KVS..... having played with all those cats (and no doubt with some scary bassists!) you are pretty aware of how the bassline leads the changes, rather than just follow them and play repeated motifs. Yes, for sure, much smooth jazz and latin can be adequately covered by the arranger, but I find the straight ahead stuff pretty unacceptable. It just sounds like the bass player has no idea of where the tune is going (which of course he doesn't!).

If all you play along with is Bass and Drums with a little comp, perhaps for these kinds of tunes an SMF might make more sense, and allow you to program a real bassline. Most modern arrangers have a SMF locate ability, allowing you to program different intensity verse/choruses and switch in and out of them at your whim (so you don't have to play the same every night). Worth a try.....

Also, especially considering that you play horns as well (I'm a t'bone major, myself, but don't hold that against me!), you might want to take a hard look at an older Roland arranger with the Chord sequencer (most of them up to the G1000), and then you could play the first verse and chorus on the arranger and then go to the chord sequencer play and solo on the horn (doesn't HAVE to be Vs/chrs, any repeated section will work!). You would still have footswitch control of variation and fills, just the chords would be pre-done (on the fly, not in advance like all others make you), and you return to the keyboard when you feel like it.

For a horn player (or anyone who doubles) it is a major boon, and I wish more would jump on the bandwagon and scream for the return of this feature...... Sometimes, the latest, newest arranger isn't necessarily the most useful.