Wes Phillips

In the summer of 1996, <I>SGHT</I> editor Lawrence Ullman made me an offer I couldn't refuse: "Wes," he asked, "how would you like to review M&K's new THX speaker package?"

<B>MILES DAVIS QUINTET: <I>The Great Prestige Recordings</I></B><BR> Includes: <I>The New Miles Davis Quintet</I>, <I>Cookin'</I>, <I>Relaxin'</I>, <I>Workin'</I>, <I>Steamin'</I><BR> Miles Davis, trumpet; John Coltrane, tenor sax; Red Garland, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums.<BR> Analogue Productions APJ 035 (5 LPs). 1996. Bob Weinstock, original prod.; Rudy Van Gelder, original eng.; Chad Kassem, reissue prod.; Stan Ricker, mastering eng. AAA. TT: 3:11:09<BR> Music <B>*****</B><BR> Sonics <B>*****</B>

My name is Wes and I enjoy listening to music on headphones.

A musical highlight for us at <I>Stereophile</I> in 1995 was the opportunity to record several concerts at the world-famous Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. The result was a <I>Stereophile</I> CD, <A HREF="https://secure.stereophile.com/stereophile/recordings.shtml"><I>Festiva…; (STPH007-2), which features the original chamber version of Aaron Copland's <I>Appalachian Spring</I>, Darius Milhaud's jazz-inspired <I>La cr&#233;ation du monde</I>, and the premiere recording of the 1995 Festival commission, Tomiko Kohjiba's <I>The Transmigration of the Soul</I> (see <I>Stereophile</I>, January 1996, Vol.19 No.1, p.132). We were pleased, therefore, to be asked back by the Festival in 1996. Once again we have produced a CD of live recordings, <I>Serenade</I> (STPH009-2), which features chamber works by Mozart, Brahms, and Dvor&#225;k.

"Why no review of the Ayre V-3?" queried Stephen Slaughter in July's "Letters" column, echoing several urgent posts to my e-mail address. Word of mouth on this remarkable 100Wpc amplifier was reaching fever pitch. Show reports over the last several years had sounded a consistent note—rooms that demoed with V-3s kept getting mentioned in "Best of Show" overviews. Naturally, this also meant that the pendulum had started its backward swing. "It's not really as good as people are saying," one WCES attendee confided in me. "That's why they won't give it to critics."

<B>MOZART: Piano Concertos 21 & 24, K.467 & K.491</B><BR> Eugene Istomin, piano; Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony Orchestra<BR> Reference Recordings RR-68CD (CD only). Adam Stern, J. Tamblyn Henderson, Jr., prods.; Keith O. Johnson, eng. DDD. TT: 59:34

K<I>A-SLAM!!!!</I><BR><I>thump thump thump</I>