Indeed it does. I really don't see how too many players under the age of, say, 35 or so can claim "authenticity" to "the tradition" in any truly deep way other than love from afar. The river has broken off into so many streams now that the water's flooded everybody's yard to some extent. But the closer to that "tradition" you choose to stay, the more you gotta ask yourself just what that tradition entails, and not just on a superficial "swinging, blues-based" level either. There's so much more to it than that...
And coming to terms with it doesn't necessarily mean you change the way you play. But you still need to come to terms with it. Superficiality is the order of the day, and has been for quite a while now, but that doesn't alter the fact that if you "claim" something for yourself (again, no matter what race you are), you better have a damn good understanding of what it is you're claiming, or else drop the "claim" and admit to being a student. Nothing wrong with being a student. Nothing at all...
From what I've read, Warne was very conscious that he was playing "black music" in a "non-black" way. Or "white music" in a "black way". Whatever combo works. But the point is that he confronted identity & integrity head on, and his music has a power that the music of few white musicians of his time did. There's a reason for that, and genius is only a part of it. Genius in the service of bullshit will just get you some high-grade bullshit.
We are living in a world today where barriers are breaking down, and concepts of identity are organically changing as a result. I'm all for that, believe me. But I'm seeing it mostly in the young people, not too many of whom give a rat's ass about "traditional" jazz ) as anything other than one of many "roots", if they care about it at all (and frankly, I can understand why they don't. Now more than ever.). So anybody under a certain approximate age who talks about the "tradition" these days in terms of a manifesto or some such is guilty in my eyes until proven innocent. Such a somebody is going to have to prove to me that they ain't either denying or theiving. Or both.
And - white folk of most all ages still got a funny little habit of thinking that everything is cool with them when it ain't. The classics, it seems, never go out of style.