Frogman, you sometime mix apples and oranges and I don't know what you call the finished product. That's what you're doing when you mix classical and jazz.
""Obviously no disrespect intended toward these amazing players; only meant to point out that a classical pianist who understands that language on a higher level than a jazz musician and who perfected that particular discipline can generally do a better of doing justice to the music and touching the listener on an emotional level; just as a jazz player can generally do a better job with a jazz tune than a classical musician can.""
This is what you stated, and it sounds like gospel truth to me. Classical pianists are accustomed to playing written music, and for jazz musicians, when the music is written, that's just the ball park they are supposed to play in.
" But the achievement of jazz musicians in the area of expression or ability to reach the soul of the listener is no greater than that of a great Classical musician and I don’t understand the need to knock one down in order to build up the other; at least that’s how it seems."
I absolutely can not comprehend that; but here again we're speaking of apples and oranges; when some guy played the same identical "Bach Concerto" as another guy the night before, and someone else the night before that, I don't see any latitude for improvisation; and in all cases the music is precisely written down, and must be precisely executed as noted.
I have seen jazz musicians come into a room with no "formal" education in music, but acquired his ability to play his instrument through a lifetime of desire and dedication, and set the crowd on fire.
Now when ever I mention a lack of formal education, you interpret that as though it somehow makes that musician superior to one who has formal training, but it's just a matter of fact nothing more; I'm sure musicians who lacked formal education would have gone to a conservatory if they could have.
I absolutely put this musician on a pedestal higher than the classical musician who went to "Juilliard". The improvising jazz musician begins his night with nothing but his instrument, and an audience who is going to give him the thumbs down if he doesn't produce big time. This musician has to come up with original "hard bop" that's going to be spontaneous and improvisational for the whole night to please his always tough audience.
The classical musician comes into the concert hall to play something he's played many times before, to an audience that knows exactly what to expect; how can he fail?