Kevin Tyrone Eubanks
(born November 15 1957 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a jazz guitarist who was the leader of the Tonight Show
Band with host Jay Leno from 1995 to 2009.
He composed the Tonight Show's
closing theme music, "Kevin's Country," in 1992. [1]
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KEVIN EUBANKS TICKETS
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Background
Eubanks was born into a musical family. His mother, Vera Eubanks, is a gospel and classical pianist and organist. His uncle, Ray Bryant, is a jazz pianist. His older brother,
Robin Eubanks, is a
trombonist, and his younger brother
Duane Eubanks is a
trumpeter. Two cousins are also musicians, the late bassist David Eubanks and the pianist Charles Eubanks. Kevin studied violin and trumpet before settling on the guitar.
[2]
He attended the
Berklee College of Music in
Boston and then moved to
New York to begin his professional career. There he played with noted jazzmen such as
Art Blakey (1980-81),
Roy Haynes,
Slide Hampton and
Sam Rivers. Like his brother
Robin, he has played on record with world renowned double bassist
Dave Holland.
[3] While continuing to play with others, in 1983 he formed his own quartet playing gigs in Jordan, Pakistan and India on a tour sponsored by the
United States State Department.
His first recording as a leader,
Guitarist
, was released on the
Elektra label when Eubanks was 25 years old. It led to a seven-album contract with the
GRP label and four albums for
Blue Note. In total, Eubanks has appeared on over 100 albums. In 2001, he founded the label Insoul Music on which he has released six albums.
Eubanks has taught at the
Banff School of Fine Arts in Canada, at
Rutgers University, and at the Charlie Parker School in
Perugia,
Italy. In 2005, Eubanks received an honorary
doctorate degree from the
Berklee College of Music, of which he is an alumnus, but not a graduate. He is a member of
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and has served as an active member of the Artistic Advisory Panel of the
BMI Foundation since 1999.
Influences
Kevin's guitar style owes much to early influences including
Wes Montgomery,
Jimi Hendrix,
Pat Martino and
John McLaughlin, a combination of sophisticated harmonic vocabulary and explosive fingerstyle technique. Eubanks' discography includes a wide spectrum of styles from GRP styled smooth jazz to avant garde acoustic to straight ahead trio to newer electric fusion.
Current
In 1992 Eubanks moved to the West Coast to assume the guitar spot in the
Tonight Show
Band. In 1995, he replaced
Branford Marsalis to become the band's leader.
Eubanks has appeared on various TV shows such as
Hollywood Squares
,
V.I.P.
,
Girlfriends
,
Longshot
and
Days of Our Lives
. He has written four feature film scores.
[4]
His touring band currently features
Marvin "Smitty" Smith on drums and Bill Pierce on sax.
Health and nutrition
Eubanks is a vegetarian.
[5]
Discography
- Art Blakey and the Jazzmessengers Big Band - Live at Montreux and Northsea
(1980)
- Guitarist
(1982, Wounded Bird Records)
- Sundance
(1984, GRP Records)
- Oliver Lake Quintet - Expandable Language
(1985)
- Opening Night
(1985, GRP)
- Face to Face
(1986, GRP)
- Heat of Heat
(1987, GRP)
- Shadow Prophets
(1988, GRP)
- Dave Holland Quartet - Extensions
(1989, ECM Records)
- Promise of Tomorrow
(1990, GRP)
- Kirk Lightsey Trio - From Kirk to Nat
(1991)
- The Searcher
(1989, GRP)
- The Best of Kevin Eubanks
(1996, GRP)
- Turning Point
(1992, Blue Note Records)
- Spirit Talk
(1993, Blue Note)
- Spirit Talk 2
(1994, Blue Note)
- Mino Cinelu, Kevin Eubanks, Dave Holland - World Trio
(1995, Intuition Records)
- Live at Bradley’s
(1996, Blue Note)
- Live
(2001, Insoul Music)
- Shrine
(2002, Insoul Music)
- Angel
(2003, Insoul Music)
- Slow Freight
(2003, Insoul Music)
- Genesis
(2003, Insoul Music)
- Soweto Sun
(2006, Insoul Music)
References
- "LIGHTS, CAMERA, REACTION! KEVIN EUBANKS", ''International Musician,'' July 2007
- "Kevin Eubanks"
- "Kevin Eubanks"
- "Kevin Eubanks"
- USATODAY.com - Kevin Eubanks beefs up without meat