The world is flat. Or so proclaims New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman in his new book of that name about globalization. Technology and market forces have contributed to a major "flattening" of the world in recent years, and the consequences (economic, political and cultural) are staggering.

     At this point, you may be wondering what this has to do with a jazz recording by Armen Nalbandian, but in essence, it has EVERYTHING to do with this music, what it encompasses, who produced it, and where it came from.

     First, jazz itself might be called the world's first truly multi-cultural musical genre (or at the very least the most hyper-cultural genre), and that spirit is present in this recording. Western European classical influences rub up against spirituals, the blues, Latin tinged boleros, New Orleans second line beats, and I'm sure musicologists more talented than I could spot many other influences from across the globe. Jazz is very interesting in this regard because with the right artist, the music is able to absorb virtually anything you throw at (or in) it, and thrives on the subsequent fusion of ideas and sounds.

     Second, as it approaches its second century (at least in recorded form), jazz is truly a global musical form. Now this is nothing new, American jazz artists have been touring the globe since virtually the beginnings of the music, and we've had great jazz artists come out of virtually every continent for well over sixty years. But things today ARE different, in a way that Mr. Friedman might understand. Thanks to the apparently irrepressible forces of globalization, jazz is everywhere in the places you might not expect to find it, and is increasingly difficult to find in the places it once thrived ("jazz" festivals, record stores, radio, American "jazz" clubs, etc). But thanks to jazz education, affordable intercontinental jet travel, the internet, and the compact disc, the jazz musicians you'll find in some far off corner of the globe might be just as good as many of their American counterparts, and more than a few are probably even better.

     British writer Stuart Nicholson has raised a similar point in his recent book Is Jazz Dead? (Or Has It Moved to a New Address). While I think Nicholson takes an overly simplistic view of the US jazz scene, there is no question that jazz, much like baseball, is truly an international game these days, with location and nationality meaning less and less every year. New York might still be the "jazz capital of the world" but the days of a jazz musician moving to New York out of necessity are waning. It is clear that in today's jazz world, you can make great music, and play with excellent musicians just as easily, if not more so, living in Bangkok, Madrid, or some random medium sized American city.

     Armen Nalbandian is living proof of this phenomena, that you don't have to move to New York any more if you want to pursue your art. Born in London to Armenian parents, he was raised and still lives in Fresno, California's fifth largest city, in the middle of the world's most productive and richest agricultural region, the great Central Valley. Fresno isn't thought of by most people as being a jazz center, yet it's about three hours away from either of the two major jazz destinations on the west coast, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and thanks to those ever present forces of global "flattening" isn't any more removed from the rest of the jazz world than anywhere else. Today, great jazz can happen in Fresno just as easily as it can in the more traditional urban jazz destinations.

     Now granted, Fresno lacks many of the major jazz amenities that those larger destinations offer, but the music on this CD proves that you don't have to be in New York or Philadelphia any longer to create interesting, thought provoking and yes, swinging, jazz. As musical director at the Fresno Art Museum, Armen's projects are as ambitious and bold as those I've seen anywhere else. Every month Armen's ensemble presents a concert (sometimes more than one) of original music at the Fresno Art Museum inspired by the modern art on display at that particular time. That's over 200 original compositions in less than 2 years. And the vast majority aren't "simple" reworkings of old warhorses like All the Things You Are, or imitations of other jazz works. Ask the musicians, and they'll tell you this is challenging music, some of those compositions appear on this CD.

     Recorded in January 2006, this CD documents an interesting point in the development of this trio, featuring Brian Hamada (drums) and Kevin Hill (bass). The three (with Armen playing piano) have worked together for some time as a rhythm section, most often in the Rhythms of Art performances, but rarely if ever just as a trio. "This recording session was really where things started coming together as an ensemble, developing our own sound," says Armen. "I've played a lot in the quartet/quintet format, and also a lot in the solo piano format, but rarely in a trio setting. This is something I've always wanted to do, and I'm excited about how we're coming together as a group."

     "The entire session was four hours, including rehearsal," says Armen. "Almost all of the tunes are first takes, and many of them we were sight reading, so it has a certain feeling of immediacy to it. For example, the Wynton Marsalis tune, Skipping wasn't planned to be on this record, but I was listening to the cd The Magic Hour on the way to the studio, and decided I wanted to include it, so I sketched it out right there in the studio from memory, and we played it."

