"On of the great problems with accompaniment in Britain is that, even with the best of musicians, it doesn't accompany, it acts as a distraction - the more accomplished the musician, teh greater the distraction."
another sweeping generalisation, and in my opinion complete poppycock, the more accomplished musician can use his technique to accompany sensitively, the more accomplished musician in my experience knows when to not overpower the song a classic example is peggy seeger listen here to the golden ball at 23 .00https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ZFVD7qkRU