653 Chenery Street
in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood
1-415-586-3733
[email protected]
Open to walk-in trade and browsing
Tuesday to Sunday
noon to six
Live Streams every weekend!
Refresh your browser to catch a show in progress!
Visit our Facebook page or YouTube channel!
But nothing beats being in the room with the music & the musicians!
Skylar Tang, trumpet. Matt Clark, piano. Essiet Okon Essiet, bass. Sylvia Cuenca, drums. $20 cover; byob. Sylvia Cuenca splits her time between New York and the Bay Area, where she was born and raised, performing in a great variety of situations domestically and internationally. She shared the bandstand with saxophone legend Joe Henderson for four years and with trumpet legend Clark Terry for 17 years, and has led her own groups and freelanced continuously since. During Sylvia’s tenure with the Joe Henderson Quartet, they toured extensively throughout Europe, in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, England, Switzerland, France, Italy, and Germany, and performed in venues across the U.S. In a trio setting, she performed with Henderson and Charlie Haden in 1989 and with Henderson and George Mraz in 1994. During her time with Clark Terry, Sylvia performed frequently with the Clark Terry Quintet and Big Band at the Village Vanguard, Birdland…
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Duncan James, guitar. Larry Chinn, piano. Carla Kaufman, bass. Bob Blankenship, drums. $20 cover charge; byob. Reservations, call 415-586-3733. Four long-time bandstand colleagues play jazz as if it’s second nature to them, which it is, actually… byob and settle in for two sets of hard bop, bossa, swing and hot jazz at Bird & Beckett’s long-running Saturday night “jazz club” series. Duncan traditionally helps us close out the year each year with a gathering of friends and fellow musicians.
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Jam Session! All serious jazz musicians welcome! Last Sunday of every month hosted by the Vince Lateano Trio. Vince Lateano, drums. Peter Barshay, bass. Ben Stolorow, piano. No charge to play. Audience donations appreciated, $20 suggested, to help us pay the trio.
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Annette A Aguilar, drummer and percussionist, San Francisco native, New York’s finest, returns to the Bay for a New Years show!
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let’s build what we become when we dream rest in power, and in peace, Nikki Giovanni . come together for the holidays… .
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Good news! In mid-September, we signed on with a fiscal sponsor–the 501(c)3 nonprofit Jazz in the Neighborhood–and are now offering tax-deductibility for your donations to the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (“BBCLP”). Write your check to Jazz in the Neighborhood and note “BBCLP deductible donation” in the memo line, then drop it off at the shop or mail it to us. We’ll forward it to Jazz in the Neighborhood. Cash is fine if you prefer. Or donate through Paypal, once or on a recurring basis. Bright moments ahead, thanks to you! The BBCLP makes it possible for Bird & Beckett to present live cultural events, paying a guaranteed fair wage to the musicians and at least a modest stipend to our featured poets, and also to pursue our publishing activities. Where it stands now: In 2024, Bird & Beckett celebrated a quarter century in business since our doors opened…
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Bird & Beckett’s events open to the publichave been back since mid-June 2021.Mask up if you’re inclined, and do come in!(Not vaxxed? Please get vaxxed and be safer!) Jazz, poetry & morelive in the shopand live streamed Come to 653 Chenery if you’re in town! Doors open at 7:20 for our 7:30 shows.$20 cover for trios and quartets$25 for quintets, $30 for sextets, etc.Cash at the door please!BYOB and BYOglass, and pack out what you pack in! Please feel free to wear a mask in the shop.We trust the science and its processes,and we trust SF’s DPH to keep us up to date on best practices! Advised best practices as of early September 2021 was to wear a mask indoors around people. If that makes you a little more comfortable being inside this winter, then do feel free. Sure you’re vaccinated and even if you contract the virus it’s unlikely…
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Hungry to hear some of Bird & Beckett’s past live streams? On the home page you can scroll down to read the individual posts for the shows we’ve mounted in the past several months, a hint of what’s gone down since the pandemic lock-down began. In more amazing times, it would take you right back to the very first show of the current period, back on March 12, 2020, but that beautiful skein is no longer quite so easily accessed. Still, the evidence is there for those who dig. The March 12, 2020 show that signaled the shift was a Thursday evening performance by New York saxophonists Jessica and Tony Jones, both alumni of the Berkeley High jazz program, with NYC bassist Stomu Takeishi and local hero Deszon X. Claiborne on drums. The quartet’s booking for the night before at the Backroom over in Berkeley had been cancelled. A few…
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The posts that follow show you what’s come and gone. Search the videos on our youtube channel or facebook page to find evidence of what you remember, or what you missed! Then, make sure you catch the next thing that catches your fancy. The live streams are great, but live music in a room with folks you know or ought to get to know, that’s irreplaceable…
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It’s a bebop to bossa, blues to Broadway night at Bird & Beckett when Tony Johnson calls the 230 Jones Street crew to assembly, this time out joined by the mighty and soulful vocalist Darlene Langston. Rooted in the 2002 Chuck Peterson Trio, the 230 Jones Street Band is our legacy ensemble, an assemblage of jazz veterans–colleagues who got their start in the late 1950s and early ’60s as professionals, and union activists, by and large, advocating for fair wages and good working conditions. They get both at Bird & Beckett, a point of pride for us, and a good audience as well: respectful, well schooled in jazz and enthused! Tonight, under Tony’s leadership, the band consists of: Darlene Langston, vocals Charlie McCarthy, saxophones and flute Sam Cady, piano Chuck Bennett, bass Tony Johnson, drums The musicians must be paid, and you’re the key to making it possible for that…
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Dan Neville brings Colombian vocalist Xiomara Torres and the rich musical traditions of the Pacific coast of her native country to the San Francisco latin music scene for a special boxing day concert at Bird & Beckett. Xiomara Torres, vocals Dan Neville, vibraphone Aaron Germain, bass Brian Andres, drums $25 cover charge; byob. Reservations, call 415-202-4870.
