If you ever have a chance to hear a recording of Charles Ives playing the piano (Composers Recordings Inc. has one out called "Ives plays Ives), I would highly recomend it. Ives was a classicaly trained pianist and composer, one of the first musicians to graduate from Yale, yet had a deep respect for (for lack of a better word) vernacular music. Also in Seattle is a pianist named Annivile Blues. She grew up studing classical piano and at some point switched over to blues. From talking to her, she doesn't really regret a thing in her previous training.
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