[Dixielandjazz] Copyright Infringement

[Steve barbone]

How far should the law go in protecting musical "Intellectual Property"?

In my case, I am blessed (cursed?) with the ability to play just about
anything I hear, almost immediately. Unless the chord changes are more
complex than the standard American Songbook, and/or most OKOM including
Dixieland, Swing and Mainstream Jazz. Simply stated, if I can whistle it, I
can play it, and the chord arpeggios that go with it.

So, if I should choose to play, say "Corcovado",(Quiet Nights) with my trio,
entirely from memory, never having seen a chart or studied either the music
or the chord changes, am I violating a copyright?

Same goes for about 250 tunes from the "Songbook" that I regularly play,
with my trio at various functions, but have never looked at the music in
order to do so. (Gershwin, Kern, Berlin, Rodgers, Loesser, McHugh, et al.)

Same for just about all of the 250 most played Dixieland songs in our band
repertoire. 

Cheers,
Steve Barbone