Flutist of the Week: Jerry Eubanks

[Nonfatman]

We are going to switch gears a little here on Flutist of the Week by featuring some American flute rock for a change. The Marshall Tucker Band, plays southern rock, best described as a unique blend of country, blues, jazz and rock, and they have had four different flutists over the years! But the original and best was Jerry Eubanks. One fan describes MTB as "Tull meets the Allman Brothers" and, like us, MTB enthusiasts are royally pissed off that their hereos aren't in the Rock & Roll HOF.

I will start you off with an early seventies live version of 'Take the Highway,' which as one youtube fan accurately states, contains a "face-melting" flute solo by Mr. Eubanks from 1:48 to 3:04.




More Marshall Tucker Band to follow!

Jeff

[Preston Platform]

Thanks never heard anything by them before

[Nonfatman]

Here, a long-haired Jerry Eubanks does nice flute intro and outros, but this 1977 concert performance of 'Can't You See' is more notable for the gruff, bluesy vocals and guitar wailing of axeman, Toy Caldwell, who occasionally takes over on lead vocals from the original MTB singer, Doug Gray. Tucker fans adored this guy as much as we adore Martin.

Toy died of a heart attack in 1993 and the band was never the same.



We'll get back to some more flutey MTB next week.

Jeff

[Nonfatman]

The Marshall Tucker Band, inadvertently named after a blind piano tuner in Spartanburg, South Carolina, is still going despite many line-up changes and some tragic deaths of bandmembers over the years, including Toy Caldwell's brother, Tommy Caldwell, the band's original lead guitarist, who was killed in a 1980 jeep crash at age 30. Lead vocalist and keyboardist Doug Gray has remained a constant throughout, but like Ian has experienced diminished vocal capacity in recent years. The original flutist, Jerry Eubanks, continued until 1996, and since then MTB has had a number of other flutists.

Here are two live versions of Fire on the Mountain, from different eras, both featuring Jerry on flute, with an extended flute solo mid-song. On this first older one, the superb 40 second flute solo kicks in around 2:08, but Jerry is not seen for the first fifteen seconds or so. I also love the expressive singing of Doug Gray and country twang of Toy Caldwell's steel guitar on this one:



And here is a 1991 version where Doug's vocals are already somewhat diminished, but Jerry's flute solo, starting at 1:38 is even better. A youtube viewer writes "I'm not really a fan of the band, but that flute man is killing it."



I'll continue with some more Marshall Tucker later this week.

Jeff

[Michael Crowe]

Feb 1, 2010 12:37:24 GMT -5 Nonfatman said:

The Marshall Tucker Band, inadvertently named after a blind piano tuner in Spartanburg, South Carolina, is still going despite many line-up changes and some tragic deaths of bandmembers over the years, including Toy Caldwell's brother, Tommy Caldwell, the band's original lead guitarist, who was killed in a 1980 jeep crash at age 30. Lead vocalist and keyboardist Doug Gray has remained a constant throughout, but like Ian has experienced diminished vocal capacity in recent years. The original flutist, Jerry Eubanks, continued until 1996, and since then MTB has had a number of other flutists.

Here are two live versions of Fire on the Mountain, from different eras, both featuring Jerry on flute, with an extended flute solo mid-song. On this first older one, the superb 40 second flute solo kicks in around 2:08, but Jerry is not seen for the first fifteen seconds or so. I also love the expressive singing of Doug Gray and country twang of Toy Caldwell's steel guitar on this one:



And here is a 1991 version where Doug's vocals are already somewhat diminished, but Jerry's flute solo, starting at 1:38 is even better. A youtube viewer writes "I'm not really a fan of the band, but that flute man is killing it."



I'll continue with some more Marshall Tucker later this week.

Jeff

A cracking good live band for a couple of years, but then it got to be too much country for my taste.Tommy was actually the bass player. I crossed paths with these fellows a couple times but the odd thing was seeing them open for Mahavishnu. There were a lot of strange pairings in those days but that was just too weird.

[Nonfatman]

You're right, Mike. Although they always mixed in some country music, The Marshall Tucker Band of the seventies was more soulful and bluesy. In the eighties and nineties they became more "countrified" and went with a more commercial sound.

I figured that being from the south you probably saw them at one time or another, but it's interesting that they opened for The Mahavishnu Orchestra....that's really bizarre.

Jeff

[Nonfatman]

Here are two more MTB songs featuring a lot of flute. On this first rare concert video of 'Running Like the Wind', Jerry Eubanks has an extended flute solo at approximately 4:10 - 5:00, and then does a superb two minute flute/guitar duel with Toy Caldwell from approximately 6:00 - 8:00.

Toy Caldwell is a great guitarist, who plays with a lot of feeling....I love the way he closes his eyes and lets his head fall back while he plays....reminds me so much of Martin in that respect, except that Toy never uses a pick! I like this one a lot :



In this second video, Fly Like an Eagle (not to be confused with the horrible Steve Miller song that bears the same title), Jerry has a 45 second flute solo beginning at about the 1:40 minute mark. Note how the video starts with an exhortation to vote the Marshall Tucker Band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.



Still more Marshall Tucker to follow.

Jeff

[Nonfatman]

Here are two last ones from the Marshall Tucker Band, with Jerry Eubanks on flute, before we move on:

This Ol' Cowboy, with cartoon of band. There's something a little incongruous about the flutist among all those cowboy-hatted guitarists!



And, of course, one of their biggest hits, Heard it in a Love Song (Can't Be Wrong):



Coming soon on Flutist of the Week: Horslips featuring Jim Lockhart on flute.

Jeff