#1: Is using transposer buttons live "cheating"?
Is a Kbd player who can play well in every key (a rarity!) or
at least play equally well in 5 or more commonly used keys a better musician than someone who resorts to the transpose button? If a singer(or yourself) wants to call a tune in B, let's say..because it falls perfectly for the vocal range..yeah, they(or you) would sing it up or down a step or a half step if they are pros, but it's not quite the same just because they can sing it up or down.. would you use the transposer or ask them to please call a more common key?
#2: Is using the arranger kbd bass tracks along with the
drum tracks cheating, or at least wimpy compared to playing one's own LH bass lines? or does the fact that
using full pianist mode with arranger bass track permits
one to play more of kbd and own voicings?

background:
I am a pro jazz saxophonist/vocalist who had some
rudimentary piano chops and decided to give up the
bandleader/sideman thing 6 years ago for all the usual reasons to pursue solo/duo gigs playing arranger kbds and singing (adding live sax maybe 2 minutes per set just for kicks and sitting in on sax with others to get my rocks off). At the time I started working keys I felt secure only in the key of C. I faced the dilemma of not only learning to play at least 4 other keys as well as I played C, but elevating my C chops well beyond their ability to just be a serviceable accompaniment to my vocals (at the time my wife said: please sing every tune because you are not a good pianist, but you sing best with your own backing, and you intuitively back yourself better than any of the highly skilled pianists you used to work with.) I felt, being middle-aged, I couldn't devote myself to playing well in several keys before I sought work, so I opted for on-the-job elevation my key of C chops and to always use the transpose buttons when I needed key changes. Except for having to turn down a rare gig call in a place where they insist their baby grand be used, I have not been adversely affected by button-transposing, and concentration in one key has accelerated my progress to the point where I can now play, and comp for others, at a very high level, and I sound just as good in any of the 12 keys! How many "legit" pianists can say that? I can sing, or comp for a singer, in the absolute best key for them on any tune..no need for the vocalist to adjust to avoid the "difficult keys", and because I am so practiced at button-transposing, it doesn't "drive me nuts" (as it does trained pianists) to have fingers on certain keys with a different note coming out than the one expected. Yet..I am looked askance at by musicians, and jazz hipsters--not only for only being able to finger well in one key, but even for using the bass/drum arranger kbd parts in live performance.(imagine if I used the full arrangements or god forbid, trax!) but forgetting the financials and hassles of bandleading-- I feel that a rhytyhm section that keeps perfect time, can slow or speed at my whim, can change tempos/rhythms and dynamics at my whim, insert fills at my whim, is in many ways for me superior as a musical vehicle than all but the very best and most creative live musicians.

So all that above leads to philosophical question #3:
who cares about questions 1 and 2 ??
MIAMI MO