Charles Sims Jr. is not all business. Sometimes his business – financial management – intersects with his need to unwind and enjoy smooth jazz. And when those two interests come together, well, you get the “Perfect Note.”
On business in Birmingham, Ala., Sims was directed to nearby Hoover, Ala. and a spot called Perfect Note, which was just such an intersection.
“I walked in the place, dim lights, white tablecloths, candlelight and smooth jazz on the stage,” said Sims recalling his initial Perfect Note encounter. “I said, ‘Man, we ain’t got nothing like this in Memphis.’”
Hooked on the experience and repeating it several times, Sims made contact with the owner, Tremayne Thompson, and asked what it would take to bring the Perfect Note experience to the Bluff City.
“He said, ‘We need Memphis to support us. I’ll go in my pocket and do three pop-ups. You guys support the pop-ups and I’ve already got the investors.’”
Now, an exclusive live music pop-up dubbed Perfect Note will debut in Memphis on Friday (May 11) at The Guest House at Graceland, 3600 Elvis Presley Blvd. Two others also are planned.
Billed as “The Perfect Weekend Getaway,” the show starts at 8 p.m., with the doors open at 6 p.m.
Saxophonist Eric Darius will set the tone for the intimate jazz evening.
Perfect Note actually is owned by Thompson and his wife, Karen, under the umbrella of TK Productions & Events, LLC..
“We’re starting to note a lot of people coming from Memphis (to Hoover’s Perfect Note.) Every weekend we have guests coming from Memphis to be able to enjoy our experience and our product. It’s set up basically like a dinner theatre,” Thompson said.
“We bring all of the artists across the globe right there to Perfect Note. They (customers) get a good experience right along with being able to enjoy the concert. Everything is in place in one house. It gives you a great date-night out. We’re looking to bring that to Memphis.”
The pop-up concert concept was also the vehicle used to introduce Perfect Note to Hoover two years ago.
“My granddaddy used to always say, ‘You know they say build it, they will come.’ He told me to make sure you get the folks, then you build it. So that’s what we did. We did the opposite and it just has been working out great for us.”
Thompson would prefer to move directly to the brick-and-mortar phase regarding expansion to Memphis after the pop-ups. If the turnout data shows that more pop-up concerts are needed first to root the concept, then that will be the play.
The Thompsons are from Chicago. “We have been in music all of our lives,” he said. “We used to do gospel tours in Chicago. When we moved here (Birmingham area) in 2008 we had a hiatus because my wife’s mom passed. We got back into it in 2012.”
He used to be an operations director for a jazz DJ, which got him into that genre, one that he noticed was missing in Birmingham.
“In 2012, Gerald Albright was our first artist that we brought in for our pop-up,” Thompson said. “The rest was history after that.”
(For tickets, visit www.tkproductionsinc.com; call 901-257-9682 for group reservations.)
