A big band and orchestra conductor, composer, and arranger for Haile Selassie I’s Haile Selassie I Theatre Orchestra. Nerses Nalbandian was an Ethiopian musician who laid the foundations of Ethiopian jazz in the era before the 1960s—when artists like Mulat Astatuke emerged and the genre flourished—and remained active until his passing in the 1970s. This compilation features his wonderful music, centered on recordings from a 2011 performance by Nalbandian The Ethiopian & Either/Orchestra at the Ethiopian National Theater. (Original Japanese text by Saito)