Eubanks, looking past 'Tonight' to tomorrow

American Idol

will have an easier time replacing Simon Cowell than

The Tonight Show

will filling the shoes of Kevin Eubanks.

For the last 15 years, Eubanks, a Germantown native, has kept the late-night institution purring, serving as Jay Leno's bandleader, second banana, and comedy-sketch sidekick. (Prior to that he was a member of the Tonight Show Band for three years under Branford Marsalis.)

With his amused manner, winning smile, and easy chuckle, Eubanks has made it all look so easy that viewers tended to take him for granted.

Until, that is, the guitarist announced last week that he will be stepping down at the end of next month.

What led to his decision?

"I've been trying to put my finger on it," he said by phone yesterday. "It kind of creeps up on you after that long - 18 years on television, five days a week, 46 weeks a year and never missing a day of work. It's a lot to keep that energy up every day."

Some in the press have speculated that Eubanks' departure was precipitated by the ugliness surrounding Leno's recent supplanting of Conan O'Brien on The Tonight Show throne.

"It really didn't have anything to do with it," insists Eubanks. "That situation was a strain on the entire show, not just Jay but on the crew. On me. But you still have to do your routine. My job was to make sure [the band] stayed focused and didn't get caught up in things we had no control over. I just need a change of pace."

For the moment, he's keeping his post-Tonight options wide open.

"I want to play some music and not just jazz," he says. "Other genres, too. It's weird but I don't consider myself just a jazz musician."

So there's a good chance he'll put together an ensemble and take it into the recording studio or out on tour. But surprisingly, Eubanks, 52, is also determined to stay active in television.

"People say, 'Oh, we thought you would go back on the road.' Well, I learned a lot and I'm proud of being able to work in this medium," he says.

"I don't feel it's necessary to abandon one to do the other," he continues. "There are some shows that tape only four months out of the year, so there'd be time to do a variety of things."

In the short term, maybe he'll just return to his parents' house in Philly and act like a slugabed, an indolent role he likes to play several times a year anyway.

"I lay on the couch and act like I'm helpless and can't possibly get to the kitchen," he says with his infectious laugh. " 'I know it's just in the next room, but could you bring me some food, Mom?' She seems to enjoy it."

Growing up in that house, Eubanks was steeped in music. His mother, Vera, is an accomplished pianist. His uncle, Ray Bryant, played keyboards with Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, and Sonny Robbins. As a boy, Eubanks thought it was nothing out of the ordinary to have visitors such as Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson singing in the parlor.

"I can't think of a time when I wasn't engaged in music," he says. "I started playing violin when I was 7."

After graduating from Germantown High, he went on to study guitar at Boston's prestigious Berklee School of Music, where he converted to vegetarianism out of economic necessity.

"I was so broke all I could afford was rice, beans, fruits, and vegetables," he says. "They were a lot cheaper. I couldn't even afford hamburgers. It lasted so long I got used to it."

Given those pinched circumstances, it's understandable that he left early to take paying gigs with such noted jazzmen as Art Blakey and Roy Haynes.

The guitarist's career has been almost evenly split between nonstop touring and punching the clock at The Tonight Show. Which is the better lifestyle?

"I think it depends on where you are in your career, what your age is, whether you have a wife and kids," he says. "I'm not married and I don't have a wife so I can try this and try that. On the road, in a TV studio, it all works pretty good for me."

With his looks, talent, and charm, you'd expect Eubanks to have made the trip to the altar at least once by now, wouldn't you?

"Ask my mother," he says, laughing heartily. "She'd say, 'Hell yeah!' "

As he prepares to leave TV's late-night arena, Eubanks is proud of his contribution.

"It's a continuum. The bandleader tradition goes back to Doc [Severinsen] and all his flamboyancy," he says. "[Johnny Carson] made the band a character, let it be part of the formula.

"Every band since likes to think they started something. For me, that was being part Ed McMahon and a bandleader and appearing in skits."

The other thing Eubanks will be remembered for is always representing Philly, habitually wearing the caps of the city's sports franchises on The Tonight Show stage.

It's a rooting interest he comes by honestly.

"I grew up a Timmy Brown fan with the Eagles. And Pete Retzlaff," he says animatedly. "For the Phillies, it was Richie Allen, Tony Taylor, and Cookie Rojas. With the 76ers, Hal Greer and Wilt, all the way up through [Charles] Barkley."

"I love going to Eagles games," he says. "Maybe I'll get to a few more now."