pianist vs. piano player

[ANNE V. GILBERT]

Laurence:

> >I'd kind of agree with this and suggest it's like "fiddler" vs.
"violinist."
>
> I'm not sure both of these can be right, since "fiddler" vs.
> "violinist" (and indeed, "fiddle" vs. "violin") has more to do with
> the kind of music played (what Michal Lisecki refers to in his first
> disjunct rather than his second).  So whether the fiddler (for a
> country or bluegrass group, say) is still a fiddler whether s/he's
> the lead or central member of the group or just one of many
> musicians.   Notice it's "jazz violin(ist)" and not "jazz fiddle(r)",
> as well as classical.  "Pianist" vs. "piano player" may well involve
> the soloist vs. ensemble player parameter as well as the genre.  On
> the latter, I was always struck by the fact that the old Truffaut
> film noir and Charles Aznavour vehicle, Tirez sur le Pianiste, was
> rendered into English as Shoot the Piano Player, not Shoot the
> Pianist.  He played a kind of improv jazz piano in a cafe.  It was
> one of my favorite films when I was of the appropriate age.  I note
> that google has thousands of hits for "Don't Shoot the Piano Player",
> which I guess is an old dictum; however, "Don't Shoot the Pianist"
> also has a large number (although only half as many), so perhaps this
> doesn't prove anything.

I don't know.  AFAIK, "fiddlers" are violinists(if that's the right word)
who play just about anything other than classical music.  But OTOH, if
someone is referred to as a "jazz violinist", this may have something to do
with jazz being considered a musical art form that is close in some ways to
classical(it has traditions, composers, a history, etc).  whereas, I don't
think I've ever heard people who play in bluegrass bands referred to as
"bluegrass violinists".  But you hear or see things like "S/he plays the
banjo in the Appalachia Bluegrass Band" or soemthing like that.   And s/he
will be listed as "banjo:  Anne Gilbert" or "fiddle:  Anne Gilbert on any
programs.  But again, that's just a kind of overall impression.  Bluegrass
and Irish music, just to take two musical forms off the top of my head,
aren't considered quite "art" by many people, but jazz and classical are.
Anne G