In his case, it's pretty clear that he never wanted or even tried to be a jazz musician. So my point was that since he's obviously influenced by various Late Romantic to early 20th Century classical music (as well as parts of the Great American Songbook, the Beatles, British Isles folk, orchestral pop, and more), a critic could thus view him as someone who really wanted to compose classical music, but didn't have the in-depth training in form or harmony, or the academic credentials, to do so with any kind of proper compositional rigor. And therefore, he settled for second best - or third best, or tenth best, depending on how much that critic might be predisposed against prog.
I'm a jazz honk to the extent of having once tried to play jazz saxophone. I'd still like to. But I don't regard jazz as an inherently superior form of music, although I do think it may be harder to play really well than almost anything else.
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