The Entourage Music And Theater Ensemble
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The Entourage Music and Theater Ensemble was an ambient music group. The group was active from 1970 to 1983 and performed in theaters in combination with dance ensembles.
The primary members were founder and director Joe Clark on saxophones and keyboards; Rusti Clark (no relation) on viola and guitar; Michael S. Smith on drums and percussion; and Wall Matthews on guitars, keyboards, and percussion.
Entrourage formed in Millbrook, New York, then moved to New London, Connecticut in the mid-seventies and finally settled in the Baltimore, Maryland area. The group disbanded after the sudden death of Rusti Clark in 1983.
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[edit] Recordings and Noted Performances
In the mid-seventies, Moe Asch of Folkways Records produced two recordings: Entourage (1973) and The Neptune Collection (1975). Both recordings were reissued in 2007 by Smithsonian Global Sound.
In 1976, noted choreographer Murray Louis commissioned the group to create a two-hour original score based on the ballet Cleopatra for the Royal Danish Ballet.
The ensemble was commissioned by Nebraska Public Television to create a half-hour national television special, Ceremony of Dreams in 1978.
In 2003, a composition from The Neptune Collection, "Neptune Rising", was sampled and used as the basis for the single She Moves She by the electronic music artist Four Tet.
[edit] Critical Reaction
The ensemble received mostly positive reviews. In 1974, a brief write up of the groups first recording in Stereo Magazine praised Entrourage as one of the most unique groups since The Paul Winter Consort... a beautiful album...
In his review of The Neptune Collection, Russell Shaw of Crawdaddy! magazine wrote, When Michael Smith of Entourage accentuates the eerie "Druid Dance" with a series of fists, knuckles, and finger pops, he becomes the device the pacing is voiced through. All this is part and parcel of the framework in which Entourage operates; an often sinister, but more often frighteningly intricate series of compositions adaptable for dance purposes. On their own, without visual aid, the recordings are awesomely imagistic; a maelstrom of impressions...
