[Dixielandjazz] I Can't Believe etc.

[Steve Barbone]

Steve Hoog eupher61 at hotmail.com wrote

>steve barbone wrote:

>Snatches of the melody are there and the chord structure is basically the same.
>I think if he re-titled it, the owner of the copyright would have a legitimate
>reason to sue.===========Changes can't be copyrighted.  Not having capability
>of listening to it right now, do you mean, Steve, that there is enough melody
>of "I Can't Believe..." to say it definitely IS that song?

Yes there is enough melody, for me at least, to say it definitely is that
song. That is what I thought I said in the first two sentences above.

But it is only an opinion with which others disagree. To put it another way,
If I were a practicing attorney, I would take the copyright case on a
contingent basis. (no fee unless we win)

The issue reminds me of a game we used to play when we were young kids
aspiring to become jazz musicians. We would gather up our jazz records, and
meet to play them at one of our homes. Then the challenge. The record owner
would place the needle in the middle of a song and then the rest of us would
try and guess what the song was from the solo part being played. One winner
would be the guy who got the answer first. He would then spin "his" record.
The other winner would be the record owner who could stump the rest of us
after one complete chorus.

Depending upon the soloist (melodic or vertical) it went from easy to
difficult to figure out, but it was always fun and a great way to train your
ears to hear.

With Ray S's song, I think we all would have guessed "I Can't Believe" at
the very beginning, within 8 bars.

And as you say about changes, they can't be copyrighted. The most difficult
songs to identify correctly were those with Bill Bailey changes where the
soloist was vertically oriented. We could identify the changes easily enough
but unless we had perfect pitch, it was difficult to distinguish, for
example, among Bailey, Bourbon St, Wash & Lee, etc.

Caution: Don't try this at home with Ornette Coleman records. <grin>

Cheers,
Steve Barbone