QAZ: Alternate Routes (Cats & Dogs Records)
Providence is about as well-known for its jazz as it is for its spectacular scenery, which is to say not very. It must be frustrating for first-rate talent like Danny Moretti and Greg Abate who most likely have to venture afield for some serious action.

But if you've ever been down to the Custom House on Saturday nights, you know you've found a cozy little jazz pocket all for yourself and a few close friends. A trio by the name of QAZ, (pronounced by the letters Q, A, and Z) -- Buzz Buzzerio, Ken Carpenter, and Peter Gresch -- sits in pretty regularly there, as a threesome or as a part of the "Jazzbeaux Sessions" that take place on most Saturdays, the latter of which qualifies as a full-on jam.

QAZ itself is an audacious group of instrumentalists, never afraid to peer into the shadowy corners of a long, dark melodic passage, always willing to explore an avenue, rhythmic or otherwise, when it opens up before them. On trumpet and flugelhorn, Buzzerio runs a tonal and stylistic gamut, while the rhythm section -- Carpenter on bass and Gresch on drums -- aren't afraid to strand Buzzerio without a cushion while they do their own thing. Not only do they find some interesting turf to explore, Buzzerio always seems to find his way back to the core melody. It's not easy stuff -- more Coltrane-, Mingus-, and Coleman-derived than Parker or Basie. But Alternate Routes challenges its listeners without giving way to discomfort or dissonance, equips songs like "Freedom Jazz Dance" and "Bolivia" with explosive power and accessible energy. Provocative and appropriately titled, QAZ might not do much on its own to grow the Providence jazz scene, but at least it's something for the city's own jazz isolates to claim as their own.

"There aren't many jazzbeaus in these parts taking a crack at masterworks by the likes of John Coltrane and Charles Mingus; fewer still imbue tose madcap, sheer genius, definition of cool compositions with the requisite amount of blood n' guts. The QAZ book certainly can hang with those ensembles who get more high-visibility gigs. Importantly, the QAZ muse insists on their staying loose, and years of hard practise now reap artistic dividends."

Mike Caito, The Providence Phoenix