pianist vs. piano player

[Grant Barrett]

On 2/7/02 12:03, "Michal Lisecki" <magura at GIGA.PL> wrote:

> Dear all,
> perhaps the resources I've looked up were too poor or is it just that as a
> non-native I am just not able to judge it by myself but what (if any) the
> difference is between the two notions from the subject: "pianist" and
> "piano player".
> To the best of my knowledge, or perhaps rather to my "senses", I guess that
> "pianist" refers mostly to the field of classical/chamber music or to those
> artists who either play the piano solo or whose performance is central to
> the rest of the group/band (in jazz?). Whereas "piano player" would then
> perform as only one of the many members of a group/band.

I'd kind of agree with this and suggest it's like "fiddler" vs. "violinist."