Best known for her work in Australian theatre, Weinberg parlays her prowess as a stage performer into being an adult contemporary bard on The Piano Diaries. Her crooning on "Freckled Angels" displays her eligibility to be a contemporary of Frank Sinatra. And similarly to Sinatra's ability to turn songs into his signature tune, Weinberg does the same with "Freckled Angels." She tailors each song as though they were made for her, proportioning the vocal melodies to her preferences like the inclines and lifts along "The Artists Are Leaving." Her brings out the romantic lure of the story "Benjamin and Penelope" and turns somber in the tale of "The Winds of Fear.." The nuances which she imprints along "Mama Buy Your Baby A Piano" display signature markings expressly her own, and the vocal extensions she makes across "The Piano at the Cabaret" reels listeners in, enticing them to go along with her on the flight.

~Susan Frances, Yahoo! - Full Review…Click Here

 

Not exactly the best kept secret in Oz, Weinberg has been cleaning up on all the awards and recognition to come her way for quite a long time along the axis of London, South Africa and Australia, places she’s called home over the years.  This set is the soundtrack to her latest one women show, which will find its way into the theaters here this year, and marks her return to piano after 30 years of focusing on everything but the keys.  Very much not the kind of thing you are used to, Weinberg tells a story in song without it being stagy or cabaret, crafting something else entirely.  A set that grabs you by the ear right out of the box, Weinberg is quite a find and is must hearing for anyone looking for something meaty and different without being arty for the sake of being arty.  Firmly in that sweet spot that bubbles right under blatantly commercial, the blood is flowing and the performances is certainly winning.  Hot stuff well worth

checking out.

~Chris Spector, Midwest Record Volume 35/Number 81

 

Writer and composer Joanna Weinberg (12 Shoes, The Unbearable Lightness of Fleeing, Piano Diaries and the soon to be released musical film Goddess) has created four football parents with four very different agendas.  The new Australian musical Every Single Saturday will play a limited season at Sydney’s Theatre Royal in March this year following its premiere season at Glen Street Theatre.

~artsHub Interviews Joanna Weinberg - Full Interview...Click Here

 

The story of Joanna’s life written on the piano, instead of in a diary. It played to a sell-out house at the Bondi Pavilion in August last year before its Camelot debut in December. Now it returns - by popular demand - to the funkiest music venue in Sydney.  The Piano Diaries are an intensely personal account of a life drenched in music and art, love and disappointment, escape, migration, joy, despair… and an indomitable belief in the power of music!

~Street Corner, Preview - Full Preview...Click Here

 

Joanna Weinberg - "The Piano Diaries" glows with the emotional character of a bright smile. This songwriter/vocalist/actress paints a kaleidoscope of rich imagery in her songs that transcends genres with perfect pitch and flawless intonation. She possesses the rare ability to interpret and personalize her own lyrics through a full range of emotions, imbuing her songs with the experiential conviction of a Joni Mitchell; effortlessly cohering Maria Muldaur's whimsical innocence and the limpid vocal clarity of Judy Collins with an averment that attaches convincing, memorable familiarity to the lyric.

~ Jazz Muzic, CJ Bond - Full Review…Click Here

 

The Piano Diaries is an incredibly engaging work and part of Weinberg's nine one woman shows. An artistic mosaic of a lifetime of experience set to music. The true measure of a singer is the ability to morph into that of story teller. The true measure of an artist is to take the listener to a place they have never been but with a story they are somehow familiar with. Weinberg is an artist. Having reviewed stellar talent from Australia the previous year, Weinberg easily takes her place as one of the finest talents in Australia and should gain an even wider audience here in the United States. Subtle musical nuances run rampant with this recording giving up a little something new of itself with each subsequent spin. 5 stars. As fresh and innovative as they come, highly entertaining!

~Brent Black Critical Jazz

 

The Piano Diaries is pretty unique, a sort of jazz cabaret cum burlesque show - it is perky and uplifting. Joanna Weinberg has a way of capturing characters and bringing them to life in her songs. This is an album that will bring much enjoyment to listeners.

~John Peters, The Borderland - Full Review..Click Here

 

South African vocalist/actress Joanna Weinberg decided to return to the piano after 30 years. Her lessons kindled fond childhood memories that she wrote about. Those stories became The Piano Diaries, songs that many people can relate to. A strong team of musicians who help bring the stories to life accompanies Weinberg. They open with the bubbly "Freckled Angels" setting the stage for the set. It is mostly popular music with a couple of Latin twists and ballads thrown in for balance.

~D. Oscar Groomes, O's Place Jazz Magazine

 

It’s pretty clear that Joanna is far more than just “another piano player” as you listen to her vocal on “Freckled Angels“… of course, as you put her song lyric together with her picture on the CD cover, you’ll know where this song came from – she’s red-haired & truly an angel!  I particularly enjoyed songs like “The Artists Are Leaving“… jazzy show tune, if ever I heard one.  That tracks, too, as Joanna is also a film & theater star.  This CD is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, particularly for those who love vocal jazz.

~Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation Nation

 

The Piano Diaries is a collection of songs that came to Joanna Weinberg as a result of taking piano lessons for the first time in many years. It’s hardly surprising that many of the songs are about the piano, or at least about making music. Daughters of the Empire finds Weinberg thinking about where the ivory comes from to make pianos. It begins as an account of an elephant hunt from 200 years ago, but by the end, Weinberg is imagining young ladies chained to Victorian-seeming mores, bored, and dependent upon their fathers to get them that piano. The contrast between the confined ladies and the wild but doomed animal may not be intended as a statement on the condition of women in those times, but it struck me that way. If that was the intended message, it works quite powerfully. Throughout the album, Weinberg shows herself to be an inspired and imaginative songwriter, which is why I find this interpretation of Daughters of the Empire plausible. The music has flavors of jazz and English music hall, and they combine in delightful ways. Joanna Weinberg is a talent to keep an eye on.

~Darius Rips, Oliver di Place