Middle C Jazz opened before COVID arrived and had to adjust. What’s its secret to success?
When you step into Middle C Jazz, you’ll see jazz lovers of all kinds coming together to enjoy a new artist or a fan favorite. The intimate setting mixed with specialty craft cocktails offer a cozy spot to enjoy live jazz of all kinds, such as R&B and funk.
Father and son duo Larry and Adam Farber opened the club in November 2019, offering guests live jazz, blues and world music every Thursday through Sunday.
Larry already had connections in the music business. He helped start East Coast Entertainment — a concert and promotions booking business. After he retired, he turned his focus toward building a world class jazz club in Uptown Charlotte to match the city’s growth.
“We were really trying to make it as easy as possible for customers to get to us,” Adam told CharlotteFive.
Lizzie Taylor, the club’s marketing director, describes the venue as more than a lounge. “It’s not really like a social club as much as it is like truly a listening room, and it creates a really cool relationship between the artists and the audience,” she said.
“There’s not another venue in Charlotte that is this upscale, I think, that has such a personal touch,” Taylor said.
Enhancing your experience
Middle C partnered with Public House on a food and drink menu that includes specialty cocktails and small plates meant to be enjoyed quietly at a small table. “We want people to come here for the music first, and then enjoy their food and beverages with that music,” Adam said.
Small plates include:
Fried shrimp — comes with your choice of cocktail sauce, Yum-Yum sauce or Buffalo sauce and ranch or blue cheese dressing.
Roasted Brussels sprouts — served with red onion, bacon and a honey mustard glaze.
Spicy barbecue chicken naan flatbread — topped with roasted chicken, crumbled blue cheese, red onion, mozzarella and spicy barbecue sauce.
Specialty cocktails are named after famous jazz clubs around the world, including:
The Alley Cat — named after Blues Alley Club in Washington, D.C., and includes Makers Mark Bourbon, Johnnie Walker Black, lemon zest and a whiskey cube.
The Constellation — named after Constellation in Chicago and includes Ketel One Grapefruit and Rose vodka, watermelon juice and Prosecco.
The Tram — named after Tramjazz in Rome, Italy, and includes Courvoisier VSOP, Cointreau and lemon zest, topped with a salt and sugar rim.
[READ MORE: Middle C Jazz Club opens in Charlotte]
Introduction to music
Middle C is built on a team that shares a love of music.
Adam told us he grew up listening to music. Larry played in a band called In The Pocket that included local legend Robyn Springer. The Farbers also have a family member who was a jazz photographer in New York City.
“It’s in my blood,” Adam said. “Sometimes I need to listen to the orchestra and classical music to calm down.”
Taylor also has a background rich with music. She grew up singing and heard her first Bill Evans record when she was 7 or 8. That record was her gateway to jazz, leading her to study music in college and play jazz piano.
“I know there’s something incredibly human about live music, and I always wanted to create that for people,” she said.
Middle C streams music, too
When COVID first arrived in Charlotte, the venue had to adapt. The club had been open for just four months, and The Farbers wanted to keep their vision alive and going.
The club, made to hold 180-200 people, had to scale back seating, which impacted the kinds of acts that could perform there — and many musicians weren’t traveling, anyway. The club began highlighting more local acts.
The Middle C team created Middle C On Demand, an online streaming service. “The gist of it is like Netflix for jazz lovers,” Taylor said. The service has a calendar of shows that will be streamed and a catalog of past shows that subscribers can rewatch at any time.
The service has two tiers:
Silver — from $9.99 per month including weekly shows, unlimited streaming and weekly updates; and
Gold — from $11.99 per month including weekly shows, unlimited streaming, weekly updates, a chat community on Discord, behind-the-scenes videos and voting power for member-exclusive polls.
“I’ve seen a lot of people purchase those [Middle C On Demand memberships] for family out of state,” Taylor said.
Favorite jazz artists
While the staff love all kinds of music, there are some clear favorites among the performers.
Middle C holds over 350 shows per year, but Adam and Taylor credit Maria Howell and Noel Freidline among the top artists regularly performing at the venue. Howell and Freidline are also popular among the guests.
“They’ve been such good friends to the club,” Taylor said.
Middle C Jazz
Location: 300 S Brevard St, Charlotte, NC 28202
Instagram: @middlecjazz
This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 5:45 AM.
