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Songbook Review: Solos for New Age Piano
Wayne Gratz
Cover image of the songbook Solos for New Age Piano by Wayne Gratz
Solos for New Age Piano
Wayne Gratz
2004 / Hal Leonard Corporation
78 pages
Review by Kathy Parsons
Solos For New Age Piano is a beautiful sheet music collection of Wayne Gratz’s pieces from his first six albums on the Narada label and three pieces from Narada compilation albums. Wayne Gratz has been one of my favorite artists since I discovered his music in about 1990, so I waited a long time for this collection! A few of the pieces have appeared in other Narada sheet music collections (“Flight of the Seagull,” “Ocala,” “Rain On the Pond,” and “So Close”), but the other eleven are in print here for the first time. Wayne’s music always has an improvised feeling to it, so the timing isn’t always obvious or intuitive, but there are not a lot of big chords or stretches. Most of the key signatures are fairly easy and most of the songs are three-six pages in length. Pianists at an intermediate or higher level of playing should have a great time with this book. More advanced players can work on timing skills and expression while enjoying the beauty of Wayne’s music. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing all of the music in this book many times, and highly recommend it! It is available from waynegratz.com and amazon.com.
September 21, 2009