     The CD opens with Oska T, a relatively obscure composition by Thelonious Monk. Those who know it, probably know it from Monk's Big Band and Quartet in Concert album, recorded at Philharmonic Hall for Columbia. According to All Music Guide, only seven other jazz artists have tackled this rather unknown Monk gem on record, (compare that with over a thousand versions of Round Midnight). Armen first heard the piece in the film Straight No Chaser, and adapted his arrangement from the one featuring Monk's large ensemble, transcribing Monk's voicings for the band for piano. A deceptively simple eight bar form over one basic chord, the song was supposedly titled as a sly reference to the British pronunciation of the phrase "ask for tea". Some have also suggested that it is a reference to noted jazz disc jockey Oscar Treadwell (real name Art Pedersen) who was also honored by Charlie Parker (An Oscar for Treadwell) and Wardell Gray (Treadin' with Treadwell). Incidentally, Treadwell has recently returned to air airwaves of WXVU in Cincinnati, hosting an evening jazz show there.

     Armen's version of the tune is a taken a bit slower than Monk's, and develops into a nice loping swing groove, propelled by the always tasteful Brian Hamada at the drums. Listen as Armen digs into the song's blues tonality towards the end of his solo, block chords and all, showing quite a contrast from his more typical right hand descending chromatic lines.

     Armen follows the Monk number with an original, Camouflage. "This song is all about the chord structure, it's very complex, and doesn't move in the way that you might expect, which makes it very challenging for the musicians," says Armen. "I was listening to a lot of Wayne Shorter at the time I wrote this (for the March 2005 Rhythms of Art concert) and I think you can hear some of that in this tune."

     Dormant, takes it's influence from another source, progressive jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas. "I wrote this melody, and it just sounded like something Dave Douglas might play, and I think that's a very interesting approach," says Armen. I also sense a bit of a Monk influence on this one, a feeling helped along by Brian Hamada's highly syncopated cymbal work.

     Dormant is followed by a version of the standard, Comes Love, by Lew Brown, Sam Stept and Charles Tobias. "I love Billie Holiday's version of this tune, but because it's so perfect I wanted to do something else with it," says Armen. The result is a number which owes as much to Ahmad Jamal as it does to Holiday, with it's second line beat, a la Vernell Fournier on Jamal's 1958 recording of Poinciana. It's a good fit, and lends a slightly exotic air to the tune's minor tinged melody, resolving to a swing feel on the bridge.

     Another rarely played standard, the Gershwin's He Loves, and She Loves, also makes an appearance, and is given a tender and lyrical reading for the album's only true ballad performance. "I fell in love with this song after hearing Tony Bennett's version of it, and not many people play it today, so I thought it would be a good fit," says Armen.

     December Song,in both composition and performance, brings to mind the post bop trio work of musicians like Mulgrew Miller and Cedar Walton, and features one of Armen's most aggressive solos on the record, filled with long chromatic lines, and percussive punctuations. As on the other tunes, Hamada and bassist Kevin Hill swing mightily. This original piece also comes from the March 2005 Rhythms of Art concert.

     Things cool down again with the quasi-bolero of Need. "It's actually dedicated to Kenny Kirkland [the late pianist best known for his work with Wynton and Branford Marsalis, as well as a high profile engagement with Sting] and uses a lot of the same harmonic touches and tricks that Kenny used. It kind of has a pop feel at times as well," says Armen. The inspiration for the bolero beat comes from a different source entirely though, the two beautiful records of Latino ballads made by Charlie Haden and pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Nocturne and Land of the Sun.

     The last minute inclusion aforementioned Skipping is part of an attempt by Armen to see work by current jazz artists enter the realm of "jazz standards." "Jazz artists don't play each other's tunes much anymore, and I thought this would be a good tune to include," says Armen. Wynton's quartet version features a highly structured rhythm section arrangement, but Armen's, slightly slower version, gives the drummer and bass player more freedom. "We wanted to do something a little different with this piece, to give it our own feel." Hamada and Hill lend the tune a more airy, feel, though still retaining, the tune's namesake feel.

     The old spiritual This Train, came to Armen's attention through Bob Marley's recording of it, and the trio gives it a soulful, blues drenched reading, another example of the depths of Armen's musical interests and pursuits.

     The CD closes with a "headless" blues, Apple Farm. It takes its name from a hotel on the Central California coast, and its inspiration from the neo-bop albums of the late 80's and early 90's, many of which ended with an improvised blues. "Those records were a big part of my musical development, and I wanted to recognize that, and give everyone a chance to stretch out on a blues, since that's what we do," says Armen.

     And so closes the first full length CD by pianist, composer, bandleader, and artistic director Armen Nalbandian. I'm certain there will be many more (especially as Armen has assured me plans are already in the works for some live recordings, and more studio projects). It's my hope that along with the growth of his new trio, that Armen is able to document some of his larger works from the Rhythms of Art (both in form and ensemble) soon, as only then can the listener get a glimpse of Armen's true musical depth and ambition. It's a nice and satisfying opening act, one that rewards repeated listens, and one that perhaps proves the new rule, that perhaps the world is in fact, flat after all.