ModalJazz.com Editor’s Blog

Kevin Eubanks is known to millions as the chilled out, jovial bandleader on The Jay Leno Show, and previously from 1992-2009 on The Tonight Show. For the last 17 years he has been entertaining television audiences with his virtuoso guitar playing and easy going banter. 

Kevin Eubanks is all Californian cool - a laid back and amiable dude who has the carefree persona of a Venice beach surf bum. His voice is a soothing laconic drawl that massages your eardrums, his manner gentle; enriched with a warm smile that mellows over his soft face. He exudes an infectious chuckle that cajoles you into laughing. You can’t help but like the guy.  

Indeed, his personality is refreshing in an industry savaged by egomaniacs. But as a self-confessed British sceptic I pondered - Is this Eubanks character too good to be true?  I dredged the Internet, gouging for any scandal on the beatnik string plucker. I unearthed a disturbing, dark, distressing, diabolical secret……….. Kevin Eubanks is a Jazz musician (and just for you Texan good ole boys he’s also a vegetarian). 

During his youth Eubanks studied jazz guitar at Berklee College of music in Boston. He went on to play with jazz luminaries such as Art Blakely, Roy Haynes and Dave Holland, and has recorded 18 jazz albums as a bandleader. Currently, away from The Jay Leno Show, he leads his own jazz quintet that features Bill Pierce on saxophone and Marvin Smith on drums. I was perplexed. I can only recall his Tonight Show band performing a handful of jazz, or even jazz influenced, songs. But as he revealed, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, it’s all about being professional:

Did you get to play enough jazz on “The Tonight Show”?

No, but at the same time I never expected to. I play music that supports the focus of the show. I never had a conflict of interest between what the show needed and what I wanted to do.

But he feels there could be an opportunity to incorporate jazz into the new Jay Leno Show:

You’ll be leading the band on “The Jay Leno Show.” Will you find a place for jazz on it?

When we start the new show, I’d like to bring that into focus. I want to find the right places for the creative expression. I don’t want to force it. I feel everybody has an open mind now that it’s a new show. They’re open to some new ideas.

Many struggling jazz artists are envious of Eubank’s career: His lucrative TV work provides him with publicity and financial stability, while his jazz projects satisfy his creative yearnings. No wonder he’s so chilled out and happy. Or maybe he is the long lost brother of “The Dude” from The Big Lebowski…

He slapped and banged the piano with the over zealous verve of a demented chimpanzee. A few minutes later he was tearing down the auditorium stairs whipping the crowd into frenzy. He stormed back onto the stage, bounding on top of his Steinway before flying through the air, legs spinning, arms flailing, head twisting – like an out of control sky diver. Welcome to a Jamie Cullum concert. This is jazz, but not as you know it. 

My friend arrived at the venue late in a foul mood: arms folded, legs crossed, face fizzing, she sulked in her chair with the words “ENTERTAIN ME!!!” emblazoned across her face. She had been working overtime and was stressed out of her mind (her boss was an office tyrant, who expected his staff to sacrifice their social life to the Gods of Commerce). I went for the culinary G-Spot and bought her the biggest tub of Haagen-Dazs I could afford from the foyer. It seemed to do the trick, and she briefly stopped moaning as the endorphins rushed around her body. But the over priced ice cream was no magic elixir, and the storm clouds gathered above her head minutes later. 

2 hours later she was unrecognisable, and had been transformed into a dancing, clapping, smiling, bundle of fun. This is what scientists call the Jamie Cullum effect. In fact, everyone was on their feet, even the fish oiled octogenarians who thought they were coming to see a young Bing Crosby. “I didn’t think I really liked jazz, but this is great,” said my friend as she swatted an imaginary cymbal with her hand. “This is cross-over jazz,” I replied. She shrugged her shoulders and continued to thump on an invisible set of drums. She was right, who cares what it’s called - good music is good music.  

The fact that Cullum is the UK’s best selling jazz artist of all time is no fluke. His fusion of jazz with contemporary styles, and his jazz tinged covers of modern classics has allowed him to reach a large demographic. Some of his jazz peers deride his music; but I believe they are jealous of his lucrative rise to fame (Cullum signed a £1m contract to record 3 albums with Universal).  For others musical purists jazz is sacred; with ancient rules decreeing how it should be played, presented and appreciated. To them, he is Jazz’s Vanessa-Mae. To me he is the lifeblood of modern jazz in the UK, as he has surreptitiously turned young people onto it. Without them onboard, the venues will get smaller, the audiences will dwindle and the music will become literally extinct. Good luck Jamie, I look forward to hearing your new album in the fall.

“Jazz is like Latin - a dead language,” quipped my friend. “Jazz isn’t dead, but its audience might be,” I replied. We propped up the bar, sinking a few bourbons and enjoying a friendly altercation after work. The verbal sparring continued for another few rounds, until the barman clanged his bell, we agreed to a truce and I wobbled on home. To this day, I maintain I won on points: because for me, Jazz is an esoteric past time - the musical equivalent of Croquet. Its fans are loyal and passionate, but like an outlandish cult they worship in small, subterranean venues after dark. A lot of musicians still play jazz, but not many people are listening to it. 

Popular music still incorporates Jazz, albeit in a diluted form. Just as Latin permeates contemporary English, jazz colours the sound of modern pop music: Jazz trumpeter Quincy Jones produced Thriller, the biggest selling album of all time. Radiohead dabble with avant-garde jazz in ballads like “The Pyramid Song”. International crooners Robbie Williams and Rod Stewart have recorded swing albums. The list goes on.

Nowadays however, in the mainstream, Jazz survives by influence alone So where do we go from here? Will popular culture ever embrace “pure” jazz in its bosom again? I can’t see it. Contemporary music is a fusion of different styles, one of which is Jazz. Miles Davis recognised this, and blended modern influences such as hip-hop with his trademark horn sound. Critics accused him of selling out and pandering to the masses. But how do you get new people turned onto jazz if it’s confined to specialist radio stations where no one can hear it? Artistic compromise, or as I like to call it evolution, is necessary to re-ignite the general publics interest. Jazz isn’t dead, but it is an endangered species.