I kind of feel sorry for people that have obviously played with such poor musicians that an arranger IS preferable to a live band. My advice would be, either start playing with MUCH better players, or take a hard, objective listen to your OWN playing, and ask yourself 'Do I have the chops to make these good players want to play with ME.....?'

Just because your arranger makes you SOUND as if you can play, doesn't necessarily mean that, once you are not using it, you actually CAN.......

I would advise EVERYBODY that primarily plays an arranger to spend at least SOME time playing with real musicians, just to get a reality check. And, who knows? you might rediscover that your left hand is good for more than just playing chords!