2/18/2010

Kevin Eubanks to Leave Leno's Tonight Show redux

Bandleader/sidekick Kevin Eubanks will be on board when Jay Leno returns to The Tonight Show on March 1st, but won't be sticking around much longer afterwards. (The noted jazz guitarist is said to be interested in touring behind his own projects.) So, who will replace him? Rolling Stone offered up a couple of choices, so we thought we'd come up with five of our own, in alphabetical order:

- Bootsy Collins
Brings humor, soul, and large group experience to the table. Could be a cool counterpart to Jimmy Fallon having The Roots as his house band. Oh, and yeah: he's a legend.

- Danny Elfman
Could be the wackiest dude to ever hold the job, hands down. Though, probably not much going on in the sidekick department. Plus, he's got that insanely lucrative day job.

- Trevor Rabin
The film composer and former Yes guitarist is safe choice but would probably be the last one on this list to be up for consideration.

- Andy Summers
The ex-Policeman has done it before (on The Dennis Miller Show, during the early '90s), is knowledgeable about all kinds of music, has a sense of humor, lives in California, and is not doing much these days. Then again, he is 67 years old, so...

- Dweezil Zappa
Why not? Zappa is a SoCal native familiar w/show business who has experience leading large musical ensembles and a healthy sense of humor. Perfect, right?

Any suggestions?