The Stance Brothers is the new project of Teppo "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen (Five Corners Quintet), presumably Finland's best drummer. "Kind Soul" is somewhere in between hip hop and funk, jazz is lingering in the back here ... Incl. "Roll Call" & "Steve McQueen".
Teppo "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen has gained fame both as a producer and an outstanding drummer. He is the drummer of The Five Corners Quintet and its leader on stage, to name one of Teddy's jazz groups. Finnish jazz press has selected him several times as the "drummer of the year" and he has been awarded on many occasions. His debut album "Universal Four" by the Teddy Rok Seven received enthusiastic reviews and showed Teddy's skills as a composer, arranger and producer. "Universal Four" also won the Jazz Record of the Year -award in Finland. As a producer he has worked with saxophonist Timo Lassy's debut "The Soul & Jazz of Timo Lassy" and with trumpeter Jukka Eskola.
With the Stance Brothers' debut Kind Soul Teddy takes a new leap. His idea was to make "the holy grail of beat junkies", the kind of a record which you would love to sample but which would at the same time sound as a "real" instrumental funk/jazz album from the early 70s. The music positions itself somewhere between funk and instrumental hip hop. Jazz is very much present, but not in the leading role. "Imagine Mike Post feeding funk pills to his session men and you're there or thereabouts" described iDj Magazine The Stance Brothers' first single "Steve McQueen". And 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. Their sound is the sound honest and raw garage jazz of the 21st century.