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!

Sunday, February 16th – 5pm
The Vince Lateano Trio
Third Sunday of Every Month!
special guest, Erik Jekabson, trumpet

Ben Stolorow, piano. Peter Barshay, bass. Vince Lateano, drums. with guest Erik Jekabson, trumpet $20 suggested donation, or what you can afford. byob. Come for a tune, or come for two sets… whatever fits your life, you don’t want to miss out on one of the great pleasures of San Francisco life and San Francisco jazz. Vince has been a mainstay in this town since he rousted out of the Army and stayed put here in the mid-1960s. He took what he’d learned in his Sacramento youth and became the go-to drummer in North Beach and all around town, especially after Johnny Markham subbed out to him when JM hit the circuit. Vince toured with Cal Tjader, Vince Guaraldi, Woody Herman and Stan Getz, was the house drummer in Jazz at Pearl’s Columbus Avenue heyday, led memorable sessions in Dogpatch, over at Pier 23 down at the 7 Mile House…

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Sunday, January 16th – 7:30pm
Idris Ackamoor Quartet

Idris Ackamoor, saxophone. Bobby Cobb, guitar. Heshima Mark Williams, bass. Randy Merritt, drums. $20 cover charge; byob. Cash or venmo at the door please; no plastic! For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Premiere performance of Idris Ackamoor’s new quartet, presenting new material and kicking off a series of performances by Idris in multiple configurations — his recently formed trio with Carlos Niño and Nate Mercereau (Feb 19 at the Chapel), his long-running (since 1972), internationally acclaimed touring band, the Pyramids (April 19 at The Lab), and his Ankhestra (June 15 at SFJAZZ). The Ankhestra’s debut album “Artistic Being” is soon to be released! It all started with the Pyramids in Paris and Africa, continued in San Francisco with Cultural Odyssey, his amazing, long-running collaboration with Rhodessa Jones, and continues on with the trio, quartet and Ankhestra! Don’t miss this quartet stop at Bird & Beckett! In honour of…

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Monday, February 17th – 7:30pm
Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
On tour for Black History Month!

Sir Kahil El’Zabar, voice, trapset, cajon, kalimba. Corey Wilkes, trumpet. Alex Harding, baritone saxophone. $35 at the door, cash or venmo please! byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Sir Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is touring the United States and Canada this February on its 2025 Heart & Soul tour! The sublimely powerful Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, now in its 51st year of annual touring, was founded in 1974 in Chicago side by side with Sir El’Zabar’s Ritual Trio. Both groups remain active to this day, with personnel evolving over the decades. Catch the EHE’s 7th Black History Month appearance at Bird & Beckett since February 2017, the year that core trio mates Corey Wilkes and Alex Harding joined the Ensemble. The EHE’s 2025 Bird & Beckett performance will be the first of just three West Coast stops on the 2025 Heart & Soul tour–their 14th stop in…

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Mark your calendar!
Friday, February 28th – 8:30pm
Larry Ochs + Tales End
a musical collective featuring
Lisa Mezzacappa,
Darren Johnston & Ben Davis

Larry Ochs (Rova Saxophone Quartet) unveils his latest musical collective featuring Lisa Mezzacappa, Darren Johnston & Ben Davis In the perfect environment for close listening, Larry Ochs once again brings a new ensemble to Bird & Beckett and invites you, the listeners, to join the musicians in enjoying their spontaneous but carefully sculpted music as it happens, in real time. Through repeated performances, musical discussions after shows, and rehearsals, this music slowly but confidently evolves. The audience and the performance environment matter. There’s no more perfect environment than Bird & Beckett to hear the intimate sound sculptures that Tales End will perform on February 28 @ 8:30 PM. Conceptually, Tales End might be said to be administratively led by Larry Ochs. The music itself will develop collectively, with a small pool of like-minded musicians rotating in to listen, play, and respond, when available. Ben Davis – cello Darren Johnston – trumpet Lisa Mezzacappa – acoustic…

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MUCH FUN STILL TO BE HAD
before the month plays out

thanks to your generous support, the good life goes on in San Francisco! Make it a point to get back to where  

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Fundraising for the future of
Bird & Beckett in Glen Park!

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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Yes! Believe your five senses–
shows for in-store audiences
resumed in mid-June 2021,
and continue apace

 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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O Pioneers of the Cosmostream! We’ve been vaccinating you against the plague of boredom and the scourge of demagoguery with a mighty river of live streamed events since March 2020, when it all came down!

