Most jazz musicians today under the age of 45, went to music school. Brad Mehldau went to the New School. (someone mentioned Brad) The jazz faculty at the New S

Most jazz musicians today under the age of 45, went to music school. Brad Mehldau went to the New School. (someone mentioned Brad) The jazz faculty at the New School, when he went there at least, was ramming theory down every student (most music school does this as one of the main requirements of graduation). The piano/comp/theory teachers then (Gary Dial and Armen Donelian?) were all about the theory, especially for pianists, who kind of have to have the structure nailed down in their heads in order to accompany others at least. But nearly every musician you will hear on a recording or at a concert these days went to music school. Music school has to employ all of its academic faculty, so as a result, they have to require several years of varying kinds of theory, counterpoint, jazz theory, etc. I could go into why the music schools feel that they have to overload every musician with all kinds of required theory classes, but you'd likely be bored. Let's just say it makes everyone feel comfortable with how legit pro they are. So to answer the question, no, jazz is not unique. Bebop is not unique in this way. All musicians who go to a serious top-10 conservatory must waste a boatload of time taking all sorts of theory classes. Some programs are better than others. The conservatory I went to put musicians through a brutally boring and in-depth multi-year course of theory and analysis.