Friday, October 15, 2010 5:36am ET by  
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Rare Hendrix track in legal dispute

A rare recording by Jimi Hendrix is the subject of a legal dispute involving the late guitarist’s estate, director Martin Scorsese and a saxophone player named Lonnie Youngblood.

The song, recorded in 1969, is titled ‘Georgia Blues’, and most recently featured in Scorsese’s  PBS special about blues music. Hendrix recorded the track with former band mate Youngblood in a New York studio a year before his death.   

The track had been forgotten until Scorcese unearthed the song and included it in his PBS production ‘Martin Scorcese Presents the Blues: Jimi Hendrix’.

Youngblood has since sued the estate, MCA Records and Scorcese, claiming the song was released without his permission and without proper credit.

However, the Hendrix Estate filed a counterclaim this week, asking a judge to declare it the owner of the song and for Youngblood’s copyright registration to be declared invalid.

The estate claims the two-day recording session of the song produced several Hendrix tracks, including ‘Georgia Blues’, which have remained the property of the Hendrix Estate since that time.

Filing papers in New Jersey District Court, the Hendrix Estate has asked that Youngblood account for all of his royalties on ‘Georgia Blues’.

Watch Jimi Hendrix perform ‘Purple Haze’ below: