Kevin Eubanks Quits “The Tonight Show”
By Ritika Bhuwalka, Gaea News NetworkSaturday, May 29, 2010
LOS ANGELES (GaeaTimes.com)- Friday’s episode of “The Tonight Show” was quite an emotional affair when Kevin Eubanks, the bandleader of the show for close to two decades announced that this will be his last appearance ever on the stage with Jay Leno. Though this piece of news is not new considering that the jazz guitarist has been speaking about his departure for some months now. Jay Leno was probably the saddest person that night speaking about their journey together and saying that there was no single instant when the two had an argument in the whole span of 17 years that the duo have been together.
The show will however go on and this time it is Rickey Minor who will lead the band from the front. Rickey Minor replaces Kevin Eubanks on “The Tonight Show” in the next episode scheduled to go on air from the 7th of June. When asked about his future projects, Kevin Eubanks said that he had no specific plans but was looking for more action apart from “The Tonight Show” with which he has spent such a long part of his career. The guitarist says that he did not want to stagnation and thus decided to call it quits.
With Friday night being the last performance of Kevin Eubanks on “The Tonight Show” stage, the audience is already waiting to hear a different tune from the guitar of Rickey Minor. Both have been termed as extremely talented musicians, so critics are of the opinion that though Kevin Eubanks will be missed, good music will still be heard on the sets of “The Tonight Show”.
