J. Geils, whose blues rock band he co-founded with fellow Massachusetts-based musicians in the late 1960s, went on to considerable commercial success as the J. Geils Band, died on April 11, 2017, at his Groton, Massachusetts home, shortly after he turned 71 on February 20 that year.
Reports indicate that Geils died of natural causes. In a statement, Groton police said that officers went to a home on a “well being” check. “Upon arrival to the house, police located a man who was unresponsive. He was declared dead at the scene,” said Chief Donald Palma in a statement.
This interview originally appeared on Best Classic Bands on September 13, 2015, and is believed to be the final one the musician did.
In the mid-’60s, J. Geils—his first name is John but he’s never used it professionally—teamed up with harmonica player Richard Salwitz (who called himself Magic Dick, and still does) and bassist Danny Klein to form an acoustic blues trio.
They were doing just fine on the local circuit when, in ’67, they decided to go electric, adding drummer Stephen Jo Bladd and a disc jockey/singer from The Bronx, New York, Peter Blankenfeld, who went by the name Peter Wolf. With the final addition, Justman, the J. Geils Band quickly found its niche.
Even as they became a word-of-mouth concert favorite throughout much of the U.S. (Detroit was a particularly hot market), the band’s album and single sales remained cool. Bloodshot, in 1973, became their first and only top 10 album for Atlantic Records, and none of their other singles for the label rose above #30 and they couldn’t break out of their B-level status.
Related: Our Album Rewind of their great Live–Blow Your Face Out LP
That all changed when they signed with EMI America and a cable network called MTV flipped the switch in 1981. Their album Freeze-Frame was perfectly timed and after years of modest success, the album and its huge single, “Centerfold,” topped their respective charts. The title cut was also a smash, reaching #4.
The J. Geils Band continues to motor on. But oddly, they do it without its namesake guitarist, J. Geils née John Geils, Jr., now professionally billed as Jay Geils. He left the group for good, perhaps, in 2012 (or so says Wikipedia).
“I don’t really remember exactly,” he confesses. “I know I played the Fenway Park show in 2010 and maybe one or two after that. Sorry I can’t be more specific. I honestly don’t remember where and when my last show was with the band.”
Watch the band perform in Boston in 1972
There was, for a few years, a fair amount of acrimony on both sides of the divide – Geils and the Geils Band. A large part of that had to do with a now-resolved lawsuit over ownership rights to the J. Geils Band name. With guitarist Geils out of the band for three years, we thought we’d check in on him to see how he looked back on it all.
Best Classic Bands: What are your thoughts on the J. Geils Band continuing on, playing gigs without you?
J. Geils: It’s fine with me; it helps sell CDs and generate royalties.
BCB: I know there was a lawsuit going on. I’m not sure of the resolution. Can you talk about that at all?
JG: The suit is resolved and finalized to the benefit of both parties, in my opinion.
BCB: Have you come to a point where you wish them well in their endeavors or is there a bitterness that lingers?
JG: I wish them well. There is no bitterness on my part. I don’t know how they feel about me. I was tired of playing our brand of high-energy rock ‘n’ roll. As of five days ago, I’m closer to 70 than 69-years-old.
BCB: Are you proud of the band’s legacy?
JG: Of course I’m proud of our legacy. I founded the band as a Chicago-style blues band and it evolved into a bluesy rock band. I don’t care what any recording artist says; they all want a #1 gold single and we have two. And both originals by Seth and Peter: “Centerfold” and “Freeze-Frame.” I actually have an autographed-to-me Playboy centerfold by a girl named Angel. (“Angel is the centerfold”) It was her favorite record.
Related: How J. Geils broke through with “Centerfold”
BCB: What are your main musical pursuits at this point?
JG: I do a show occasionally called The Jay Geils Jazz and Blues Review with a few tunes sung by Cassandra McKinley – she’s a terrific singer – and sometimes with Fred Lipsius (Blood, Sweat & Tears), a great sax and piano player. I have also played some “special guest” gigs with James Montgomery and Jeff Pitchell and have coming up the special guest thing with Joe Louis Walker for a B.B. King tribute. I’m also playing trumpet again – my instrument from age 8 to 18 – and getting pretty good except for running out of lip!
Related: Review of the J. Geils Band in Boston, 2015
Many of the band’s recordings are available here.
I wrote about pop music and other arts for the Boston Globe for 25-plus years, with more than 10,000 stories to my credit before leaving in 2005. Since then I’ve freelanced for the Boston Phoenix, Boston Herald, Where magazine, Boston Common, Yankee magazine online, Time Out Boston, US News & World Report, the Cape Cod Times. I host the XFINITY on Demand music/interview show “Boston Rock/Talk,” and write and edit www.jimsullivanink.com, which serves as a critical guide to arts and events around metro Boston.
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8 Comments
I read your story, and it’s excellent. Thank you for the info. You have educated me–a fan of the band since the ’70s!
Great story. I first got hooked on the band by a friend who insisted I listen to the album “Monkey Island.” It’s still my favorite Geils album. I am going to go play it right now.
Thank you for the great interview and information… J. Geils Band was a mainstay listen in my youth. It is great to recall those memories!
Great article/interview and insight into one of my very favorite American bands (pre-Freeze Frame).
“Full House” and “Blow your Face Out” – Two of the greatest rock/rock-n-roll live albums of all time.
(Definitely in my personal Top Ten live albums)
If you ever saw the J. Geils Band in concert circa the early 1970s through early 1980s (as I had the pleasure several times), you know what I am talkin’ about.
These two live albums each still pack a powerhouse punch, almost 40 years later – both timeless.G
“Made Loud To Be Played Loud”
Also, agree with Chuckles548 – Monkey Island is a terrific album, highly underrated and underappreciated by critics.
I believe a number of fans and music critics didn’t take into account that the J. Geils Band was looking to broaden their musical horizons at this point in their journey, and Monkey Island succeeded in doing just that.
As a Geils fan, song-for-song, I personally believe it to be Geils’ strongest and best-engineered studio album, only rivaled by the saucy funk/blues-rock/and rock of “Bloodshot”
Agreed! They were likely the best live American band of the early 70’s, and Full House is argueably the best live album ever made.
it’s extremely sad that J. Geils is gone, and also sad that the other members of the band have not performed as a group since 2017. and with age maybe it won’t happen again. and they’re still not in the R&R hall of fame, but then again it’s hard to gain entry these days if you’re a rock band.
J. Geils is more Rock than half of the bands in the Hall of Fame.
I agree that it was a high intensity band and to see them live was like energizing. One of their best songs live which is on YouTube, is One Last Kiss in Germany in 1980. It’s worth a watch. Before Centerfold, they were heavy into blues and played like no other that I can recall. The MSG concert in NYC, was equally great. So glad to have seen them perform.