Well, I've heard you play... And I don't think that this DOES describe you at all, Ian! You spend a lot of time customizing styles to get around the very thing I describe. Hardly our typical member...

And Zuki, perhaps a less kind Diki than the current one might have quoted the "I'm pretty trained myself and it takes me forever to figure out the chords in endings and intros" and said something glib like "I rest my case" but I'm trying not to be that guy any more...

It's the rote repetition that gets me... mechanically, those 'arranger musicians' can seem superficially competent, but they'll NEVER surprise you, they'll never push the arrangement into a place that you wouldn't have taken it yourself. Heck, every single time YOU play a major chord, they are going to play the EXACT SAME THING. Forever...

If that's your idea of the perfect musician, you have my condolences. Just stay away from those Berklee grads (few of whom I've worked with had an ounce of musical common sense and taste, they are often just bitter frustrated bebop wannabes ) and hire yourself some musicians with heart and taste.