The Montalban Quintet began with an accidental collision. The resulting train wreck is a collection of music a decade in the making. Over the past 20 years, I have always been a part of concurrent musical projects. This was primarily rooted in having extremely diverse interests. Through studying Jazz and “New Music” at UCSD, new intellectual possibilities became apparent to me. Working with repetitive tape loops and droning modes have been the foundation for a good deal of our music. I have been trying to take small bits of musical information and then tweaking it in ways to create expansive, yet often structured, forms. Some formal and/or melodic material comes from jazz masters, while other pieces lean heavily on the work of the minimalist movement. The instrumentation of the group relies heavily on horns and improvised sections, the Montalban Quintet is not a “jazz band” per se. The recorded loops that lie at the songs’ foundation become a force in the rhythm section, adding tension at some times and solidifying the rhythmic pulse at others. The various academic explorations have combined with my past of touring and recording with post-punk/indie groups, ultimately helping to define the sound of the Montalban Quintet. Each member of the collective brings unique disparate elements and it’s been a pleasure watching this thing shape over the past few years.  – Chris Prescott

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