Entourage was a Baltimore-based hippy band made up of musicians and dancers that formed in the early 1970s and released two albums on Folkways before splitting up in the early 80s. They mixed free improvisations with jazz and various strands of communal folk and had a similar feel as 70s contemporaries like Third Ear Band or some Popol Vuh. This is the first time this live recording has been released and the sound quality is excellent considering its age, and it captures the band going through their mystic catalog to what sounds like an appreciative audience. Perhaps this might be considered proto-new age due to the band’s interest in the healing qualities of music, but the avant-garde and experimental elements make it more fascinating than that. Interestingly, Fourtet sampled Entourage’s “Neptune Rising” in their song “She Moves She” which shows how this type of music can get re-conceptualized in modern music.

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings