pianist vs. piano player

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

A friend of mine--not a linguist but a piano himself, writes:

<<Sounds kinduh "idiolectical" to me, that is, personal preference.

IOW I don't think this sort of distinction is nearly so pervasive to
merit inclusion as a "rule" in the Academie Francaise or the Webster
dictionary; I think it depends more on the refinement (or
pretentiousness) of the individual's vocabulary.

That goes also for the pronunciation of same, e.g., peeANNist vs
PEEuhnist.  I used to do the pissy PEEnis version but now usually refer
to myself as plain old ANN.

To me pianist, piano player are the same, the latter merely describing
the action involved and less pretentious than the former.  Depending on
the company you keep and their respective pieves and druthers, you got
your "classical piano players" and your "jazz pianists".

Nowadays when referring to instrumentalists in programs or announcing on
the air for concert music and other musical genres, it is customary
simply to state the name of the instrument ...  E.g., I have jazz CD that
says "George Shearing, piano" and classical one with "Helene Grimaud, piano",
both dispensing entirely with "ist"and "player".>>