“It’s never over when one person remembers you.” Sunday morning, join us for an hour’s discussion of the book Death in the Tenderloin and the individual residents whose lives are commemorated in this volume. Geoff Link, editor, and writers Marjorie Beggs and Tom Carter explore the motivations behind and circumstances surrounding the publication of this…

We’re back in the purple tier, thinking about Prince and thinking about how much more comfortable this tier feels relative to wherever that was we just were. But it is purple, and officially that’s pretty far from safe, so we’ll continue to urge you to “Collaborate to keep San Francisco safe, neighborhood by neighborhood, block…

Great shows this weekend, right through Valentine’s Day on Sunday! Read up on the weekend right here! Friday, 2/12, 7:30pm, it’s trombonist Rick Brown’s quartet featuring pianist Sharman Duran, with terrific colleagues Carl Herder on bass and Pepe Jacobo on drums — a really marvelous aggregation of musicians sure to offer up a fascinating 90…

Inaugurating a series of occasional Sunday morning chats, Valerie Luu was at Bird & Beckett on February 21st in conversation with Jeremy Dan Fish via live stream to talk about her book, with Andria Lo, Chinatown Pretty! You can play back the conversation that took place on facebook or youtube From our pre-event post:  They’ll…

It’s been a year-plus since James and Grant made the scene at Bird & Beckett — two extraordinary musicians backed by two more extraordinary musicians. A date not to be missed! James Mahone, saxophone Grant Levin, piano Josh Thurston-Milgrom, bass Genius Wesley, drums          

Guitarist Scott Foster and his colleagues David Boyce on saxophone, Charles Thomas on bass and Cairo McCockran on drums dig deep into just a couple of notable African-American practitioners of the art as a nod to Black History Month. Among other lapidary pursuits, they’ll polish the facets of a few gems by harpist and composer…

Catch jazz guitarist Kai Lyons with Giulio Xavier Cetto on bass and Genius Wesley on drums. Three musicians, young and younger still, who have been setting jazz audiences buzzing for the past several years. If you haven’t heard any one of them yet, you’ll want to tune in. If you already know their work, then…

Trombonist Rick Brown’s quartet features pianist Sharman Duran, with terrific colleagues Carl Herder on bass and Pepe Jacobo on drums — a marvelous aggregation of musicians sure to offer up a fascinating 90 minutes of jazz collaboration. We’re on the hook for our traditional $600 quartet guarantee for this one. Step up to the extent…

Concerned about the fate of the sincere reader in the sincere reader’s rigorous solitude, Walker believes it might have to be Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy that will guide his thoughts this time out… a book with breadth to match its depth, not to mention its fourfold humorousness. A patchwork encyclopedia, an epic mosaic. Too grand…

Live jazz streamed from the bookshop stage on Valentine’s Day! View it at tinyurl.com/3aegq9L6 Find the schedule and donate at that same link!   Three combos live in the moment on the Bird & Beckett stage: The Simon Rowe Organ Trio The Tammy Lynne Hall Trio tbd – a quartet   Three combos presented in…

Another amazing aggregation graces the Bird & Beckett stage, this one led by vibraphonist Dan Neville and featuring Grammy award winning Christian Tumalan (piano), Brian Andres (drums), and Yadier Noa Chamble (bass). View the evidence here. The quartet promises throwbacks, world premieres, and original tunes/ arrangements. Don’t miss this special collaboration! This is the second…

Big fun ahead. Tune in on your phone, but if you’re set up for it, it’ll sound & look that much better at home with a nice screen and some good speakers. First up, this evening, The Ollie Dudek Trio — Ollie on bass and leading the charge, with a fantastic pair of musicians —…

A 31st birthday blowout for an exceptional young trumpeter, composer & producer. Isaac Schwartz on drums Curtis Aikens on bass Greg Jacobs on piano Noah Frank on trumpet Noah picked up the trumpet at age ten, spent five summers on the scene in NYC, busked for six months in Central Park in Manhattan and for…

Walter Earl, piano Arlington Houston, bass J Paul the Drummer, drums One of San Francisco’s finest working trios, led by an extraordinary pianist. Walter Earl, 6/19/20 solo concert Catch tonight’s trio show on YouTube or Facebook, or from the screen at the top of this webpage! But be aware the stream from here (the website)…

Two strands of thought coincide here. On the one hand, the spiritual teaching of Emily Dickinson, whose skillfulness in condensed diction mystifies even as it inspires and empowers us, granting us the richness of our most intimate intimations. And on the other, her assured assimilation of the introspective rigor of her puritan inheritance coupled with…

  Phillip Greenlief – tenor saxophone Dan Seamans – bass Tom Hassett – drums Catch the show from the screen at the top of this website! That’s a brand new thing, so we’ll see how it goes this weekend. If you run into any trouble at all (and you might!), you’ll find the stream on…

Jazz streamed live from the bookshop every Friday evening at 7:30 pm. Tonight, jazz veterans Tony Johnson (drums) and Glen Deardorff (guitar) — long known to Bird & Beckett regulars as members of the 230 Jones Street, Local 6 Literary Jazz Band — join forces tonight in a quartet date with reed player Charlie McCarthy…

Tonight, exuberant jazz from trad to bop with trumpeter Andrew Stephens, bassist Dexter Williams and drummer Carson Messer. Rooted in the Sacramento jazz scene, the three have long years in the music that belie their youth. Catch the show from the screen at the top of this website! That’s a brand new thing, so we’ll…

Just about now, we can all use an evening that takes us away from the pain of our times. Scott, Eric and Smith will give us that, and will attest to the promise of better times coming. Three fine musicians of long association, all familiar to Bird & Beckett audiences from countless jazz dates over…

Q. R. Hand was a hip & humble & towering figure among San Francisco poets for decades, since his arrival from Brooklyn in 1970. We’ve just lost him at age 83. San Francisco Poet Laureate Kim Shuck hosts a reading in tribute to Q. R. featuring a number of poets who knew him well.  …

Eric Shifrin, jazz pianist par excellence and free spirit, has gathered the In Crowd in the City’s saloons and salons for decades. Tonight, he’s bringing in Ollie Dudek on bass and Mark Lee on drums for two eclectic sets of jazz pearls, pop tunes and your occasional novelty number. Gems from Jelly Roll Morton to…

The remarkable young vibraphonist Dan Neville has just returned from a year-long immersion in Cali, Colombia. While he had arrived in Cali with plans to stay from January-March 2020, Dan found himself stranded in Colombia as the pandemic hit and closed Colombia’s borders. Dan made good use of the time overseas, traveling frequently to Colombia’s…

Jazz, Poetry & Afrobop! Avotcja with the Genius Wesley Trio Avotcja lives and breathes as poet, musician, musicologist, broadcaster, mentor of young artists, friend and colleague of countless others. With her programs on KPOO (La Verdad Musical) and KPFA (Bebop, Cubop and the Musical Truth), she’s exhibited for decades her deep connection to Afro-Caribbean, African…

Larry Vann, the Groove Merchant, brings his long-time working trio, with Michael Warren on bass and Tim Landis on guitar, for 90 minutes of jazz, soul, blues and funk. Larry has performed with Curtis Mayfield, Elvis Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite, among a raft of superstars, and he’s played the Bird & Beckett stage many times,…

Kalil is one of the most riveting jazz vocalists to come along in a generation. He was raised here in the Bay Area on Nigerian Afrobeat and Highlife music, classically trained for the world’s opera stages, then spirited into a world of jazz, enraptured by the jewels of melody, rhythm and eloquence of the bountiful…