1966/69 The J. Geils Blues Band

Snoopy and the Sopwith Camels (Fall 1966 – June 1967)
The J. Geils Blues Band (June 1967 – 1969)
The J. Geils Band (1969 – present day)

Personnel
Jay Geils (guitar)
Magic Dick (harp, kazoo & vocals)
Danny Klein (bass)
George Leh (vocals) – 1967 (?)
Unknown (vocals) – late 67 to summer 68 (?)
Al Couchon (vocals, mandolin & 2nd guitar) – left summer 1967 to join the Navy (?)
Harold Stone (keyboards) – left summer 1967 or 68 (?)
Tom Rand (drums) – left summer 1967
Keith Lahteinen (drums) – joined summer 1967, left summer 1968 (formally of Ultimate Spinach)
Peter Wolf (vocals) – joined summer 1968
Stephen Jo Bladd (drums & vocals) – joined summer 1968
Seth Justman (keyboards & vocals) – joined fall 1969/early 1970 (formally of a Maryland band called ‘Open Road‘ between 1968/69). ‘Open Road’ later became ‘Sky Cobb‘.

1967 – The Unicorn Coffee House, 815 Boylston Street, Boston, MA (Thanks to Valerie Klein for the photo)

Thanks to Ray Paret for the following info (The J. Geils Blues Band were signed to Amphion Managment, ran by Ray Paret and David Jenks).

The picture from The Unicorn above shows the drums from a band called Underground Cinema that eventually became The Ultimate Spinach and the drummer in that group at that time was Keith Lahteinen. I have no idea who the other two guys playing with J.Geils are, but I would guess that this photo is from 1967 before July or August as it was during that summer that my partner David Jenks and I signed Underground Cinema and changed their name to Ultimate Spinach.

The drummer in this photo is Tom Rand and the keyboardist on the left side of the photo is Harold Stone playing a Hohner electric piano. Tom got in touch with me via my site funkyjudge.net. He said – “Harold died about 5 years ago. This is the original line-up of the ” J. Geils Blues Band”. We played six nights a week at the Unicorn all summer (67) for no money… just the exposure. I left the group that fall for my basic training associated with my having gotten into the army reserve.

The J.Geils Blues Band played the Catacombs in January 1968 for 5 nights between 23rd and 27th

The first photo is from Jay’s ‘New Guitar Summit’ DVD Live At the Stoneham Theatre. The photo shows Jay with Magic Dick in the background. Taken at Cambridge Common.

Found the second photo in Googles archive. Unfortunately the site it’s from no longer hosts the full size photo. The drummer looks like Keith Lahteinen who left The Ultimate Spinach late 67 early 68 to join the J. Geils Blues Band. The third photo was posted on the J. Geils Band Fan Facebook page by Benjamin Lowengard.

1968 – Amphion Managment Promo Photo – The “fourth” guy (in the photo below) is Keith Lahteinen, but he was the original drummer in The Ultimate Spinach and in fact recorded their first album on MGM. Keith quit Ultimate Spinach to join J. Geils (late 1967 early 1968). It was later that year that David Jenks and I decided that the band needed more so we asked Peter and Stephen to join after the Hallucinations broke up and that’s when the band really started to cook! Keith was a great drummer and great blues singer but to make it the band needed more of a rock and roll edge!

November 6th, 1968 – TV Show Called “Mixed Bag” on WGBH Channel 2 (More Info)

The J. Geils Blues Band played at the Woodrose Hall on March 14th & 15th 1969. This photo shows Peter Wolf, Jay Geils and possibly Magic Dick, staying at Steve Nelson’s house at nearby Conway, Massachusetts.

1969 – Fusion Magazine, April 14, 1969

The J. Geils Blues Band: Tour Dates 1966 – 1969 (Thanks to Gilles at 1000Dances)

December 1966
12/17/66 – The 7th Circle Coffee House – Snoopy & the Sopwith Camels (Jug Band)

February 1967
02/03/67 – The Y-Not Coffee House, Main Street, Worcester, MA – Snoopy & the Sopwith Camels

March 1967
03/18/67 – The Y-Not Coffee House, Main Street, Worcester, MA – Snoopy & the Sopwith Camels

June 1967
First gig at the Unicorn Coffee House, 815 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
06/09/67 – Damaged Angel Coffee House (Basement of Arlington Street Church) – Snoopy & the Sopwith Camels

November 1967
11/01/67 – The Psychedelic Supermarket, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA – Exact dates unknown. May have supported Mike Bloomfield’s The Electric Flag. More details at Rock Prosopography 101

January 1968
01/23-27/68 – The Catacombs – Boston, MA

February 1968
02/14-15/68 – The J. Geils Blues Band @ The Catacombs, Rock ‘n’ Roll Festival. Benefit for Project 50, a YMCA affiliated organisation w/Sky People, The Third World Raspberry, Cloud, Travis Pike’s Tea-Party & The Collwell-Winfield Blues Band. Festival was due to take place at The Boston Arts Project in a loft over a bar at 1088 Boylston St. but it lost it’s license after a police raid five days before (Cutting)

March 1968
03/08-09/68 – Boston Tea Party – Boston, MA – opening for Canned Heat

April 1968
04/19-20/68 – Boston Tea Party – Boston, MA – w/ The Siegel–Schwall Band

May 1968
05/18/68 – Boston Tea Party – Boston, MA – opening for BB King with The Siegel–Schwall Band and The Cloud

June 1968
06/19-22/68 – Boston Tea Party – Boston, MA – opening for The Bagatelle

September 1968
09/ ? /68 – New Penelope Club, Montreal, Canada
09/20-21/68 – Boston Tea Party – Boston, MA – billed as The J. Geils Quintet – w/ Eden’s Children

November 1968
11/21-23/68 – Boston Tea Party – Boston, MA – w/Listening

December 1968
12/19-21/68(?) – The Tea Party – Boston, MA – w/ Fleetwood Mac and Ill Wind

January 1969
01/30-31/69 – Boston Tea Party – Boston, MA – w/ Savoy Brown Blues Band

February 1969
February 1969 – The J. Geils Blues Band
appear on a music show called ‘Mixed Bag’. Broadcast each Wednesday at
7:30 on Channel 2, Boston

02/14-15/69 – The J. Geils Blues Band @ The Catacombs
02/31/69 – Boston Tea Party – Boston, MA – w/ Savoy Brown Blues Band

March 1969
03/06-08/69 – Boston Tea Party – Boston, MA – w/ Chicago
03/14-15/69 – The Woodrose Ballroom – South Deerfield, MA – w/ The Velvet Underground
03/28/69 – The J. Geils Blues Band @ The Catacombs

April 1969
04/24-27/69 – The J. Geils Band & AUM @ Boston Tea Party, Berkley Square

May 1969
05/09/69 – The J. Geils Blues Band @ The Catacombs

June 1969
06/24/69 – Legal Defense Fund for Charlie Daniels ‘The Master Blaster’, The Boston Tea Party, 53 Berkeley St. w/ The J. Geils Band, Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and Fear Itself (Poster/Flyer)

July 1969
07/23-25/69 – The J. Geils Band @ Boston Tea Party, Lansdowne St – w/ Johnny Winter (Poster/Flyer)

September 1969
09/26-27/69 – The J. Geils Band @ Boston Tea Party, Lansdowne St – w/ Lonnie Mack and The Move

December 1969
12/18/69 – Van Morrison @ Symphony Hall w/ The J. Geils Band & Peter Johnson