In this context of advanced chord sounds, I believe from what I hear that one of the downsides of the arranger is that it over encourages players to keep their playing to a strict lh chord, rh single note melody line form. There are several reasons for this - a lot of people coming to the arranger are learning or re-learning to play the keyboard and this is a simpler method, - many of the lead instruments are by design single note instruments, and - many players religiously follow lead sheets which are laid out this way.
But if any of you have played sheet music, you will know it is hardly ever laid out this way and the full harmony (chord) notes are usually spread across both hands and different octaves. For example if I want to play the chord C+ Against a melody note of E , then adding the G# note in the rh will produce the correct harmony sound - and maybe more color - than adding it to the lh chord. It may not even need to be simultaneously, just somewhere in the context especially with a sustain pedal. So it usually sounds better and it doesn’t matter that it is not reproduced by the lh driven style, because you are still adding the sound.
Of course it is not always appropriate to do this, but usually works for multi note instruments like piano, guitar etc. And it’s a lot easier than twisting your lh into ridiculous chord positions. And it’s not just for advanced chords, adding color by adding notes and passing notes to the rh line is something everyone should try to learn.
Mike
