Musical contributions by Maestro cannot be and should never be compared with others. In a way we are diminishing his talent by doing this. Whatever he is doing/has done is not something humanly possible at all and comparing his work with another human will never give a true picture. When we are talking about Jazz, if it hits you on face like it is Jazz, then there is no compliment to the composer (IMHO). Even I am including NEPV here. If it is straight from those genres, I may not like it, but I am very confident that Maestro will never do that. Just take that wonderful article by Vicky in solvanam. How brilliantly he showcased Maestro's skills in Jazz by just taking the rhythm aspect alone. Even in that rhythm, he only focussed on Waltz rhythm (3/4 time signature). With just rhythm aspect alone he could come with around 30 tracks (but it is not restricted to that). All done in 80's itself. Even in that 30 tracks, see the variations. Some were achieved with Tabla, some were with Drums, some were achieved with keyboard/piano (Jazz->rhythm->Waltz->Tabla, Jazz->rhythm->Waltz->Piano, Jazz->rhythm->Waltz->Drums). If you just change the time signature from Waltz to normal 4/4, you will get as many. But none of these compositions are tuned in Jazz (main melody). He always keeps these western influence away from the main melody, only supporting it in the ludes. All this is done without compromising on the nativity that is the biggest asset which many ignore.
Same way if we take his melodies composed in any particuar raagam, how many shades he has given in the same Kalyani or Natabairavi, which was already explored much in Pre-IR days itself. This is the real pushing of the envelope. He does not escape saying this raagam is already done. He believes there is still lot more scope to show the beauty/perspectives of this raagam. That's the confidence of any composer. Because we are composing only for Indian films. Same way if you take this instrument selections, with the same flute, violins and guitar, how many different interludes we have seen for various moods. He didn't shy away saying, I have used it many times. You take any perspective, you are bound to see his authority and the class. For all this, you need ample quantity of contribution to showcase any composers work and to prove the autority towards any genre, not just few here and there only to say he also did it. Just this quantity alone speaks of the biggest pushing of a smallest envelope. Just how a small seed containing everything it needs to become a giant tree. Once it is out of the earth it can take whatever direction it needs to expand without any limit. The trunk, every branch, every leaf and every flower has its own beauty, but we use it just for the shade and leave, not even looking at the tree.