Photo Flash: Jim Caruso's Cast Party at Birdland Celebrates 10th Anniversary and New Portrait for Host Jim Caruso

The event should have been titled "520 Mondays." On Monday, July 1, Birdland celebrated the tenth anniversary of "Jim Caruso's Cast Party," the unique and very extreme weekly open mic. Gianni Valenti, the owner of the historic music room, honored host Caruso with a Seth Walters portrait on the wall, usually reserved for jazz icons. (Caruso quipped, "Somewhere, Charlie Parker is very uncomfortable.")

After a champagne toast, impromptu performances by Jane Monheit, Julie Halston, Ann Hampton Callaway, Lucie Arnaz, Marilyn Maye, and many Party regulars continued into the wee hours, all accompanied by the brilliant Cast Party Symphony Orchestra (Tedd Firth, Steve Doyle and Daniel Glass).

Scroll down for photos from the concert!

Jim Caruso's Cast Party takes place every Monday night at 9:30pm at Birdland (315 West 44 Street, NYC), and in LA, Las Vegas, Chicago, and San Francisco, among other cities.

Photo Credit: Seth Walters

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