Robin Eubanks with the John Toomey Trio at the Attucks Jazz Club

Robin Eubanks was scheduled to play The Attucks Jazz Club in Norfolk 2 years ago but was upended by the Covid shutdown. He was finally able to appear with John Toomey on piano, Jimmy Masters on bass and Brian Jones on drums, and the wait was well worth it. Eubanks brother Kevin Eubanks was the musical director for the Tonight Show, brother Duane Eubanks is a renowned trumpet player, their mother, Vera, was a music educator, while their uncle Ray Bryant was an accomplished pianist, composer and arranger. Eubanks talked about his family and how important music was to him growing up, as well as other musicians he has collaborated with such as Elvin Jones, Eddie Palmieri, Stevie Wonder, not to mention Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers for whom he was the musical director. Eubanks' gig was filled with beautiful quartet arrangements and solos of jazz standards and his own compositions.

The audience, 135 in a sold-out show, was eager to get back to live music and wildly showed their appreciation and enthusiasm during Eubanks' appearance. The Grammy-winning artist has won numerous readers and critics polls over the years and if there had been a vote on this Saturday night he would have won again, hands down.