he Stance Brothers is a new project by Teppo "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen, producer, drummer and live band leader of the globe-trotting Five Corners Quintet. The visionary behind the late Teddy Rok Seven and producer of such Finnish jazz luminaries as Jukka Eskola and Timo Lassy , Mäkynen and his new Stance Brothers project is a rhythmic force to be reckoned with. Kind Soul releases on Ricky-Tick/ObliqSound in the USA and Canada in March 2008.
Finnish jazz press have chosen Mäkynen several times as the "drummer of the year" and with the most highly regarded Finnish jazz award, Yrjö ("Georgie") in early November 2007. His debut album Universal Four by the Teddy Rok Seven won the Jazz Record of the Year Award in Finland and received enthusiastic reviews of Teppo's skills as a composer, arranger and producer. Kind Soul has been nominated for the Best Jazz Album of 2007 in Finland, called the "Jazz Emma" (the Finnish Grammy®).
The Stance Brothers represent raw garage jazz in its purest form. Who are these mysterious Stance Brothers? Vibesman Isiah Stance, his bassist brother Dwayne and the phenomenal drummer Byron Breaks are naturally responsible for the music we hear on the record, but still it seems that they are rather the embodiments of all the lost cult funk legends. The core of The Stance Brothers' sound stems from countless of hours spent jamming at their dusty garage. The trio's unfaltering will to excel in playing funk-influenced garage jazz comes second only to their passion for shooting hoops at the nearby basketball court.
"With one foot in the past and the other firmly placed on the kick drum, this new project from drummer producer Teddy Rok looks like it has all the hallmarks of another classic. 4/5 - IDJ MAGAZINE"
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