May 10th, 2011 
Photo courtesy of Entropy Ensemble
Art comes in many forms and even the most unconventional locations can be the canvas for creativity.
The musical group Entropy Ensemble teamed up with Social Wine Bar and the American College of the Building Arts (ACBA)to present “Jail Break” – a presentation of textile, visual and audio art on Sunday, May 1, 2011 at the ACBA’s school, housed in the Old City Jail. Two-dimensional art pieces lined the walls of the classrooms while vendors sold wearable artwork in the form of jewelry and clothing, outside. As the sun began to fade away, Entropy Ensemble played to a rapt audience of more than 300, an audience as diverse as the art presented.
The concept to converge art of all levels was the brainchild of Entropy Ensemble’s founder Andrew Walker. The show is the natural outgrowth of what Andrew and his fellow musicians have done with their group Entropy Ensemble, which began in 2007 as a collaborative reworking of the catalogue of the popular alternative rock band, Radiohead.
Entropy Ensemble’s sound is grounded in their classical training but is undeniably more than that. The group is made up of five College of Charleston graduates: Andrew Walker (piano), Lonnie Root (cello), Javier Orman (violin), Stuart White (percussion), and Ben Wells (upright bass). All but Javier are musicians working in Charleston – Javier lives on the west coast. They each have a unique story as to how they came to their careers as musicians but they are convinced Entropy Ensemble was destined to be.
“It’s funny how much it’s changed,” Walker said during a rehearsal break. Three members, Walker, Root and Orman, spent four hours in a practice room two days before the event, fine-tuning their performance. Just as they are in sync as they play, so, too, are they when they talk. The responses flowed from one to the next, almost as if they were finishing each other’s thoughts.
“Radiohead was the canvas that brought us together,” Walker said. “That’s our Miracle Grow.”
Root: “Five people busy with music and we all keep coming back to it every time. Its not easy for us to get together.”
Orman: “We don’t try to blur the lines. What we do has to do with freedom.”
Although each of the members plays with other groups, Entropy Ensemble is special to them, in that it’s flexible and collaborative. Calling themselves, “brave young artists,” Walker says their mission is to preserve artistic creativity and that creativity has produced musical moments that the musicians and their audiences won’t find anywhere else.
Photo courtesy of Entropy Ensemble
“We want some thing honest, good and true,” says the band members.
The audience, Javier Orman believes, will leave an Entropy Ensemble concert inspired.
Orman: “We do something that changes them in one way or another. It’s what happens to us as musicians.”
Walker: “[The music] gives people confidence.”
Root: “People can tell we’re effected by what we’re doing.”
Orman completes the thought by saying, ” You’ve moved yourself and that gets to people.”
It’s apparent that the audience is moved, indeed. As Entropy Ensemble wound its way through a set of Radiohead recreations Sunday, including Airbag, Paranoid Android, Exit Music and Everything in its Right Place, the gathering sat compactly on the grass in front of the stage area. As one fan told me later, “it’s as if we’re witnessing a group just at the precipice of greatness.”
Entropy Ensemble has an ambitious summer and fall ahead. They will practice this summer for a planned tour in the fall and have plans to produce an album. Walker also plans to continue bringing together dance, visual arts and music for additional Entropy Art productions, continuing the trend of diverse, unconventional music, that Charleston has to offer.
