sad bastards 
/ loose
standards
album release event

“A killer record. A deep, moving, swinging hybrid of sacred music, blues, and jazz, that at times verges into something akin to gospel noir. “We Pass for What We Are” echoes the Charlie Haden / Hank Jones masterpiece “Spirituals,” but also brings listeners back to Albert Ayler, in its acknowledgement of suffering and promise of a joyful transcendence. Time and Mercy offers an uncommonly cathartic musical experience well suited to hard times like these.”
– Joe Keohane, music journalist for the Boston Globe

The trumpet and piano duo Sad Bastards / Loose Standards are proud to release their sophomore album “We Pass for What we Are” to the world this Fall. The record is a celebration of the unlikely intersection of Spirituals, grunge and indie rock, hymnody, and avant-garde jazz. Equally featuring the music of Nirvana and Big Thief alongside early Christian chant and Appalachian sacred melodies, the duo brings the listener along for the joyride of their constant pursuit of a musical grand unification theory.

Area men Chris Klaxton and Mike Effenberger join forces to plumb the depths of the great American songbook of jazz standards, the lesser American songbook, Spirituals, new standards, and the good and bad news of this post-tonal musical world. “To plumb the depths” comes from the concept of lowering a lead weight into the ocean on a long rope to establish the water’s distance downward. To do so one would be required to drop the weight to the very bottom, extending the line entirely until the answer is found. May it be so.