Kevin Eubanks

May 28, 2010 -- Tonight is the final time you will see Kevin Eubanks on the stage of the Tonight Show as the band leader. After 17 years hanging with Jay Leno he has decided to retire to pursue other opportunities. The audience has seen him move with Leno from the The Tonight Show to the prime time show and then back again.

This time, Kevin Eubanks is leaving for good. Giving his notice several months ago, which was a somewhat surprising decision, but the band leader seems to want to be working on other projects these days. And with every loss comes a new beginning. The next band leader for the show has been picked and you probably are already familiar with his music: Rickey Minor, from American Idol will be starting his new job on the Tonight Show June 7th.

While people where saying so long to Simon Cowell, it was also Rickey Minor's last time on Idol as well. Moving to another network, expect to see Minor on nightly and maybe even Jay Leno can convince him to do a few comedic pieces with him too.

Many chairs are shuffling for the music to play, but one thing is certain: both Minor and Eubanks are definitely delightful musicians.