Since 2014 I’ve been a dueling pianos player at the Georgetown Piano Bar in Washington DC. Here are two articles from local publications about my playing there.

I also played with Chuck Berry in the late 90’s and the 2000’s whenever he came to Columbia, MO, where I lived at the time (Chuck Berry was frugal; he traveled only with a bass player and picked up a piano player and a drummer wherever he played). And I played with the Brooklyn Bridge for a year (they had a big hit with The Worst That Could Happen), and also with Elliott Murphy for a year. (There were once big posters in the New York subway announcing that “Elliott Murphy is going to be a monster.” That didn’t happen, but Elliott moved to Paris and has had a good career in Europe).

I’ve also played in soul bands, show bands, country bands, disco groups and light jazz quartets. And the bands I’ve been in have opened for some well-known artists, including Billy Joel, the Kinks, Aerosmith, Jefferson Starship, Sammy Kershaw, JoDee Messina, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Except for two years after college, I have never been a full-time musician—I’ve had regular day jobs as a lawyer and a government official. But no more. So if you’re looking for a piano player, I’d love to hear from you.

Music Library

YMCA
Still one of the best sing-along/dance-along songs ever, even 45 years later. The original video has that authentic 70’s look, complete with The Ramrod in the background.

Piano Man
When I was in Elliott Murphy’s band we opened for Billy Joel at the Main Point in Haverford, PA. He had just come out with the Piano Man album, and he wasn’t yet famous. But he was stunningly good.

All Too Well 10 Minute Version
I also do about 30 other Taylor Swift songs. My favorites include Death By a Thousand Cuts and the original version of Better Than Revenge.

Lean On Me
Another great singalong song, simple and instantly recognizable.

Wagon Wheel at Pianorama
Wagon Wheel as a shuffle on the Delbert McClinton blues cruise. Guy on my left is Dane Farnsworth, Keb Mo’s keyboard player.

Man, I Feel Like A Woman
A great female favorite, and apparently it’s also now a favorite of men who really do feel like women.

Richard Tee
In 1974 I lived on the upper west side of Manhattan, near a bar called Mikell’s. Stuff—Steve Gadd on drums, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Gordon Edwards on bass, and Richard Tee on piano—would play there almost every night. This is the first part of Richard Tee’s solo in Do You Want Some of This.

I Gotta Feeling
One of the few pop songs—if not the only one--to contain the words mazel tov.

The Weight
Doing the last verse with my friend Hollis Williams, the bass player in my high school band, at a party at my house.

Relevant Articles

‘I Never Get Tired of
Playing Those Songs’

STORIES OF GEORGETOWN

Georgetown Piano Bar's Jay Angoff On Politics and Music

NORTHERN VIRGINIA MAGAZINE

Music Songlists

Alphabetical Song List

Current Favorites

60's List

Here are some of the songs I do, in three lists. The first is an alphabetical list of about 450 songs from the last 60 years. The second is a list of some frequently-requested songs today, omitting the most obvious ones. The third is a year-by-year list of some of the more popular songs from the 60’s. Some of them are period pieces—e.g., Itsy-Bitsy Teenie-Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini? But that all generations know so many of those songs today must mean that some of them are pretty good.

I can be reached at www.jaypiano.com or 573-356-7177. Also, for anyone interested in hearing more about my musical background, a four-page summary of my entire musical career is available, from my first gig with my high school band playing behind the meat counter at a supermarket opening, to my present day gig doing Taylor Swift and rap and WAP. I realize not everyone will be interested in the level of detail provided.

Contact Information