Feature: 30 Days Of Cabaret Gratitude - Day Seven: The Birdland Four

Photos by Stephen Mosher; visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

Matt Baker, Jim Caruso, Susie Mosher, Billy Stritch - The Birdland Four

If ever there were a perfect example of artists finding a home where they can stretch their wings, explore their craft and feel secure, it's Birdland. The legendary jazz club has made a home for many an artist, but, any day of the week, there is any chance that a person might see one or all of The Birdland Five while walking through the club. They have come to represent the club and the family atmosphere that it creates.

Matt Baker - The Renaissance Man

Matt Baker has had numerous chances to play Birdland, as a pianist that is musical directing shows, as a performer doing his own acts, and, now, Mr. Baker is employing his other artistic skill of photography, regularly documenting performances of The Lineup With Susie Mosher and some of the other artists who play the club. The Australian-born multi-hyphenate used the his time in quarantine to take his performing talents to the internet with a regularly live-streamed program, and to ramp up a photography career that had been flourishing but that has, since the lifting of the lockdown, blossomed into a full-time career for the multi-faceted artist. With his visits to The Lineup being shared in weekly Broadway World Cabaret Photo Essays and his portraits, headshots, and publicity stills of the acting singers of the cabaret and concert industry splashing across the social media, Matt Baker is becoming one of the most in-demand photographic artists in the city, and deservedly so. Let everyone hope that it doesn't take him too far away from the piano because what he does as a musical director is equally as impressive. Matt Baker is a real renaissance man and a joy to have around the studio, be it a photography studio or a rehearsal studio.

And, then, there is the matter of that sexy Australian accent...

See a Matt Baker Photo Flash on Broadway World HERE.

Matt's online presence is as follows:

Website: Music Click HERE; Photography Click HERE.

Instagram: Click HERE.

Facebook: Click HERE.

Matt's pronouns are He/Him.

Matt's upcoming projects include:

Continuing to document The Lineup With Susie Mosher and accept photography commissions.

Jim Caruso - The Front Man

Jim Caruso created the CAST PARTY phenomenon nineteen years ago and the Monday night Open Mic that has drawn to the stage newcomers and Tony winners alike is as popular today as it has ever been. Jim Caruso developed the Broadway At Birdland series, he books acts into the club, and he can be seen, nightly, welcoming guests into the venue, visiting with friends and regulars, and beaming from the sidelines, as the talented artists for whom he holds such admiration fill the legendary room with the greatest sounds the music world has to offer. If this wasn't enough to fill his days, Jim Caruso has been known to take Cast Party on the road to festive cities boasting great talent, he can be found at Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle doing his duo show with Billy Stritch, he has appeared for Birdland in thirteen editions of A Swingin' Birdland Christmas (which, now, has a CD), and he helmed the quarantine-created Jim Caruso'S PAJAMA CAST PARTY. Exhausted yet? Well, Jim Caruso has played Broadway in Liza's At The Palace and he has five albums to his name, including Swingin', Palace, a duo with Stritch, and two of his own. He is also one of the funniest human beings on earth, if not the funniest. It may or may not have been intentional, it may or may not have been the plan, but Jim Caruso has become the face of Birdland, and Birdland is so much the better for it.

Read the Broadway World Cabaret interview with Jim Caruso HERE.

Jim's online presence is as follows:

Website: Jim Caruso Click HERE; Cast Party Click HERE.

Instagram: Click HERE.

Facebook: Jim Caruso Click HERE; Cast Party Click HERE.

Twitter: Click HERE.

Jim's pronouns are He/Him.

Jim's upcoming projects include:

Ongoing Cast Party every Monday at Birdland

Cast Party at Vitello's in Los Angeles on November 16 and 17, 2022

Cast Party at The Smith Center in Las Vegas on November 18, 2022

"Christmas at Birdland" Deluxe Edition CD Re-release on November 11, 2022

"A Swinging Birdland Christmas" with Billy Stritch & Klea Blackhurst on December 20 - 25, 2022

Cast Party at The Purple Room in Palm Springs on January 6 and 7, 2023

Susie Mosher - The Funny Girl

Susie Mosher is the woman behind the freight train that is THE LINEUP WITH Susie Mosher. The variety show that debuted on July 18, 2018 has become an obsession with many nightclub goers who never miss an installment and many performers that long to be included in one of Susie's Lineups. Mosher oversees every aspect of the programming, meticulously choosing which artists to feature in each given week, making sure there is a variety of talent genres, diversity in casting, and years of experience. Seasoned pros possessing of important accolades play side-by-side with relative newcomers that Susie takes pride in showcasing at the start of their career, and stand up comics may take the stage right after a tap dancer has stepped off. It is with detail and care that Susie Mosher seeks out and vets the talent she presents, and always with admiration and respect that she introduces them to the stage. And then there is her own work in her shows... whether acting as the perfect hostess, singing a torch song, or doing one of her famous improvisational comedy numbers Susie Mosher is all-in, one hundred percent. Every moment of her show is the most important moment in the world, until the next moment, and that is how Susie Mosher keeps the level of quality so high, and every seat in the house full. The program has her name on it, and that is a soundly ringing endorsement that Susie Mosher lives up to, week after week, all year long.

Read the Broadway World Cabaret review of The Lineup With Susie Mosher HERE.

Susie's online presence is as follows:

Website: Click HERE.

Instagram: Click HERE.

Facebook: Click HERE.

Susie's pronouns are She/Her/They.

Susie's upcoming projects include:

I'm excited to be returning to the Indianapolis Symphony's Annual YULETIDE CELEBRATION. Last year was such a ball with Sandi Patty, this year will be Susie with Frankie Moreno.

THE LINEUP will be on hiatus while I'm gone, from Nov 22 to Jan 10th.

Billy Stritch - The Piano Man

Billy Stritch is Jim Caruso's artistic partner in crime for Cast Party, A Swingin' Birdland Christmas, and in clubs around the city and around the world. But, as piano-playing for artists goes, Billy Stritch is the Prince of Polyamory. This artist who works three hundred sixty-five days a year spends a few of those days as the headliner (and what a headliner he is) and the rest of the time he brings his genius, his savant-esque knowledge of music, and his history to the stage as the musical support for artists like Christine Ebersole, Linda Lavin, and Melissa Errico. Billy Stritch is a "one and only" and his smash-hit virtual cabaret series BILLY'S PLACE proved how admired and appreciated he is by the community and the public. The quarantine creation yielded 65 episodes, a theme song, and an album, every bit of it fantastic. Whether he is playing as himself or playing for others, Billy Stritch is a treasure and a valued member of the cabaret and concert industry. He also has the smoothest, silkiest, sexiest singing voice on today's market; seek him out on Spotify to confirm it, or buy a cd or digital download. Press play and hear for yourself.

Read the Broadway World Cabaret review of a Billy Stritch show HERE.

Billy's online presence is as follows:

Website: Click HERE.

Instagram: Click HERE.

Facebook: Click HERE.

Twitter: Click HERE.

Billy's pronouns are He/Him.

Billy's upcoming projects include:

Cast Party with Jim Caruso in LA - Feinstein's at Vitello's Nov. 16 & 17.

Cast Party in Las Vegas - Smith Center for the Performing Arts Nov. 18.

A Swinging Birdland Christmas - Birdland Dec. 20 through 25.

New Years Eve with Christine Ebersole - Town Hall in Provincetown, MA.

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