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| Kevin Eubanks (Photo Credit: Raj Naik) |
Mack Avenue Records recently announced the signing of guitarist Kevin Eubanks. The former leader of the Tonight Show Band is set to release Zen Food on Nov. 23, 2010, his debut for the label and first project since his Tonight Show departure.
“It’s so refreshing to find a record label that feels ‘right’ from so many aspects,” said Eubanks, who completed his final and 18th season of The Tonight Show in May. “Mack Avenue Records is the company I’ve been hoping to find to release the music I’ve been wanting to play.”
“When Kevin first announced that he was departing the Tonight Show with a desire to record and tour again I knew he would be an ideal artist for us,” says Mack Avenue Records President Denny Stilwell in a news release. “He is a musician of uncompromising artistry who has chosen an opportune moment to re-establish his roots in jazz and Mack Avenue is honored to be working with him.”
Over his 30-year career, Eubanks has performed with esteemed musicians such as Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Roy Haynes, Slide Hampton, Sam Rivers, Dave Holland, Greg Osby, and Jean Luc Ponty, among others. In 1992, Eubanks moved to the West Coast to assume the guitar spot in the Tonight Show Band and become the band’s leader from 1995 – 2010.
Hailing from a musical family (distinguished uncles, pianist Ray Bryant and bassist Tommy Bryant, and brothers, trombonist Robin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks), the Philadelphia native and Berklee College of Music alumni has appeared on more than 100 albums, with releases on Elektra, GRP and Blue Note; as well as founding his own record label, Insoul Music.
