Hi - on the opening (initial) topic of this thread - in my area (central North Carolina) I have asked many ADs (and folks at private functions I play at) if they had or knew very many others that "do what I do" (they think of it as "one-man-band") - and pretty much everywhere, they say things like "...never have seen anyone do what you do" ... then I ask another question or two, and they tell me that most of the other entertainers/musicians they know or use either play piano, play guitar, or use a laptop with recorded tracks. Most seem "amazed" what can be done with an arranger, but I guess there just aren't many players at least in my area, that know about arrangers, and there are apparently far more guitar players and "singers only" (who use recorded tracks).

Anyway, I have been playing at many places for almost 20 years and keep getting asked back ... so they must like the idea of an arranger player overall, even if they only have 1 person locally who does that (me) ... many places have asked me if I could play every week (or some similar 'regular' schedule), and since I still work full-time I had to decline and only play at each place about once a month ... (I do no more than about 6-8 gigs a month).

Side note is that I used to be in the suburbs of Boston, MA, and it was about the same "story" there too, although there were a couple of others that played arrangers (or organs) back then, in that area.

Jim / Raleigh, NC