Performers Jim Caruso & Matt Baker Return To The Legendary Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel

On Sunday, February 11, Jim Caruso & Matt Baker will hold court at Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle Hotel for the thirteenth year, entertaining with their evening of swinging standards on Sunday nights from 9pm to midnight. Bassist Tony DePaolis will join the duo. 

Caruso, who has performed extensively on his own, gained national exposure together as the host of the wildly popular open mic, Cast Party, which celebrates talent every Monday at Birdland in NYC, and tours nationally. Over the years, Jim has received critical acclaim at Bemelmans, and made international news when rock legend Bono joined him in an impromptu performance.  Caruso's evenings at Bemelmans have become favorites of the show biz set, welcoming spontaneous performances by stars including Liza Minnelli, Michael Feinstein, Jane Monheit, Clint Holmes, Marilyn Maye, Stephanie J. Block, Steve Ross, Linda Lavin, Darren Criss, Tony Danza, Megan Hilty, Laura Osnes, Liliane Montevecchi, Christine Ebersole, and Steve Tyrell.

Bemelmans Bar is located in The Carlyle Hotel (35 East 76th Street @ Madison Avenue). Bar seating is $15 per person and table seating is $25 per person. Reservations not accepted; tables available on a first-come, first-serve basis. For additional information, visit www.thecarlyle.com.

BIOS

Jim Caruso made his Broadway debut alongside Liza Minnelli in the Tony Award-winning Liza's At The Palace!, singing, dancing and celebrating the music and arrangements of Kay Thompson and the Williams Brothers.  He began his nightclub career in Dallas, Texas, where he formed the vocal/comedy trio Wiseguys.  He has won six MAC Awards and nine BroadwayWorld Awards for his nightclub and virtual performances.  He's performed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops celebrating Kander & Ebb, with Rosemary Clooney honoring Bing Crosby, and singing the songs of Hope & Crosby with Michael Feinstein.   Jim was honored to sing with Barbara Cook, Lauren Bacall and a bevy of Broadway stars at President Clinton's First State Dinner at the White House. For eighteen years, he has hosted the weekly showbiz bash "Jim Caruso's Cast Party” at Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center and across the country, and has produced over 900 Broadway at Birdland concerts.  He's been crooning most Sunday nights at Bemelmans Bar at the iconic Carlyle Hotel.  During the pandemic, he created and hosted “Pajama Cast Party,” a star-studded virtual variety show that ran 83 consecutive weeks.  His two solo cds, “The Swing Set” and "Caruso Live and In Person" are available online, and his latest duo cd with Billy Stritch, “The Sunday Set,” was released on the Club 44 record label last month.  Follow Jim on Instagram @JimCaruso1.

Australian born jazz pianist Matt Baker has called New York City home since 2010. He performs regularly as a sideman at jazz venues including Birdland and The Blue Note, tours both within the USA and internationally as a bandleader and sideman and has released 6 albums, his latest a DVD album “Live at Birdland.” In 2019 Matt premiered his new project “A Rhapsody of Gershwin” at Birdland Jazz Club New York, presenting a new spin on the music of one of America's most celebrated composers, with an all-star lineup from the heart of New York's jazz scene, including Endea Owens on bass, Curtis Nowosad on drums, and 2019 Grammy nominee vocalist Nicole Zuraitis. The project – Gershwin arranged like never before and fusing jazz with classical, comprises music from Porgy and Bess, “An American in Paris,” “Rhapsody in Blue” and “Concerto in F,” plus other exciting gems from the classical and popular worlds of George Gershwin!  Matt Baker's sideman credits include touring and performing with vocalists Ann Hampton Callaway, Jennifer Holliday, Vanessa Williams, Patti LaBelle, Veronica Swift (2015 Monk competition winner), Tierney Sutton, Arianna Neikrug (2015 Sarah Vaughan competition winner), guitar icon Bucky Pizzarelli, tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm, and Judy Collins.  Matt Baker was an award winner himself in the 2003 Montreux International Solo Jazz Piano competition and a semi-finalist in 2004 and 2005. A student of Taylor Eigsti's since moving to New York, Matt watched Oscar Peterson perform live an entire week at the Blue Note, from which a friendship between the two formed in the remaining years of Peterson's life. Baker has also studied with Mulgrew Miller, Benny Green, Jacky Terrasson, and Ella Fitzgerald's life-long accompanist Paul Smith.  Follow Matt on Instagram @MattBakerJazz.

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