Yes. Every time i read a bass ‘ cuts through the mix’ i wonder why thats a plus. Any bass can be made to cut through the mix (makes me wonder if some people know anything about EQ), but surely most of the time you want it sitting exactly where in needs to be, which is not always cutting through.
The overall quality of a mix is far important than any one persons ego (Singers excluded, as there really is no hope lol).
Getting back to keys players encroaching on the bass players territory. I dont really believe there is one. With some bass players playing right up the other end of the neck, and using 6 string basses to get even higher etc, where do we draw the line? IME we don’t want to get clashing notes, which will sound muddy and not nice at all, but each band/mix/song should be taken on merit and not have a blanket ‘don’t play anything with your left hand’ attitude.