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 Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm.
December boasts some gems…
Poets Francisco Orrego and Maria Serafin on December 2nd December 3rd, Destiny Muhammad, harp; Chico Lopez, bass; Tarika Lewis, violin December 4th, the quartet of guitarist George Cotsirilos, with Keith Saunders on piano, Robb Fisher on bass and Ron Marabuto on drums December 5th, a combo from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music opening, followed…
Read More
Friday, December 10 – 7:30 pm
John Calloway Quartet
The Fall-Winter Cycle
John Calloway, flute and percussion Ken Cook, piano Marcus Shelby, bass Sylvia Cuenca, drums with guest vocalist Angie Doctor reservations, please call the shop at 415-586-3733. $20 cash cover charge, byob; proof of vaccination and masks, please! also live on YouTube and Facebook . thanks for joining us!
Read MoreNoel Jewkes, saxophone Charlie McCarthy, saxophone Sam Cady, piano Joe McKinley, bass Akira Tana, drums reservations, please call the shop at 415-586-3733. $25 cash cover charge, byob; proof of vaccination and masks, please! also live on YouTube and Facebook . thanks!
Read MoreSan Francisco columnist Denise Sullivan conducts a monthly series of conversations (the second Sunday of each month from 10-11 a.m.) with The City’s activists, educators, arts and cultural leaders, as well as lesser-known workers, the everyday people who help make this place we call home, live streamed from Bird & Beckett Books in Glen Park.…
Read MoreYOU AREN’T A DISAPPOINTMENT. You are SUPER GREAT and if people get down on you for not being perfect all the time then bite their faces off. You are SUPER GREAT and faces are high in protein. SUPER GREAT! For your browsing pleasure, SUPER GREAT! performs while you poke around the shop! Watching in the…
Read MoreThe Seducers close out their 2021 billings at Bird & Beckett this Sunday, 12/12, 5:00-8:00pm. It’s never anything but super great. Nor are you! All pure pleasure! B&B asks that you bring proof of vaccination and wear a mask, although the band may not be masked on stage. We also request that you bring a…
Read More
Yes! Believe your five senses–
Shows for In-Store Audiences
have resumed, and continue,
albeit masked.
Bird & Beckett’s events open to the public have been back since mid-June. Mask up and come in! (do please bring proof of full vaccination. Not vaxxed? Please get vaxxed and join us!) Live jazz & more in the shop for audiences and live streamed every Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm and more Come to…
Read MoreFor decades now, Grant Levin has been one of the best kept secrets in jazz, and Bird & Beckett has been proud to present him literally hundreds of times since he arrived in the Bay Area in 2010. The performance documented here was the last of the live-stream only pandemic concerts we presented between March…
Read MoreHungry 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…
Read MoreAt 5pm, a seven-piece jazz combo from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music leads off with a set, and then the Terrence Brewer Trio takes the stage, opening with a short trio set leading into a jam session for student players welcomed from anywhere in the Bay Area. If you’re an aspiring jazz musician with…
Read MoreGeorge Cotsirilos, guitar Keith Saunders, piano Robb Fisher, bass Ron Marabuto, drums Tonight, the George Cotsirilos Quartet highlights its just-completed recording project, due for release on CD in a matter of weeks. A group of highly accomplished jazz veterans boasting years of close collaboration, the quartet released the widely acclaimed album Mostly In Blue in…
Read MoreDestiny Muhammad, the Harpist from the Hood, brings a reverence for her ancestor jazz harp mothers Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane to the creation of a unique sound and a personal approach to jazz standards, reimagining the past and creating original compositions. Since picking up the harp in her thirties, she has devoted untold hours…
Read MoreJerry Ferraz and Michael Koch co-host Bird & Beckett’s monthly poetry reading on the first Thursday of each month, with an open mic following the featured readers. Maria Serafin, “The Word-Weave Rumbera,” is a performance poet and percussionist, widely known for her work as leader of El Grupo Sinigual, with its 35-year history of performances…
Read MorePost-Thanksgiving, on Sunday, November 28, we’ll open the shop and clear the stage at 5pm for a three-hour all-comers jam session — students and old hands alike! Professional musicians, come on out. Live streamed on our facebook page or youtube channel No remuneration, except for the Keith Saunders Trio, with Eric Markowitz on bass and…
Read MoreMake Bird & Beckett a stop on your holiday whirl. Keep the faith and keep swingin’ — The Cottontails make it easy! Vocalist Karina Denike and pianist Michael McIntosh have been pleasing audiences with this marvelous band at Bird & Beckett at Thanksgiving time for years and are we ever thankful to have them back!…
Read MoreA fabulous band with an affinity for New Orleans–just the tonic you want and need in these times! Bounce back from your Thanksgiving indulgence, shake it down & rave it up in the company of good friends and companions! Jim Peterson, saxophone Scott Foster, guitar Joe Kyle, Jr., bass Larry Vann, drums Can’t stir from…
Read MoreLayers of mythic history teased out by Walker Brents III in his monthly talk on topics mythological, poetical, philosophical and otherwise. A recording of Walker’s 11/24/21 talk on Taoist tales can be found at this link. Bird & Beckett’s livestreams can be heard on our YouTube channel or Facebook page.
