This thread has certainly taken some rollercoaster turns. I kind of have to laugh at the notion of Lynn Seaton being a representative of the "Kumbaya" school of jazz education. He's been a friend and mentor for decades, and he's about as far from "Kumbaya" as anyone I can imagine in his teaching. We have taught a number of masterclasses together over the years, most often about thumb position techniques and approaches, but also about walking line construction and general improvisation. His approach and mine are different in some aspects, but he was always really good about presenting his version as "here's another way to do it if that way doesn't work for you", which is one of the reasons I consider him such a great teacher.
And he's also a great accompanist, not only in the technical sense (I mean, he is Lynn Seaton, after all), but also in the expressive sense. I've seen him play dozens, perhaps even hundreds of times over the years. When someone he is accompanying is going for something different, he's a master at playing something to help facilitate it and make the other person sound good. I don't know his views on the side slipping minor reharm in question, but I can promise you that if someone he was accompanying used it, he'd hear it and play something that made it work. Because he understands that his job - as he has pointed out more times than I can count - is to make the whole band sound and feel good.
