Kevin Eubanks

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Kevin Eubanks' Bio: Though Kevin Eubanks became a familiar name to millions of Americans when he became the Tonight Show bandleader in 1995, his reputation as a jazz guitarist had been well-established for over a decade. A teen prodigy from a musically gifted family--like his close friend Branford Marsalis--Eubanks had released several acclaimed albums of jazz and jazz fusion in the 1980s. His ability to move effortlessly in and out of musical genres gave him the flexibility necessary to lead the Tonight Show band through their diverse riffs, while his naturally reserved demeanor made him the perfect target for host Jay Leno's on- camera banter.

Eubanks was born in 1957, the second of four boys in the household of William and Vera Eubanks. All four would grow up to become musicians, perhaps unduly influenced by their mother, a music teacher. Additionally, jazz pianist Ray Bryant was the boys' uncle. Bryant who lived in New York City would come to the Eubanks' house to rehearse with his friends when he had gigs in town since the family owned a piano. However, the family lived in a somewhat rough area of Philadelphia, and Eubanks grew into a self-professed loner, especially after he began playing the guitar around the age of ten. "People thought I was weird," he told People magazine about his adolescence. "They left me alone." When he ventured into aberrant behavior, his parents would punish him by taking his guitar away.

Eubanks displayed an early virtuosity. By the age of 13 he was playing in Philadelphia jazz clubs, and in 1976 enrolled at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he first met Branford Marsalis, one of two talented New Orleans-born brothers. At Berklee, he came under fire from his more traditional-minded instructors since he taught himself to play without using a guitar pick, a rather unusual method. Around 1980, Eubanks--by then playing jazz fusion around Boston--auditioned for and won a spot with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, a traditional jazz outfit. With the famed ensemble he toured Europe and began to establish a name for himself; after returning to the States he moved to New York City. Over the next few years Eubanks played steady gigs in jazz clubs around Manhattan, earning good money and honing his skills and a personal style. The latter feat, he once told Guitar Player's Bill Milkowski, is "the hardest thing to do." He likened creating one's distinct sonic style to "chasing your own tail. You finally catch it, and then you realize it was attached to your butt the whole time."

After several dalliances with famed modern jazz artists such as Slide Hampton, Sam Rivers, and Ronnie Mathews, in 1983 Eubanks released his recording debut on Elektra/Musician, Kevin Eubanks: Guitarist. Milkowski, writing in Down Beat, called it an "auspicious first recording," describing it as representative of the many styles the young Eubanks had already conquered as a jazz artist. The guitarist told Milkowski that Sam Rivers had been the most impressive influence. "One time, sitting in a restaurant in Munich, he told me: 'Just take the chains off your mind. Nothing you play is wrong. Don't worry about making any sense of what you're playing."

Over the next few years Eubanks recorded a number of other records, many of them showcasing this freer style, after signing with the GRP label. These included Face to Face, released in 1986, and the following year's The Heat of Heat, an effort produced by George Benson. Down Beat lauded the latter for the "blazing display of virtuosity" from Eubanks, and it solidified his reputation as a jazz/fusion artist, a style that blended elements of rock into traditional jazz note structure but had served to split the term "jazz" into two camps: fusion aficionados and more traditional-minded purists. "While these albums ultimately established Eubanks as a recording artist who could sell in the 150,000-album range, they also branded him a strictly commercial artist in the eyes of many of his peers," wrote Down Beat's Zan Stewart. … Read more