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!
Poets + an open mic on the first Thursday of each month: 9/4 at 7pm, the featured poets are Breakfast & Kazue Watanabe… The Actual Trio w/John Schott, Dan Seamans, John Hanes play Friday 9/5 at 8:30pm… Saturday 9/6 at 7:30pm, guitarist Karl Evangelista’s Bukas: Francis Wong & Lewis Jordan, saxes; Rei Scampavia, keys; Lisa Mezzacappa, bass; Donald Robinson, drums… Tritones by the Bay jazz ensemble from Lick-Wilmerding High, play Sunday 9/7 at 5pm, jam session follows… The Anthony Wonsey Trio plays Wednesday 9/10 at 7:30pm… Thursday 9/11 at 7pm, it’s Tango No. 9 plus They Might be Hillbillies — a double bill!… Eric & the In Crowd Go to the Movies on Friday 9/12 at 6pm, followed by Greg Gotelli’s San Francisco Quintet at 8:30pm… Stephen Lugerner’s SLUGish Ensemble on Saturday 9/13 at 7:30pm… Jim Bruno, Americana singer/songwriter, brings his trio Sunday 9/14 at 5pm… That’s enough for the…
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Berkeley’s veteran jazz ensemble, The Actual Trio returns to Bird & Beckett for an evening of original, spiky, whimsical, groovy and spontaneous music. Led by guitarist John Schott (T.J. Kirk, John Zorn, Steven Bernstein), the trio has just released its third CD, entitled “Spires.” Double bassist Dan Seamans (New Klezmer Trio) and drummer John Hanes (Henry Kaiser, Doublestroke, Russian Telegraph) are Schott’s long-time colleagues, forging a unique sound and telepathic trust over fifteen years of playing as a trio. Featuring a suite of pieces inspired by the famous Watts Towers in Los Angeles, the trio’s new record continues their devotion to making honest, heartfelt and carefully wrought music. $20 cover charge (cash at the door); byob. Reservations, call 415-586-3733.
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Filipino-American guitarist Karl Evangelista debuts the new album “Bukas” from his group Apura, featuring saxophonists Lewis Jordan on alto and Francis Wong on tenor, Rei Scampavia on keys and electronics, Lisa Mezzacappa on bass and the legendary Donald Robinson sitting in for the master Andrew Cyrille, the recording’s featured guest artist, on drums. $25 cover charge, cash at the door. Students, $10. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Per the releasing record label 577, “This thought-provoking avant-garde piece doesn’t only recognize the need for a better world. It also creates a mesmerizing platform for discovering what that could look like. The new release’s namesake is tied to Evangelista’s roots (“Bukas” means “tomorrow” in the Filipino language Tagalog). A slightly different pronunciation of the word translates to “open”, setting expressive freedom as the theme for the whole album. It explores the life of experimentalism, from its origins to its…
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Anthony Wonsey, piano. Billy Edwards, bass. Minchan Kim, drums. $20 cover charge; cash at the door, please. Students, $10. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Anthony Wonsey took his trio with Billy Edwards and Minchan Kim to Luanda, Angola in April to back saxophonist Steve Carrington for Unesco & ResiliArt’s International Jazz Day, 4/22/25. Now Steve is recording a new record in Oakland and the trio is taking a break from sessions Sunday evening 9/10/25 for two sets at Bird & Beckett. Anthony Wonsey graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1994 and moved to Boston, where he worked with Roy Hargrove, Antonio Hart and their cohort. He later played in the bands of Carl Allen, Vincent Herring, Curtis Lundy, Buster Williams, Clark Terry, Elvin Jones and Nicholas Payton and also led his own groups. He debuted as a leader with the Anthony Wonsey Trio on “Anthonyology” (Evidence Records, 1995) with…
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Steven Lugerner, bass clarinet/baritone saxophone. Justin Rock, guitar. Ian McArdle, synthesizer. Michael Potter, piano. Isaac Coyle, bass. Mike Mitchell, drums. $25 cover charge; byob. Students, $10. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. With Urban Crawl — the third album from the SLUGish Ensemble — composer, reeds player and bandleader Stephen Lugerner turns his gaze to the horizon with tunes marked by lithe, flowing lines and lush textures. With a rarified sense of balance, Lugerner has embraced his namesake gastropod, creating beatific SLUGish soundscapes unlike any other denizen in the jazz kingdom. Urban Crawl offers a bracing antidote to despair, angst and ennui. read more (and buy the download) here
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Here at Bird & Beckett Books, we’ve always relied on the kindness of neighbors and strangers to make it all work; and we’ve always found that strangers don’t stay strangers long! Your tax-deductible donations to our 501(c)3 nonprofit, the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project, FEIN 261906810, are the secret sauce. Book sales and cover charges at the shows are crucial, but only go so far to fill the cornucopia of culture that you’ll find here at Bird & Beckett! You can donate through our website using PayPal. Or if you prefer, you can drop off or mail us a check made out to the “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” — write “tax-deductible donation” in the memo line. Cash is fine if you prefer. Use your donor-advised fund if you have one. See if your employer offers a matching donation. You can also donate on a recurring, monthly basis…
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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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Three more awesome musicians on one stage would be hard to imagine. Craig, Essiet and Sylvia are long-time collaborators in jazz and make for a magnificent trio. Hope you can join us! $20 cover charge; byob. Students $10. Reservations, 415-586-3733.