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Playing for your browsing pleasure! Denny is one of the great lyrical pianists on the San Francisco scene. Enjoy his music on this holiday Sunday afternoon. No charge. A dozen chairs… A donation bucket to help the shop pay the performer and fund its ambitious concert series! Denny will perform a dozen or so tunes, ranging from traditional 19th century (Hard Times Come Again No More) to music from the Great American Songbook (People Will Say We’re in Love, A Woman is a Sometime Thing, In a Sentimental Mood, So in Love), to a jazz standard (Elm), a film music piece (On Golden Pond), a new look at Joni Mitchell (Both Sides Now) and, of course, holiday music (Greensleeves). Happy holidays!
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The Chris Trinidad Trio brings its sounds to Bird and Beckett this Saturday night, playing Chris’s book of tunes spanning a range of Iridium Records releases including Common Themes, Certain Times, and Chant Triptych II. His compositions are inspired by such writers as Ralph Towner, Pat Metheny, Jack DeJohnette, Jan Garbarek, Bill Evans, Brad Turner, Chris Gestrin, and Chris Tarry and draw ideas from genres as disparate as Cuban Timba, Original Pilipino Music, Gregorian Chant, and British Progressive Rock. A warm evening of delectable sonic sustenance is promised, featuring: Chris Trinidad, bass guitar + synth bass Bob Crawford, piano + melodica Isaac Schwartz, drum set $20 cover charge; byob. Reservations, call 415-586-3733.
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Todd Dickow – sax. Joel Behrman – trumpet. Benny Watson – piano. John Donnelly – bass. Greg Gotelli – drums. $20 cover charge; byob. Reservations, call 415-586-3733. The SF Jazz Quintet, helmed by drummer Greg Gotelli, brings to you the classic composers of hard bop era as well as the best of the Great American Songbook’s ballads. Performing the compositions of Sonny Clark, Lee Morgan, Tadd Dameron, Kenny Dorham, and Clifford Brown to name but a few, the SF Jazz Quintet delivers an exciting, powerfully rhythmic, horn driven ensemble sound. Their performance returns to the classic sounds that made this music some of the greatest, most loved jazz in the genre’s long history. Tonight’s iteration of his San Francisco Quintet includes formidable horn players including saxophonist Todd Dickow and trumpeter Berhman fronting the rhythm section of pianist Benny Watson, bassist John Donnelly and Greg on the drum kit. Todd Dickow’s…
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Guitarist Scott Foster’s quartet with tenor saxophonist Bob Kenmotsu, bassist John Wiitala and drummer Dan Foltz will be playing repertoire exclusively from the collaboration between Sonny Rollins and Jim Hall — music from the album “the Bridge” and beyond. What a treat! It’s getting to be a lot like Christmas! Scott weighs in: “This is a really exciting line up and music that is at the core of everything I love about jazz. I am sure it will bring joy to audiences and most certainly to me. Can’t wait.” Neither can we! Bring a twenty for the band and whatever you might want to sip during the show. Reserve a seat! Call the shop during store hours (Tuesday to Sunday, noon to six) at 415-586-3733. If you reserve, be sure to show up by showtime or we’ll release the seat if someone needs one… And let us know if you…
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SUPPORT BIRD & BECKETT - DONATE TODAY!
Your donation to the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project helps us pay for a multitude of operating expenses necessary to present, promote and preserve local music, poetry, and more.
Help us keep the arts alive and thriving!
The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project was created in 2007 "to present, document and archive the creative work of significant living writers and musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, for a neighborhood audience and future generations." We've been doing that very thing for more than a decade and a half, continuing the work we began when the store was established in 1999.
We continue to present a full slate of programming of live music and poetry readings, and produce a literary journal and poetry chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support by way of donations through our fiscal sponsor, Jazz in the Neighborhood.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above. Better yet, send or drop off a check made out to our fiscal sponsor, Jazz in the Neighborhood, with BBCLP in the memo line. Our mailing address is:
Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
Call us at (415) 586-3733 to find out how else you might lend your support.
TAKE OUR SURVEY
To take our SURVEY, click here, and help the BBCLP get to know you better! As Duke Ellington always said, we love you madly...
The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
Our events are put on under the umbrella of the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (the "BBCLP"). That's how we fund our ambitious schedule of 300 or so concerts and literary events every year.
The BBCLP is a [Read More ]
The Independent Musicians Alliance
Gigging musicians! You have nothing to lose but your lack of a collective voice to achieve fair wages for your work!
The IMA can be a conduit for you, if you join in to make it work.
https://www.independentmusiciansalliance.org/
Read more here - Andy Gilbert's Feb 25 article about the IMA from KQED's site
