Live Streaming every show!
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!
Help us pay the band!
653 Chenery Street in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood
Open to walk-in trade and browsing Tuesday to Sunday noon to six
phone: 1-415-586-3733 email: [email protected]
Shows this weekend: Flower Radish (Ben Goldberg, Andrew Conklin, Hamir Atwal), Thursday at 7:30 – $20 (students typically $10 for all of our shows). Tony Johnson’s 230 Jones Street Band (Bob Kenmotsu, Sam Cady, Chuck Bennett, Tony Johnson), Friday at 6 – pay what will; it’s happy hour! but twenty works best. George Cotsirilos solo guitar (album release, “In the Wee Hours”) plus some duo numbers with bassist Robb Fisher, Friday at 8:30 – $20. Darren Johnson’s Cyclic Break, a quintet (Darren Johnston, tpt; Danny Lubin-Laden, tbn; Liberty Ellman, gtr; Mat Muntz, bass; Tim Bulkley, drums) Saturday at 7 – $25. Jam session hosted by the Vince Lateano Trio (Ben Stolorow, Peter Barshay, Vince Lateano), Sunday at 5 – pay what you can, twenty if possible. The Howell Boys, père et fils (Richard, saxophone; Elè, drums + rhythm), Sunday at 8 – $20.
Read More
All month long, Prohibition Chicken has been dedicating their non-profit Mondays to Bird & Beckett, cutting us in for 10% of the revenues from any sales made at the counter. Orders placed online don’t count. Gotta go there and talk to the good folks face to face for us to benefit. It’s a friendly place; they don’t bite! They’re super nice actually, and the place has a great patio with a fireplace and everything. Yardbird, fried, flipped & fake. Plus all those sides and canned wine, beer & cocktails. They’re open for breakfast, even! Did you realize that eggs is chicken? We just tripped on that! You can get chicken chicken, even at breakfast, if that’s your bag. Well, this coming Monday is your big chance if you’ve been waiting for one! We’re throwing a party to celebrate and we crave a big turn out to go with the grub!…
Read More
It’s been way too long since Hamir has made the Bird & Beckett scene! And Andrew? Well, we never! But we’re looking forward to hearing him. And Ben Goldberg! You remember Ben from that first wave of Klezmer bands moderne… and you remember him from all the quirky wonderful iterations of groups with strange names and delightful music that he’s brought through the shop, making Bird & Beckett as famous as any jazz venue on the planet not named Blue Note or Keystone or Village Vanguard! Come have a good time! Bring a twenty for the musicians. That’s not much when you stop to think about it. Think of what creativity you’re enabling to be born! And bring something to sip if you like. We have Hetch Hetchy water, cups and a corkscrew. What more could a body ask? Call us if you want to reserve a seat. 415-586-3733. Just…
Read More
Tony Johnson brings the 230 Jones Street crew this week! Saxophonist Charlie McCarthy is on the front line. A finer player than Charlie, you’ll not find anywhere on the planet. He takes flight at the downbeat and never fails to swing. Insouciant Sam Cady plays the piano with hip elan and effortless dexterity; composes the occasional tune as well. On bass, Chuck Bennett, who knows his instrument intimately and provides the pulse that keeps the music flowing. And then there’s Tony, himself. Tony the Tiger, he’s affectionately called, who’s been on the San Francisco jazz scene swinging and rattling out the rhythm since 1959. This is our legacy band, harkening back to the trio that started it all in 2002 as a weekly jazz party helmed by tenor player Chuck Peterson, pictured here with Tony and bassist Dean Reilly, original members of the 230 Jones Street, Local 6, Literary Jazz…
Read More
Bay Area guitarist George Cotsirilos returns to the intimate language of solo nylon-string guitar on In the Wee Hours, due for release by OA2 Records on May 15th, performed live for you at Bird & Beckett on Friday, April 24th. Illuminating beloved standards and two original compositions with patience and depth, George recorded these tunes in unedited first takes over a period of several years. Gathered on this, his seventh recording on OA2, the album unfolds with the quiet authority and refined lyricism that have defined George’s career—from his early solo and trio recordings to his celebrated quartet release, Refuge–recordings praised for their fluidity and swing. On In the Wee Hours, classics such as “Come Sunday,” “Haunted Heart” and the title ballad are rendered with a meticulous touch and subtle dynamic shadings that reveal the hidden architecture of each melody. Alternating between exquisite instruments by José Ramirez and Alberto Morales,…
