Do you ever learn music (from sheet music) for fun? Have you played any Bach or Beethoven or Chopin or maybe more contemporary/jazz songs from sheet music?
most of the early recordings on the 'jazz' page of this site, were done from the realbook, mostly not having been familiar with the song before. the ones that are done from reading are mostly labeled "LTR" in the file name which stands for 'learning to read'