Jost,

I think the level of musicianship is definitely higher in Europe. I guess it’s the tradition of classical training. I’m sure my playing level would be much higher if I started off with classical training as a kid. But sometimes classical training can get in the way of creativity. Nobody can deny that that the best jazz, blues, rock, and county players are from the USA. Europeans and Asian players that deal with these styles look to the great US players for inspiration (and imitation)

Also it’s extremely rare to find anyone playing professional on arranger keyboard in the USA. Solo/duo acts are usually guitarists, pianists or sometimes horn players playing with tracks. Of course there are exceptions, like DNJ, UD, Don M, Gary, Hammer, Bill… that are out there working everyday on arranger keyboard but I bet for every pro arranger keyboards players there are hundreds of pro solo guitar players.