The man's sound was so big that it took those bigass grooves to properly capture all of it. People don't often think about Pres as having a "big" sound, but dude, he moved some air. Maybe even more than some, maybe even all. Lots of air either way. Just not as "brightly" as people had before. He maybe "sounds" "ethereal" or some such, but its really about as "ethereal" as getting swallowed up, totally swallowed up by somebody's soul coming over you through the vibrations of air not of your own making. It doesn't hit you, it envelopes you. If it was unholy, it would be like getting slimed, but it's not unholy. It's Lester Young. No slime involved, and besides, slime don't penetrate. Lester Young does. Lester Young can fuck you up like that.
But anyway, that's why them bigass grooves deliver the goods more better - because there's that much soundair there, if not even more.