Read More
Darren Johnston, peace cannon. Danny Lubin-Laden, trombone. Liberty Ellman, electric guitar. Mat Muntz, bass. Tim Bulkley, drums. $25 / byob. Students $10. For a reservation, call the bookshop at 415-586-3733. We’re more than pleased to present this all-star aggregation of fine musicians happy in the outer realms of jazz, brought together for the occasion by Darren Johnston. Darren’s curiosity, spontaneous creativity and openness to the intricacies of the abstract groove, riffing off concepts of improvisation, rhythm and structure explored by the 1980s Brooklyn M-Base Collective, has no apparent bounds. Guitarist and composer Liberty Ellman, English-born, raised in Brooklyn, found the roots of his music in the M-Base activity that roiled San Francisco’s acid jazz waters in the 1990s, as Steve Coleman, Greg Osby and others moved fluidly between those poles of exploration and performance. Tim Bulkley and Mat Muntz are naturals in their ability to ride and propel the waves…
Read More
Bring your talent and your friends! Jam session on the last Sunday of each month at 5pm! Contribute what you can to the care and feeding of the trio! Cash, please!
Read More
At left in the featured photo, that’s Richard Howell, the magnificent saxophonist known a lot now by newbies as Elé’s dad, ever since Elé became the drummer of choice for saxophonist Ravi Coltrane’s quartet. Read about Richard here: http://www.rchowellmusic.com/about.html. In the picture at right, that’s Richard peeking out from the left side and Elé towering at the right, flanking drummer Myron Cohen, Ravi Coltrane, cellist Rosy Zhang and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, with saxophonist Alex So peeking over Richard’s head, gathered in a NY club not too many weeks ago. To get just a little perspective on what Richard and Elé sound like sharing the bandstand, check out the YouTube link below… start at the 20 minute mark! Richard starts the music, the bassist joins in after about 4 minutes, and then Elé appears at the kit about 3 minutes later: https://www.youtube.com/live/KtzIngDdthU
Read More
Fried, Flipped or Fake, Proposition Chicken has something for everyone — and 10% of your tab goes to Bird & Beckett every Monday in April, from 9am to 9pm. It’s their Non-Profit Mondays policy, and they do it year round! They serve great food all year round as well. From ten bucks in revenue on all the April Mondays, a buck goes to Bird & Beckett. Your humble proprietor and friends have roadtested the yardbird & tofu and have proclaimed them and all their sides quite delicious and modestly priced! So plan to get breakfast, lunch or dinner on Monday April 20, and then turn out Monday April 27th at 6pm for a party on their streetfront patio, with live music and a scattering of poets curated for your dining pleasure by the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project. You’ll hear a friendly local jazz trio featuring Joe DeAndreis, saxophone;…
Read More
Join PEN Award finalist Jeanne Carstensen, in conversation with Frances Dinkelspiel, for the paperback launch party for A GREEK TRAGEDY, with live rebetika music. The author: Jeanne Carstensen, in conversation with Frances Dinkelspiel The book: A Greek Tragedy: One Day, A Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis (Atria/One Signal, 2025) The band: Gregory Masaki Jenkins & friends Wine and cheese will be served! Jeanne Carstensen is an award-winning journalist and the author of A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis (2025), a finalist for the 2026 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the California Book Award. Author Héctor Tobar called it “essential reading for anyone hoping to understand the migrations and injustices of our modern world.” Jeanne lives in Glen Park and is thrilled to celebrate her paperback release at Bird and…
Read More
