Adam Charney and Mike Braden know each other well. Not only did the two Nashvillians become friends when they were seven, but they later churned out apps in adjoining cubicles for eighteen years. That is, until their true passions won out. Adam, a gifted jazz guitarist who honed his skills under Rudy Wooten, and Mike, a natural born chef with a flair for the fare of New Orleans, had a common epiphany: Why not open a jazz club? You know, the kind of place where improv beats meet great eats?
To make it happen, Adam kept his eyes on viable venues. It finally came along on Gleaves Avenue, just around the corner from Jackelope Brewing Company. At the time, it was a place called “The Cave,” a hole in the wall that was more like a ditch in a basement. It would need a lot of work. But Adam was on it. He snapped it up and, fast-forward through five years of renovation, — poof! — there it was: Rudy’s Jazz Room had entered the building! A star is born!