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You never know who might drop in to jam… maybe you! Serious jazz players welcome. Audience, too!
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Can’t make it to Sacramento for the 10th Annual Hot Jazz Labor Day Weekend Jubilee? We have a premier New Orleans jazz duo for you Saturday, the 30th! Marc Caparone on trumpet, and singing, and Jeff Hamilton on piano, two highly regarded practitioners of the art of trad jazz from New Orleans’ Congo Square and Preservation Hall and many an offshoot, will entertain you with two sets of jazz sweet and hot! The New Orleans originators of jazz music steamed up from the Gulf Coast through the bayou and out of Dixie on the Mississippi riverboats to Memphis, St. Louis and Davenport, from which it was just a short hop to Chicago and on to Detroit and New York City… and the other distant metropoli, way out west to the territories, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle… Marc and Jeff promise a sweet and hot experience of that diaspora to…
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Kristen Strom, saxophone. Tammy Lynne Hall, piano. $20 cover charge; students $10. Call the shop at 415-586-3733 for a reservation. Byob. Tammy Lynne Hall has had a long and storied career in music, and is held in extremely high regard by her peers and her audience. We’re always pleased when she can work in a performance at Bird & Beckett, and particularly so in dialog with Kristen Strom, a fabulous voice on the tenor saxophone with experience wide and deep. You’re in for a splendid evening of music. Read more here: https://tammyhall.com/ and here: https://www.kristenstrom.com/
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Macy Blackman, piano. Bing Nathan, bass. Larry Vann, drums. $20 requested donation; students $10; kids free. BYOB. Call the shop for a reservation, 415-586-3733. Let the good times roll! Macy is a piano professor in the tradition of Professor Longhair, James Booker and Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John, in a long line going back to Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton. He’s got a thousand tunes and a thousand stories. Bing and Larry are Macy’s long-time partners in crime who know just what to do to pull off whatever capers Macy might mastermind. Lots of great music in store for you, and a whole lot of gruff charm.
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Most of you in the Bird & Beckett sphere know Tom Misage as our sound guy on our Friday shows, and a good hearted Glen Park neighbor who lives a few blocks down Chenery Street between the bookshop and the canyon. But unless you attend the jam sessions that Vince Lateano runs on the third Sunday of each month, you might not know that he’s a rock solid drummer as well. He’s a jazz guy for sure, and a lot more. With 101 Eastbound, he and his band mates will take you on a road trip covering a whole lot of territory that you’ll enjoy. Come out to Bird & Beckett with a twenty and something to sip, and enjoy an evening of music in the comfort of Glen Park’s sweet little bookshop & music venue. 101 Eastbound Joe Cruz – keys & vocal Eliseo Orellana – guitar Marcus Clark…
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Changüí at Bird and Beckett with none other than José Andrés, the Latin-Grammy nominated composer/singer from the historic Changüí Guantánamo (featured in Harry Belafonte’s “Roots of Rhythm” – link below.) Join us for a night of boleros, son, improv, call-and-response, humor, stories and changüí. $20 general | $10 students | All ages Changüísonico featuring El Sinsonte de Changüí Guantánamo José Andrés – lead vocals Kai Lyons – tres Ceferino (special guest from Berklee College of Music) – bongo Thomas Gettys – maracas Cy Thompson – marímbula
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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," 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.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above. Better yet, make a check out to the “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” and drop it off or mail it to:
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.
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We're immensely appreciative of Jazz in the Neighborhood for having stepped in as our temporary fiscal sponsor for a few months, while we straightened out some paperwork to get nonprofit status restored to the BBCLP. We're happy to say that's been done, and all past, present, and future donations made directly to the BBCLP are fully tax-deductible!
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