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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Water under the bridge…

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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Saturday, February 15th – 7:30pm
Marina Crouse sings jazz, blues & boleros

Marina Crouse, vocals. Danny Caron, guitar. Ruth Davies, bass. Mark Lee, drums. $20 cover charge; byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. With two albums to her credit, Marina Crouse is an astonishingly talented singer in Spanish and English both, whether it’s a jazz classic, a scorching blues number, a soulful Mexican ballad or an irresistible and clever original. Blessed with a deeply expressive voice early in life, her early classical training underlies her powerful vocal delivery. She traverses a wide range of material, delivering an emotional authenticity that consistently cuts deep. “When I sing,” she says, “I feel like I break myself open and let a little piece of myself come out. I’m reaching out to people with hopes to connect on a personal level. And when we do, that to me is better than anything else.” Plus, she’s a lot of fun to hear, especially with…

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Friday, February 14th – 8:30pm
Shake it up with The Shakers!
Blueswoman Pat Wilder
serenades the soulful!

Pat Wilder, guitar and vocals Ryan Pesce, guitar Kirk Bowman, bass Thatcher Nine, drums $20 cover; byob. Blues guitarist and singer Pat Wilder brings it all back home with love for you on Valentine’s Day! Sultry blues like you love it from the likes of Etta James & Barbara Lynne. Pat Wilder was born into a family of artists. San Francisco in the sixties was the backdrop of her childhood. As a hub for the Civil Rights Movement and the home to Haight-Ashbury hippies, SF’s rich culture laid fertile ground for becoming an artist herself. “Music was in my blood,” she recalls. She danced between the piano, the congas, and the plastic guitar her mother bought her from Woolworth’s, jamming with her harpsichord-strumming, harmonica-humming grandmother. The bluesman Taj Mahal, a family friend, bequeathed Pat her first electric guitar, and taught her his “Ain’t Gwine Whistle Dixie (Anymo’).” The rest is…

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Friday, February 14th – 6pm
Eric Shifrin & the In Crowd
Play for the Romantics

It’s the second Friday of the month, and lucky for you, you’re about to get lucky on Valentine’s Day! Charm your crush with an easy-going evening of jazz standards and chestnuts played with a Latin flare. Pianist Eric Shifrin and percussionist Raul Ramirez are here to entertain you with a couple of sets of lovely tunes. You’re always in with the in crowd when you’re at Bird & Beckett for a second Friday with Eric & the In Crowd. BYOB and a twenty for the musicians. No reservation necessary, but feel free to call for one anyway – 415-586-3733.  

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Thursday, February 13th – 8:30pm
The Jim Campilongo Trio

Jim Campilongo, guitar. Andrew Higgins, bass. David Rokeach, drums. $20 cover charge; byob. For reservations, call 415-586-3733. Billboard Magazine calls Jim Campilongo “an American treasure,” an accolade which this guitarist’s artistry and influential career has richly earned him. Time Out NYC describes Campilongo perfectly: “New York has no shortage of guitar heroes but few cover as many bases as Jim Campilongo. Campilongo reveals a range that extends from seductive country-swing to atmospheric jazz and well beyond.” New Yorker magazine says, “There it was again: the stinging treble, the spooky overtones, the strings snapping and booming under his hands, the sound of a Tele being played as skillfully and exuberantly as it can be played. It sounded like nothing and nobody else sounded like Jim Campilongo.” With fifteen albums of original material and guest appearances on dozens of recordings–from his significant contribution on Cake’s million-selling “Prolonging the Magic” to (most recently)…

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Thursday, February 13th – 7-8pm
Novelist Charlie Haas presents
The Current Fantasy

Doors open at 6:30pm to socialize with Charlie Haas prior to his reading at 7pm. Novelist, essayist and screenwriter Charlie Haas presents his new book, The Current Fantasy (Beck & Branch, 2024), his second novel. Charlie’s debut novel The Enthusiast (HarperPerennial) was published in 2009. Highly regarded as a screenwriter, Charlie’s credits include Over the Edge, Gremlins 2, and Matinee. His writing has appeared in Esquire, New West, The Threepenny Review, and Wet: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing, among many other journals. He lives in Oakland with his wife, the writer and editor B. K. Moran. The Current Fantasy begins with the Lanz family in Berlin in 1914, stressed and alarmed as the city’s populace is stirred by an ugly nationalist fervor. Seeking a brief respite from the growing madness they sense around them, they’re drawn to a community a train ride away in the nearby woods — a countercultural…

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Sunday, February 9th – 5pm
Lessons of Love
Maurice Tani sings romantic songs of organized crime, the fashion industry and unrequited love

Maurice Tani, guitar and vocals. Henry Salvia, piano. Greg Kehret, bass. $20 cover charge; byob. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. This week we’ll be celebrating the 1529th running of the Valentines since Pope Gelasius I ordered Cupid to fire his starting bow in the streets of Rome in 496 AD. Times have changed… or have they? Join singer-songslinger Maurice Tani, pianist Henry Salvia and bassist Greg Kehret as they explore the darker corners of timeless romance in the modern world. Oh, what is beauty? Deception or truth? What is love crushed? Destroyer of youth. You had to flirt with disaster until It finally fell for you. Please note that, yes, we realize this is also a religious holiday for certain sports fans, though our local team will not be playing. Ask your clergy or sacred text if this concert is right for 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

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