Reading the blurb under the video, is this video actually JR playing or is it by this 15-year-old Julien Hanck? It's almost ambiguous from the statement. I was sort of hoping JR's goatee would dip into the top of the frame, just to confirm it was him.
Like Diki, I doubt Rudess would bother much with arrangers, not his bag at all. In that league of ability, and playing arranger, look no further than Marco Parisi.
I remember an interview with rudes that states that sometimes using an arranger when looking for new ideas..... But all this might have chnaged after he got acces to karma on his oasys