My Sincere Thanks.....

[jazzmantom2004]

Ladies and Gentlemen of Organissimo:

On February 1, 2003, my father passed away. He was 78 years old, and a jazz fan since he was a child.

He recounted stories of cutting school to go to New York to see all the big names. He often told the story of seeing Billie Holiday (his favorite) repeatedly and having drinks with her (and his girlfriend) many times. She especially liked my dad's girlfriend because of her bright "Lucille Ball" red hair which opened the door to the personal relationship.

Dad took me with him to see many of the Jazz, Swing, and Big Band greats over the years, but the music was just OK for me. I enjoyed most, but not enough to consider myself a fan.

So, when he passed away last year, mom and I left the collection in the boxes he had packed them just before I moved my folks to Florida. He lived in his Condo for 4 months before passing, and never had the strength to unpack them even though I offered to do it for him many times.

As Cancer spread, we had long talks. He wanted me to liquidate his collection with the proceeds going to Mom. He gave me instructions on how to reassemble box sets as carefully has he had disassembled them for storage. He told me what he thought the collection was worth, and it was his wish that as much as possible be sold directly to jazz fans instead of a used CD dealer.

He had no idea of the power of the internet, and neither did I truly understand the awesome power of it until I began this undertaking. I have a degree in Business and Marketing so I began the task. As it turned out, it became a full-time job for 10 weeks, and as I was recuperating from back surgery, the timing was perfect for an internet "business".

We listed the collection on half.com, eBay, and tried to massage sales through repeat business, and we were somewhat successful. It was not until we met a couple of members of this board that our "fortunes" turned.

Therefore, Mom & I want to take a moment to personally thank "DEUS62" in Germany , "BRAD" & "JAZZMOOSE" here in the US.

DEUS62 took the initiative to post our list on your board and alert the members to our situation and sell-off. He is a man of integrity, and we want to make special note of this.

When sales started coming in from Board members, we wrote DEUS62 with a "Thank You" and an offer for a much larger discount on a personal level. Later, we offered a flat credit toward anything he wanted from the collection and offered free shipping. He politely said that he just wanted to help us and wasn't looking for anything. How's that for not only integrity but compassion?

"BRAD" & "JAZZMOOSE" provided very useful information on pricing which was something we were having a problem with- especially the Mosaics.

Many of you made purchases from us, sent us encouraging e-mails, and passed your condolences.

It was very emotional for us to sell the collection because of our loss. Mom & I are extremely happy with outcome and that we were able to meet dad's primary goal of getting his stuff to collectors.

The reason I am talking in the past tense is because, and quite unbelievably to us, one of our repeat customers and I negotiated a deal on Friday that will see the remaining 300 CDs go to him thus allowing us to sell 100% of the collection (aside from a few duplicates in the collection). My request was for half down which he sent, and we will hold the CDs pending final payments.

The long post is essentially to say "T H A N K S !!!!!" to everyone for their support and purchases.

Sincerely,

Hal & Elaine

jazzmantom2004

Edited April 14, 2004 by jazzmantom2004

[Jim Alfredson]

Hal,

Glad everything worked out well. Best of luck for you and your family!

----Jim

[Jazzmoose]

Glad everything worked out as well as it could, Hal.

[neveronfriday]

To set the record straight, at the end I couldn't resist and did take Hal and his mom up on an offer for a free CD, which is on its way to me. All my noble intentions went out the window when I saw a Stan Getz session I didn't have yet (but should have had).

Hal, it was a pleasure helping out, and, of course, alerting Organissimo board members to available box sets and rare CDs is always a noble cause in itself.

I have a pretty huge collection myself, and due to Organissimo.org it's growing faster than it should (and faster than I can earn the money for it ( ). I just wish that when my time comes, someone can ensure that what I have amassed ends up with fans instead of some anonymous second-hand store. It must have been tons of work to check, wrap and ship those CDs and box sets - I've sold my share of stuff and know how time-consuming it is.

All the best to you and your mom.

Volkher

P.S.: Do drop by here once in a while ... maybe you'll pick up on this jazz thing and have to re-purchase stuff later which you now sold. If that should be the case, organissimo.org is definetely the place to make sure your paycheck does not survive the first of each month.

[Bright Moments]

All my noble intentions went out the window when I saw a Stan Getz session I didn't have yet (but should have had).

as pennance, i think that you should burn copies of the Getz cd for all members!