I take one of the few open seats in the Fresno Art Museum theatre. The lights dim and the performer, who is not nearly as bald as his website photos would have you believe, takes his place by the piano and proceeds to have difficulty with his microphone stand. The audience laughs quietly with him. “I guess I don’t need any jokes,” he says when he eventually overtakes the microphone.

Performer Armen Nalbandian usually composes and performs original works inspired by the museum’s exhibits for these “Rhythms of Art” concerts, but this month’s performance is honoring the release of Nalbandian’s debut CD.

Call me biased, but since I play the string bass, I tend to question the motivations and sensibilities of anyone who doesn’t. However, as I watched and listened to Armen Nalbandian and his trio, I couldn’t help but think that each musician seemed to belong with his instrument and vice versa. Nalbandian has known bassist Kevin Hill for about 10 years and drummer Bryan Hamada for about 15 years, but they’re only been playing together as a trio for about 6 months. To me, they sound like a group that has been playing together longer.

Nalbandian’s family moved to Los Angeles, California when he was about two years old, and they moved to Fresno when he was in junior high. His father enjoyed the Tony Bennet/Frank Sinatra variety of jazz. Armen, listening to Motley Crue at the time, found his interest peaked by jazz when he heard a Wynton Marsalis recording. It was so different from what he had been listening to, and then he became interested in who influenced Marsalis. “I was using my lunch money to buy jazz cds,” Nalbandian explains.

Nalbandian, who attended area public schools, notes the importance of public school music programs in giving students the opportunity to learn repertoire, play in front of people, and express themselves. “Every school around here has a band and we take it for granted,” he comments, and meanwhile schools in other areas are loosing their music programs. He also comments that it would be good if music programs gave students more opportunities to listen to the repertoire.

While studying jazz performance at California State University – Long Beach, Nalbandian spent a lot of time going to Jazz clubs and staying out late, “Trying to learn from my heros,” he explains. When Nalbandian decided to return to Fresno, it was not only because his family was here, but also because he knew other musicians playing here.

Now, Nalbandian is the artistic director of the Fresno Jazz Society, and his second season as musical director of the Fresno Art Museum is in progress. He will return for a third season in this position.

His composing schedule for Rhythms of Art is ambitious. The two hours worth of original music that he composes almost every month is sometimes influenced philosophically by the pieces in exhibition and sometimes more literally. One month, a week before his Rhythms of Art concert, he still hadn’t seen the art, yet the performance ended up being one of the better concerts. But overall, Nalbandian agrees that the composing schedule is “ridiculous,” he says with a laugh.

Despite this, Nalbandian has been involved in other projects as well. He composed and recorded the music for the Artist Repretory Theatre’s production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” which opens April 27 and closes May 6. A deviation from Nalbandian’s usual jazzy-ness, he explains that the music is very orchestral while also modern. “It sounds like a mental institute… cold and sterile like an insane asylum.”

Also in line with his enjoyment of musical experimentation, Nalbandian recently performed hip hop with bass player Kevin Hill and Aesop, from the Living Legends. “There’s room in hip hop to make it more musical,” Nalbandian says, also noting that the musical hip hop movement is already underway.

Although there’s no hip hop on Nalbandian’s recent release, the eleven tracks that are on the cd more than make up for the omission. The CD is currently available at www.armennalbandian.com, Tower Records, and the Fresno Art Museum. It will also be available at Barnes and Noble.

The third track, Dormant, is Armen’s favorite. They were doing a lot of improvisation, and it’s the most telepathic track on the cd, so it’s fun for him to listen to.

The CD jacket is completely black. Nalbandian explains that this is partially to keep the cd affordable, and back is sleek and cool. He adds that jazz is typically behind other music genres in terms of marketing: other genres tend to rely on glossy CD covers with pictures of the performers. “Jazz is starting to do more of that, but now the covers have ugly people on them. They’re made up to look more attractive,” but overall, Nalbandian didn’t feel comfortable with that approach. He also felt that selecting one piece of artwork to represent all the music on the CD would have been awkward. “Really, the contents of the CD matter more,” he explains.

Inspired by the black CD cover, I ask if he’s seen the movie “Spinal Tap.” He laughs and admits that he has, but he didn’t think of it when he chose his CD cover.

Clearly, Nalbandian is doing better than the characters in the afore mentioned film. His trio’s playing is technical and passionate, interesting and captivating. The jazz enthusiast will appreciate their skill and comfort level with their fellow musicians. Someone not as familiar with jazz will find their music to be fun and approachable.

Nalbandian comes across as comfortable and conversational, much like his music. Inviting, expressive, unique, and insightful, Nalbandian and his music (both on stage and on his CD) are a lot of fun to listen to.