily digestible buzzwords is what counts above all. Something substantial? Not so much .... As in most specialist areas (particularly when history and knowledge of same comes into play) there are plenty out there who are way more knowledgeable but they are not the ones who have endeared themselves with and therefore are called upon by the deciders.

One of the things Burns does is ask all interviewees certain leading questions and get them to answer in much the same way.  This becomes the thread of his story and each of the interviews sort of confirms this thread.  Never mind that it's shallow and maybe even wrong.  In the jazz series he never really discusses what's different about this music, what's going on with each development, what's good about it, etc.  It's all just glossy panning of old photos and shallow generalizations... and praise, lots of praise!  Endless clips of various talking heads enthusing about some musician without any real attempt to explain why.