This discussion is just rehashing old ground unless his estate is willing to take a different attitude. I have never quite understood why he took the stance he did - if he didn't consider them to be worth releasing commercially then it would have made sense to negotiate with individual artists or others interested in the tapes to get whatever he could for them, but it appears he wasn't willing to do so.

He was not obliged to defend or explain himself, of course, but the consequence is that his reputation as a musician and publisher of some useful tunebooks has been completely overtaken by this matter. If his estate were now to take a different view it is possible that his reputation might at least in part be redeemed.