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268 [The prepared statement of Ms. Durham follows:]
Prepared Statement of Marsha Durham
My name is Marsha Durham I am a daughter of Eddie Durham, an African/Indian American composer, writer, arranger, trombonist, guitarist and innovator of the electric guitar and of South Western Swing. When my father died in 1987 he left his estate to 4 children ranging in age from 18 to 50 At that time, my father had 3 grandchildren ranging in age from 1 to 18
I am a divorced parent of two young daughters. I receive no child support and rely on my salary as a paralegal and whatever income I derive from my father's estate to cover our household and education expenses.
My youngest sibling, T. Edward, is a very talented musician in his own right, and now the father of two children. The small income he derives from my father's copyrights have allowed him to pursue the difBcult livelihood of the new songwriter.
My sister, Lesa, who is at the beginning of her professional life and my brother, Eddie Jr , who is in retirement, similarly rely on their share of the small royalty income to care for themselves and their families.
I should stress that the income we derive from my father's work is indeed small a great deal smaller than would seem fair, given his extraordinary variation of musical talents and a great deal smaller than the legacy our father hoped to leave for his children and grandchildren.
My father, like many jazz composers in the first half of this century, was often at the mercy of unscrupulous advisers. His lack of business sophistication caused him to lose many of the fruits of his creative labor and greatly diminished the royalties he and our family should have received over the past 65 years.
For example, my father was the arranger of the world renown Glenn Miller classic "IN THE MOOD" However, he received nothing for his work beyond a very small one-time fee. The monetary loss from this one historical song is devastating to my father's legacy We similarly receive no compensation for " 1 O'CLOCK JUMP" which my father wrote for Count Basic
The copyrights my father did manage to retain include "TOPSY", "GOOD MORNING BLUES," "I DON'T WANNA SET THE WORLD ON FIRE," "MOTENS SWING" and "LUNCEFORD'S SPECIAL " These songs were assigned to various publishers, and very little income has accrued to my father's estate. However, after many years of arduous research I am finally in the process of recapturing the rights to these songs for the final 1 9 years of copyright protection available under the 1976 Copyright Act. I am hopeful that through careful management of my father's catalogue my brothers, sister and I will be able to recoup our legal expenses and to derive some revenues from our