Kevin Eubanks

Infobox Celebrity
name = Kevin Eubanks
caption = Kevin Eubanks on guitar. Screencapture from "The Tonight Show".
birth_date = birth date and age|1957|11|15
birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Musician
salary =
networth =
website = [http://www.kevineubanks.com Kevin Eubanks.com]
footnotes =

Kevin Tyrone Eubanks (born November 15, 1957 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), is a jazz guitarist who has been the leader of the "Tonight Show" Band with host Jay Leno since 1992. He composed the "Tonight Show's" closing theme music, "Kevin's Country", in 1992. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5434/is_200707/ai_n21291493/print "LIGHTS, CAMERA, REACTION! KEVIN EUBANKS",] "International Musician," July 2007]

He has collaborated with Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, Slide Hampton, and Sam Rivers before starting to lead his own groups in 1983. Like his brother Robin Eubanks, a jazz trombonist, he has played on record with world renowned double bassist Dave Holland. His current lineup consists of Bill Pierce on sax and Marvin Smith on drums.

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.

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 also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He has served as an active member of the Artistic Advisory Panel of the BMI Foundation since 1999.

Aside from his music, Kevin is known for his lingering, amused laughter following many of Leno's sharper jokes, and for Leno routinely poking fun at his alleged marijuana, pornography and masturbation addictions. He is also known for being a huge Philadelphia Eagles and Philadelphia 76ers fan, which is often seen when he wears hats with their logos, and on occasion Philadelphia Flyers' and Philadelphia Phillies logos, during shows. Following the Eagles' Super Bowl loss to the Patriots, he memorably stuck his entire body into a giant tub of chunky New England clam chowder soup.

Eubanks is a vegetarian. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/spotlighthealth/2002-11-04-eubanks-meatless_x.htm USATODAY.com - Kevin Eubanks beefs up without meat ] ] Kevin joked on December 15, 2006 to Tobey Maguire and Leno that he's "practicing" vegetarianism (because he was still eating fish during those times). He does promote the vegetarian diet as healthy. Leno commonly mentions this on the show when jokes involve vegetables (such as in typos on supermarket flyers during the "Headlines" segment). On the April 21st, 2008, episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Eubanks said that he has given up eating seafood. On 26 June 2007, PETA selected Eubanks as the sexiest vegetarian alive. Carrie Underwood was the female counterpart. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070626/ap_on_en_ot/people_sexiest_vegetarians;_ylt=Amf54_SauFKZd_HngJcWEmXMWM0F]

Eubanks is a big fan of Stephen King novels and occasionally attends the AVN Awards as time permits.

Relationship With Fans

Kevin Eubanks has a close relationship with fans especially through his self-run web page. He offers a section where you can e-mail him questions and he tried to answer most of them through the web page's section entitled "Personals"

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" (1992, 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

External links

* [http://www.nbc.com/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/bios/Kevin_Eubanks.shtml A profile for "The Tonight Show"]
* [http://www.jazzguitar.be/kevin_eubanks_licks.html Kevin Eubanks Licks]
* [http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/spotlighthealth/2002-11-04-eubanks-meatless_x.htm Kevin Eubanks' Vegetarianism]
* [http://www.kevineubanks.com/ Kevin Eubanks' official site]
*imdb name|id=0004903|name=Kevin Eubanks