Well I respectfully disagree with that. 'Cheating', to me, is trying to make an audience believe you're playing something that you actually aren't. An organist, especially a jazz or gospel organist, playing ONLY to a drum track, is clearly the only one producing MUSICAL content and is similar to playing to a very sophisticated metronome or a clapping audience in a gospel church. He/she is not trying to 'fool' anyone and everyone can clearly see that they can 'play'. I practice with a drum machine (BK7m) all the time and I think it does wonders in keeping you from developing sloppy rhythmic habits. In a drummerless group setting, it keeps everyone on the same page (rhythmically). The fact that it can contribute musically does not overshadow it's main function, which is keeping time.

I judge a musical performance by what the musician is playing (and I don't mean how many buttons he can push or dials he can twirl) and partly how 'tasteful' the arrangement is. Whether that 'arrangement' is a backing track or an arranger style, for me, is not that important. I have never personally used a backing track or an arranger on a gig, but that may be partly because of the era I grew up in, but mostly because neither lent itself well to the type of music I was playing.

The ongoing, never-ending debate about backing tracks/arranger styles/lip syncing/'cheating', etc. will go on forever, mostly between two classes, musicians that can play and non-musicians that can't (AKA 'entertainers').

chas