The Bad Piano Player
The Bad Piano Player
John Wing Jr.
A weekly musical podcast diving into popular music of the 20s, 30s, and 40s.
Jimmy McHugh
Send us Fan Mail This week, the bad piano player features famed tunesmith Jimmy McHugh! Composer of “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love “ which we did in our season one Dorothy Fields episode. A full slate of McHugh melodious on tap! Tune in and drink deep!
Aug 18
37 min
Victor Young
Send us Fan Mail This week, the bad piano player finally gets around to featuring the great Victor Young, song and score composer. Songs you know and songs you may not know. Tune in for both and be dazzled by Victor.
Aug 4
40 min
Mostly Forgotten 1940s Jazz Songs
Send us Fan Mail This Week, The Bad Piano Player does an episode of slightly obscure jazz songs of the 1940s. We call it, Mostly Forgotten Jazz Songs Of The 1940s. Songs, Stories, a little Duke Ellington, a little Sunny Skylar, and a whole lot of diminished chords. Tune in for the resolutions.
Jul 21
36 min
Billboard Bottoms of the 70s
Send us Fan Mail This week, the bad piano player goes back to the 1970s, and finds some classics hiding in the cellar of the Billboard top 100. Hope you can drop by for the memories. Tunes ahoy!
Jul 7
46 min
Baby Songs II
Send us Fan Mail This week, the bad piano player returns to a topic that got the most downloads last season. And I’m not just doing it to enhance my popularity in Taiwan. Please enjoy Baby Songs Two!
Jun 23
36 min
Harry Warren IIII
Send us Fan Mail The Bad Piano Player returns to a stalwart, a composer everybody knows and nobody knows with our fourth Harry Warren episode. Seven fabulous songs from the master of melody and progression, with Lyrics by Johnny Burke, Gus Kahn, Al Dubin, Ira Gershwin, Edgar Leslie, Mort Dixon and Joe Young. Only the best for my listeners. Tune in for tunefulness!
Jun 9
43 min
Lew Brown
Send us Fan Mail This week the bad piano player features lyricist Lew Brown, born Louis Brownstein in Odessa , Russia in 1893. He estimated that he had collaborated on more than seven thousand songs in his career. We’re learning a small percentage of those for this episode. Tune in!
May 26
33 min
Gus Kahn II
Send us Fan Mail This week the bad piano player rights a great wrong and finally does a second Gus Kahn episode. The lyricist extraordinaire, who worked with literally every major popular song composer from 1915 to the early 1940s. First featured in season 1, episode 11, he makes his encore appearance now in season 7, episode 186. Words for the tunes, my friends.
May 12
38 min
Clarence Williams -Blues 2
Send us Fan Mail This week, the bad piano player does his second-ever Blues episode, featuring composer Clarence Williams, 1893-1965. Six of his best, five provided by our special friend Norman. Tune in for some blues history and some great blues played by a bad pianist!
Apr 28
37 min
Cy Coleman On Broadway
Send us Fan Mail This Fortnight Tuesday, the bad piano player returns to Broadway to feature a great composer who was active on the Great White Way for more than forty years. Tune in for the Cy Coleman story and stay for the songs.
Apr 14
37 min
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