Brickboo, i missed your reply earlier, and agree with you about the sax keys..except i'ts a bit harder for me because I've switched from Bb tenor to Eb alto and Eb sopranino, so all the "what note does this tune start on on my sax" that i memorized for years- now requires some severe mental juggling. Since I play by ear, I don't need to know the changes, I hear the changes..I just need to know the starting note if I have to play the head.

When I'm away from the jazz scene in Miami,
i'm up in nw CT in July/Aug/Sept..and so few jazz players up there so I sit in with several bluegrass, folk, and oldies groups. Much tougher than what you describe from guitarists, their favorite key is A..which puts me into F#, next favorite is D which puts me into B, next favorite is E which puts me into Db. Talk about finger-busters, playing awkward fingering transitions, etc.
But I'm grateful to them..I've developed a lot of facility in those keys now, and sometimes when that's all i play is with them
I get whack when I go play jazz and they call
Eb..I have no sharps or flats to play and I'm so used to playing them i start to fumble in what should be my easiest key.

So i'm not minimizing learning to play in all the keys..it helps the chops and if i had put in the time on my left hand on kb as i have on my right hand, I would be a lot better player now in some ways, even though I can do it all w/transposer. But on the other hand for me it was a tradeoff, as a lot of what i developed by concentrating more on other things would be behind in their development if i put that time into doing things the transposer does for me.

My inclination would be to fall with those who say they do both and make no bones about either..but i just haven't encountered too many of those.

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Miami Mo