Wayne Gratz (born in North Carolina and raised in Pennsylvania, but residing in Florida, and with a degree in computer science) is one of the second-generation new age pianists, the generation that built on the lessons of David Lanz's cohort. His musical training took place in a Florida pop music band, the Paradise, in which he has played since 1979.

Gratz debuted with an exquisitely crafted album, Reminiscence, orchestrated for piano, synth, flute, violin, bass, and percussion, whose elegant melodies unfold slowly and gracefully in a triumph of small chromatic effects. In the graceful scores of this work, Gratz revealed a pianistic language that is primarily classical, with little or no influence from folk or jazz.

His strength lies in impressionistic watercolors such as Rain On The Pond and Chest In The Attic, immersed in lush harmonies. Only in Glasses Of The Sun does Gratz attempt a piano solo, achieving hypnotic results, as in the duet with Nancy Rumbel’s oboe in Going Home. The lyrical emblem of the album is the serenade Karen's Song, but his melodic talent is expressed above all in heartfelt, slow, and majestic hymns like The Shallows, worthy of romantic piano sonatas, and in unrestrained fantasies such as Red Sky.

His elegant pop reached a zenith of formal perfection with Panorama, dedicated to the vast natural spaces and scored for keyboards, strings, bass, guitar, oboe and percussion. Dream Tower opens the journey with sprightly pace, a dense sparkling texture and hypnotic strumming, a technique reprised by the evocative East To West. The same exuberance permeates the singing piano of Sunshadow and surfaces between the lines of Quiet Turning. This mood of ecstatic optimism is tempered by the romantic mood of abandon that seeps through A Place Without, Enzian, Wind And Willow. The chamber music of Appalachian Sunrise and the piano meditation of Meadows are different ways to achieve the same, impressionistic magic. The dynamic and seemless orchestration "paints" the landscape and then each instrument populates it with colors and living tones.

Follow Me Home opens with the tender theme of Southlands, immediately showing how Gratz’s music is becoming increasingly exuberant and colorful; but that piece is nothing compared to what follows: a triumphant synthesizer fanfare and a drum attack open The Lighthouse, the subdued chime of Water Song soars into a driving chorus, and Friend in L.A. is effectively a rock piece, albeit infused with superb singability. The thoughtful Gratz of his early days appears only here and there, in Imaginary Friend and in the title track.

The more pastoral and contemplative Blue Ridge is dedicated to the section of the Appalachian Mountains running through the southeastern states. Accompanied by cello, dulcimer, guitar, violin, mandolin, and percussion, Gratz repeats his framework in a less pompously orchestral context. Country music tones prevail (Blue Ridge 2, Scenes of Reflection, Peaks Of Otter), although Gratz continues to excel in the art of the romantic sonata (A Heart in the Clouds) and in themes that are as grandiose as they are melodic (Dancing Lights).

He contributed two of his most melodic and lyrical compositions to the compilations Wilderness Collection (Ocala), A Childhood Remembered (The Green Room), Piano Solos (So Close and Cypress), and Romance (Summer Fields and As I Fall).

Gift Of The Sea (Narada, 1996) was another exercise in delicate chamber music for piano, cello, English horn, bass and percussion. The balance of instruments is virtually perfect in compositions such as Gift Of The Sea, which sound as light as dreams in the sky. The program includes the usual doses of neoclassical music-boxes (At Sunrise), epic melodic themes (Oceanus, By The Sea), and impressionistic watercolors (Ships). Rhythm is not always on his side: electronic percussion often ruins an atmosphere, while hardly enhancing the melody.

Island Sanctuary (Narada, 1999) was finally an album of original material after a series of mediocre collections of covers. Arranged for small chamber ensembles (piano, guitar, cello, English horn, bass, French horn) and reestablishes Gratz as a sensitive (if not innovative anymore) composer.

On the other hand, the watercolors of A Place Without Noise (Narada, 2002), enhanced with cello and synthesizer, erred on the side of mannerism, and Sleepy Baby Suite (Gratz, 2002), delicate piano solos set agains the backdrop of a rainstorm and other natural sounds, was too gentle and soothing to evoke universal feelings.

Later releases include: A Place Without Noise (2002), Soul to Soul (2005), Light, Lands & Shoreline (2007), Two Views (2009), and Four Steps to the Ocean (2011).