When using recordings for an inspiration, it must be observed that those accompanists had time to experiment with tunes they know. That is not too hard to do.
Where the challenge comes in is when sitting in at a session and hearing an unknown tune for the first time. Good accompanists can join in after the first time round because they recognize the harmonical pattern from other tunes they know. This way, you can slowly increase the rate of unknown tunes you can join, but you'll never reach 100% because there is always the odd tune you have no pattern for yet. I have heard totally seasoned accompanists harmonically trainwreck a tune outside their comfort zone without even noticing it - the knack is knowing when not to play.
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