‘Magic Dick’ Highlights R & B show

The idea of parading various rhythm-and-blues acts onstage in a revue format is nothing new, but it’s enjoying a revival, said harmonica player Richard Salwitz, better known to blues and rock fans as “Magic Dick.”

“They’ve been happening more and more lately, probably due to various economic factors and that kind of stuff,” he said in a telephone interview.

Salwitz is among four performers in the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue stopping Friday night at the River Music Experience’s Redstone Room in downtown Davenport.

He shares the stage with guitarists Tommy Castro and Bernard Allison, and keyboard and sax player Deanna Bogart.

Each performer gets a half-hour or so of performance time, with the others — as well as Castro’s band — backing them up. The night ends with a jam session with the four sharing the stage.

Castro, who began a successful Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise a few years ago, wanted to maintain the camaraderie and spirit of the trip.

“It would be great to do a land tour with those of us who enjoy playing together,” he said. “It was a natural outgrowth of what we were doing on the cruise.”

Salwitz is already a veteran of several different revue formats, most recently with fellow blues harmonica player Mark Hummel.

The spontaneity of quality players who know each other is an attraction to joining up, he said.

“The main thing is the exposure of playing with other musicians, in the context that it’s not the same thing every time,” he said.

Various other performers have been on the revue and the cruises through the years. An album of the cruise’s live performance featuring Castro, Bogart, Salwitz and guitarist Ronnie Baker Brooks was released recently.

“There’s a growth factor there that’s fun to deal with,” he said. “It’s fun to be involved in something that has a degree of spontaneity to it, more than usual.”

Magic Dick is a recognizable name to rock fans since he was a member of the J. Geils Band from 1968 to 1985, playing harmonica on hits such as “Love Stinks,” “Centerfold” and “Freeze Frame.”

He reunited with band founder Geils for an act called Bluestime in 1994.

Magic Dick said it’s apples-and-oranges to compare rock life with a band to a blues career.

“The entire world was different back then. Typically, most of our travel was by jet plane, and we were typically playing a lot of stadiums and those venues in the latter days when we had success,” he said.

Where there were roadies and an entourage, now it’s mostly just the players together on the road, he added.

“But that’s cool. I’m a young man, I can handle it,” the 63-year-old said.