by Scott YanowDuring the past couple of years, Kevin Eubanks has been seen by millions of viewers nightly as the leader of Jay Leno's Tonight Show Band, where his main purpose is to assist the comedian/host rather than play creative jazz. Eubanks comes from a musical family that included Ray and Tommy Bryant as uncles and older brother/trombonist Robin Eubanks. After studying at Berklee, he was with Art Blakey's big band (1980-1981); had stints with Roy Haynes, Slide Hampton, and Sam Rivers; and then in 1983 started leading his own groups. After debuting on Elektra, starting in 1985 Eubanks began recording regularly for GRP. Some of the sets were a bit commercial while others were fairly explorative. Switching to Blue Note in the 1990s, Eubanks has been emphasizing acoustic guitar in more recent years.