![]() The duo of Magic Dick and Shun Ng will improvise and perform solo segments during their Oct. There’s a 50-year history here working with J,” Salwitz said, noting that he and Geils were also in a band together in the ’90s called Bluestime. But I don’t let that overshadow the good times. J was suing over the use of the (band’s) name. “It was very difficult to process it because the last five years or so, we were involved with a lawsuit. They became such close friends that Ng was the one to break the news to Salwitz in April that his long-time bandmate, John “J” Geils had passed away. The release’s six tracks also include reworked versions of Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” and James Brown’s “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” (for which there is a video on YouTube). It was in the key, just really different,” he said. I was feeling this odd combination of fear and astonishment. “What he was playing was nothing that I was expecting. Salwitz came to appreciate the space Ng left in his interpretation. ![]() The goal is knowing something so well that you know what to change and … keep the soul of what ‘Whammer Jammer’ is,” said Ng. ![]() Geils Band instrumental, and harmonica showcase number, “Whammer Jammer.” During their initial meeting, Ng, who spent much of his youth in Singapore, coaxed Salwitz into trying out “Whammer Jammer” in an impromptu jam session. The 2016 Magic Dick and Shun Ng EP, “About Time,” features an acoustic remake of the 1971 J. Shun is like an old soul in the body of a very young man,” Salwitz said in a joint phone interview with Ng. “This meeting … it was a lot like two old friends yakkin’ away at each other. They met four years ago, and discovered that besides music, they had mutual scientific interests in cosmology, physics and chemistry. I just knew I wanted to work with him,” Salwitz said, adding that Ng’s voice has the soulful characteristics of Michael Jackson and James Brown. “I had no idea what he was like as a person. Impressed with Ng’s YouTube videos and his album, “Funky Thumb Stuff,” Salwitz realized that the Boston area musician was managed by a friend of his. More recently he has performed in an acoustic duo with Shun Ng.They were born about 45 years apart, yet blues harp master Richard “Magic Dick” Salwitz and singer/guitarist Shun Ng (pronounced shoon-ing) seem to be musical soul mates. After the J Geils band split in 1985 he took a break from playing before coming back with some session playing and then forming the band Bluestime with J Geils. Magic Dick was an integral part of their sound with his harmonica work central to their output of Rhythm & Blues, Rock, Pop and Soul. ![]() He was a founder member of the J Geils Band, who had great commercial success for over 15 years. He started playing trumpet at age 9, and this instrument along with his love of jazz and rock and roll shaped his approach on harmonica. But his long career has produced so many more highlights than just that. Magic Dick created one of the all time classic harmonica instrumentals in Whammer Jammer.
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