Digital BW, The Print

Does anyone understand WHY banding occurs in inkjet prints? I have 
been trying black only printing with a wide variety of papers (both 
glossy and matt) and different black inks. The luminosity and image 
tone of black only prints is just far and away more suitable for MY 
tastes. I've tried QTR and OPM rips using MIS and epson OEM inks. The 
image tone for my tastes, how can I put this .... lacks "character".  
Most will not agree but personaly, I just don't like the color of the 
image tones.  Black only printing is truly beautiful in my view and I 
am willing to accept the graininess of this techniques in exchange 
for the rich luminosity and color of image tone. However, on both 
matt and glossy papers banding always seems to occur in certain zones 
usually in the darker tones. This banding is visible to the naked eye 
when viewed up close. I have tried to linearize the inks using an 
adjustment curve in photoshop based on densitometer readings. When 
you look at the step wedge you can see certain zones that exhibit 
banding from about 50% to dmax. Not everywhere, just certain values 
of those dark tones. The places where banding occurs depends on the 
paper and ink. When I test papers I always do a complete head 
realignment first. I print in max resolution in the slowest possible 
speeds. Does anybody have any experience or suggestions that might 
help?