"The Savory Collection" - Performances by Jazz Greats

Since I don't get the New York Times or watch television news...  I rely on Journalists like Doug Ramsey and his arts journal, Rifftide.  Lots of good stuff that you aren't going to find on the evening news there. He has been following "the Savory Collection" and the copyright issues that will probably slow the public release of the large collection of recordings made from radio broadcasts in the late 30s by audio engineer William Savory.  I include links here to the original New York Times article on August 16th, 2010, and their follow-up article on August 17th.   The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, which has acquired the collection, and others are restoring & digitizing the music.  In the meantime, they have given us a taste of the music we can look forward to hearing in the years ahead.  If you don't have time to wait, or you just want to listen ASAP, maybe look into the copyright issue & debate around these one-of-a-kind recordings.  I am sure a few people out there have ways to get things moving with the powers that be.  Whatever way it goes... likely someone is already positioning themselves for a payday.

Treat this newly found treasure as something freely given up by the people involved in its origins.  Years ago, as it went out over the airwaves, no one alive saw it return to the World. 

  Sure, license the right to compile the recordings for commercial sale and distribution.  Once the National Jazz Museum deducts the cost of acquiring, restoring, remastering, and preserving the collection.  Grant a special, perpetual copyright for this Special Collection. Any profits/royalties could first go toward ensuring any musician or composer identified on the records has a memorial marker on their grave, and that these places of rest are properly cared for, so future generations might remember the individuals.  Then establish a Trust that would receive any royalties, along with other private donations, for the future preservation of Music History.   

This was an unseen gift from History; its beneficiary should be History.  Just a thought...

UPDATE:  A CBS News Story Video