Eileen Myles in conversation with Nathan Kernan, author of A Day Like Any Other: The Life of James Schuyler (FSG, 2025), on the life and language of James Schuyler, with additional discussion & reading of Schuyler’s work by Tom Carey, Jason Morris, & Hannah Zeavin. * Born in Chicago in 1923, James Schuyler grew up in Washington, DC, and upstate New York before moving to New York City in 1944, where he fell into the social orbit of the poet W. H. Auden. After two years in Italy, he returned to New York in 1949 and began to publish his first poems. There he met fellow poets O’Hara, Ashbery, Guest, and Koch. For many years he lived outside the city in Southampton, Long Island, in a close relationship with the painter Fairfield Porter and his family, and spent his summers in Maine. Schuyler’s subsequent years in New York City were marked by…
Read More
Denny Berthiaume, piano. Chuck Bennett, bass. Curt Moore, drums. $20 suggested / adult; byob. (pay what you can). Students, $10; kids free. A classic piano trio date. Pianist Denny Berthiaume, bassist Chuck Bennett and drummer Curt Moore, three veterans of the Bay Area jazz scene, have been plying these waters together for many years, all the while pursuing countless other musical pursuits & associations. You won’t regret an evening spent in their company. Do come! Here’s a sample of their work, from their first lp, Fascinating Rhythms: . In 2004, these three San Francisco Bay Area musicians decided to create a rhythm section devoted to their own compositions and individualized arrangements of standards. After recording its studio demo in 2005, “THE TRIO” began a series of public performances in clubs (Shanghai 1930, The Agenda, Anna’s Jazz Island, Piedmont Piano Company) and festivals (San Jose Jazz Festival). Their early recordings include…
Read More
Ramya Shankar, vocals Prasant Radakrishnan, saxophone Unpil Baek, piano Peter Barshay, bass Varun Pattabhiraman, mridangam $25 cover students $10 For a reservation, call the bookshop at 415-586-3733 Ramya Shankar is a genre-blurring sound artist and vocalist whose voice flows from deep Carnatic and folk roots of India into jazz and global music. Her voice is a vessel for emotion, healing, and human connection—fusing improvisation, rhythm, and story. As a composer and producer, Ramya crafts immersive sonic landscapes that explore the shared human experience—Love, Grief, Courage, Adventure, Joy—using the voice as a medium to trace emotional stages and reveal the profound textures of human feeling. Her work invites listeners into discovery, presence, and resonance. Peter Barshay is a veteran bassist with a strong reputation built over decades of performing on both the New York City and San Francisco Bay Area jazz scenes. He has collaborated with jazz luminaries such as Kenny…
Read More
Formed in the summer of 2023, the latin cabaret ensemble Cantos di mi Tierra had its first public performances in October 2023 with three sold-out shows at Martuni’s in San Francisco and returned for two shows in January 2024. Soon after, adding a bassist and a percussionist, the ensemble performed at Feinstein’s at the Nikko, again enjoying a sold out audience. Their appearance at Bird & Beckett in November 2026 was a delight, and we’re . For this show, we added a bassist and a percussionist to our ensemble. Our performance on August 17, 2024 at Feinstein’s was also sold out! Cantos De Mi Tierra operates as a collective much more than a band. From the beginning, they have envisioned a rotating cohort of talent, offering something fresh and different each time out, to introduce audiences to new sounds they may not have heard before and to provide an outlet…
Read More
RASOTA bass student Yoav Konig, a formidable young talent, has assembled a quartet of great players – with Nico Colucci on tenor sax, Michael Potter on piano and Miles Turk on drums, all current or recent graduates of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s RJAM B.Mus. program. After a short set, the quartet will host a jam session open to student players from all directions. No charge to play. Donations appreciated for the quartet. Yoav Konig (bass) is a dynamic young bass player setting new ground on the instrument. Currently a senior at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, Yoav Konig is a composer and arranger who is a member of the SFJazz High School All-Stars and the San Francisco Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has studied under the greats: Reuben Rogers, Scott Colley, Yasushi Nakamura, Joe Martin, Or Bareket, Marcus Shelby and Jeff Denson. Yoav has been awarded a YoungArts…
Read More
Sign Up for Our Weekly Emails!
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.
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
