Duane Eubanks brings his jazz sound back home

Having older siblings inevitably entails getting hand-me-downs. For most kids, that means wearing some slightly worn and somewhat ill-fitting clothing. In the Eubanks household in Mount Airy, it meant playing your older brothers' discarded instruments.

"Kevin had an old trumpet, and Robin had an old trombone," Duane Eubanks recalls of the day his mother parceled out instruments to him and his twin brother, Shane (who taught music for a time, but later entered the corporate world).

Duane became a jazz musician, and this weekend, on Friday and Saturday night, he will come home to Chris' Jazz Café with a stellar band: pianist Orrin Evans, saxophonist Abraham Burton, bassist Dezron Douglas, and drummer Eric McPherson.

Robin Eubanks, his oldest brother, went on to play with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, a number of bands led by bassist Dave Holland, and the all-star SFJazz Collective, among other jazz greats.

Kevin, of course, switched from trumpet to guitar, leading to a successful jazz career and a 15-year stint as leader of Jay Leno's Tonight Show band.

"Shane was taller, so he got the longer instrument, and I got the trumpet, which worked out perfectly," Duane Eubanks says. "I think each instrument has a certain personality, and I think my personality and the trumpet fit hand in hand."

Music and family have always been synonymous for Eubanks. He heard his mother play piano and organ at several local churches, while his uncles Ray and Tommy Bryant were renowned jazz musicians, whose visits would turn into impromptu lessons. "It was never a question," he says, "that me and my brother would play music."

That family connection runs throughout Things of That Particular Nature, Eubanks' just-released new CD, his first as a bandleader since 2001. It includes songs written for his wife, son, daughters, and nieces. The title was a phrase used often by his father, William, a police detective.

 Eubanks dedicates the album to his wife and father, and also to the late pianist Mulgrew Miller, a longtime mentor for Eubanks. His composition "Holding Hands" is the CD's one nonoriginal track. "Mulgrew has influenced everyone in this music," Eubanks says. "What touched me is that he learned from the masters of the music, playing with Art Blakey, Tony Williams, and Woody Shaw. He grasped what the masters bestowed upon him, and he became a torchbearer, doing the same thing for me and the guys in his band, grooming us to become better musicians."

Eubanks spent more than 10 years playing with Miller, and with bands led by Holland and Elvin Jones. He has also played and toured extensively with R&B and hip-hop artists, including the Temptations, Alicia Keys, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and the Wu-Tang Clan.

Born a dozen years after Kevin, Duane says hip-hop influenced him but not his older brothers: "I was around for the beginning of hip-hop, the inception of the art form, and when the first wave came around, naturally they didn't understand it. I think it was music for young kids, and they weren't in tune with that. Shane and I would be walking around with our hats to the side, singing our raps, and they'd clown us and make fun of us. But that was the culture at the time, and my brother and I embraced it, and as musicians, I think it's important to embrace everything that we've grown to love."

Those influences seep into the music Eubanks composed for Things of That Particular Nature, coloring the album's straight-ahead swing with a taste of soulful swagger. That sound will be on display this weekend at Chris' Jazz Café.

Duane Eubanks Quintet

8 & 10 p.m. Friday & Saturday at Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St.

Tickets: $20. Information: 215-568-3131 or chrisjazzcafe.com

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