Creativity Quote by Kevin Eubanks

A funk singer as the origin story for a guitarist is a small act of cultural truth-telling. Kevin Eubanks isn’t praising James Brown for tasteful chord voicings; he’s pointing to a force field. Brown made rhythm feel like leadership: the band snaps to attention, the groove becomes law, and every instrument is demoted from “lead” to “service.” For a guitarist, that’s a radical inheritance. It reframes the job from heroics to precision, from solo-as-spotlight to part-as-engine.

The intent here is both tribute and lineage-claiming. Eubanks, a jazz player with the chops to play anything, chooses Brown as the why, not Wes Montgomery or Jimi Hendrix. That choice signals a value system: pocket over flash, discipline over indulgence, collective heat over individual expression. It also nods to a deep, often under-credited reality in American music: Black popular innovators built the vocabulary that jazz, rock, and pop instrumentalists keep borrowing from.

The subtext is also about timing. Eubanks came of age as funk and soul were reshaping what “guitar music” could be - tight, percussive, interlocking with bass and drums, leaving air for the horn stabs and vocal commands. James Brown didn’t just influence guitarists; he reorganized the stage. Saying “the reason” elevates Brown from influence to catalyst, the artist who made picking up the instrument feel necessary, not optional.