Read MoreBring a poem to the zoom! Kim Shuck, San Francisco’s 7th Poet Laureate, 2019-2021, MCs and keeps it real! The New Jersey poet William Carlos Williams wrote, It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there. San Francisco’s first poet laureate, Lawrence…
Read MoreAn evening of songs from and about movies, sampling silent films, cult classics, Japanese anime, and flicks that don’t yet exist (but should). Oakland-based contralto Amy Kessler has performed in opera, jazz, experimental theater, radio, symphonies, churches, and many backyards. Her love of film music and her hatred of standard recital repertoire have combined to…
Read MoreLarry Ochs returns to the Bird & Beckett stage, where he’s been heard with Rova and in his duo with drummer Don Robinson. Tonight, he’s invited Gerald Cleaver, drums; and Tim Perkis, electronics. Close your eyes and open your ears. You’re in for a fine ride. “Ochs’ full-bodied tenor is out of the John Coltrane/Albert…
Read MoreBob Kenmotsu subbed for Charlie McCarthy this time out, joining Tony, Al and Glen on the bandstand. Both Bob and Charlie are stellar tenor players, so no net loss there! Click here to find a recording of the show on our YouTube channel. You’ll can also find past shows on our Facebook page under the…
Read MoreDon’t miss this one — the only San Francisco date for this quartet and the final date in a regional tour in support of their brand new album, The Silver Fox. The Arterik Quartet Erik Jekabson, trumpet Art Lande, piano Peter Barshay, bass Alan Hall, drums Call the bookshop to reserve a seat! 415-586-3733 Doors…
Read MoreAmerica’s favorite country band, or a hybrid thereof, in America’s favorite bookshop & honky tonk, every second Sunday from now through 2022! Tonight the Seducers and Nashville Honeymoon merge in the moonlight. It’s a Seducers Honeymoon show! Lynne Maes and Hank Maninger bring a satchel of songs & a cauldron of chemistry to the show,…
Read MoreFocus on Abortion: Americans Share Their Stories introduces the often-missing and most important voices in the abortion conversation: the voices of those who have experienced abortion, and shows us the faces of the individuals whose stories we hear. “Some doctors who didn’t even know me, didn’t speak to me, didn’t know what I looked like,…
Read MoreJoin San Francisco columnist Denise Sullivan for a series of morning discussions with The City’s activists, educators, arts and cultural leaders, as well as lesser-known workers, the everyday people who help make this place we call home, every second Sunday at 10 am, live streamed from Bird & Beckett Books in Glen Park. Find the stream on…
Read MoreKarl Evangelista – guitar Rei Scampavia – keys Robert Lopez – drums Guitarist Karl Evangelista and experimental trio Grex perform “For Milford Graves,” an original composition commemorating legendary percussionist, educator and multidisciplinary researcher Milford Graves. The program will also feature pieces from Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry and Evangelista’s repertoire of Filipino American music. Evangelista ranks among a…
Read MoreEric Nakanishi, saxophone Edward Evans, trumpet Cyrus Campbell, bass Isaac Schwartz, drums Doors open ten minutes before showtime. If you have a reservation, you must claim it by 7:30. As with all of our shows, once the music starts, we allow anyone waiting for a seat to take what’s available. Please bring proof of vaccination…
Read MoreOur events are put on under the umbrella of the nonprofit 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 501(c)(3) non-profit...
[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



