Duane Eubanks was born January 24, 1969, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest of three jazz-playing brothers, alongside guitarist Kevin Eubanks and trombonist Robin Eubanks, and a nephew of pianist Ray Bryant. Raised in intensively musical surroundings, he first played trumpet at eleven but didn't consider music as a career until college. While studying for a Business Administration degree at the University of Maryland, he joined the university's jazz band, gaining opportunities to play alongside jazz figures including Stanley Turrentine, Shirley Scott, Charles Fambrough, and Clark Terry.

After graduating, Eubanks studied jazz at Temple University, performed in master classes with Dr. Billy Taylor and Wynton Marsalis, and spent two years in private lessons with trumpeter Johnny Coles, who became one of his primary mentors. He became a member of bassist Dave Holland's two-time Grammy Award-winning big band, and has performed everywhere from the Hollywood Bowl to Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center, touring throughout Europe and Japan.

His recorded leader debut, My Shining Hour, appeared in 1999, followed two years later by Second Take. His more recent albums include Things of That Particular Nature (2015, Sunnyside) and DE3: Live at Maxwell's (2016, Sunnyside). He received the 2013 Philadelphia Education Fund EDDY Award.

Eubanks's grounding in a family of professional jazz musicians, sharpened by his mentorship under trumpeter Johnny Coles and his tenure in Dave Holland's Grammy-winning big band, established him as one of the more consistently in-demand hard-bop trumpeters of his generation.