December 3rd, Destiny Muhammad, the harpist from the hood! with Tarika Lewis, violin and Chico Lopez, bass 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 by a jam…

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? Get vaxxed and join us!) Live jazz & more in the shop for audiences and live streamed through cyberspace! Every Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm + more Come…

For 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…

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…

A 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…

Layers 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.

Bring 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…

An 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…

Larry 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…

Bob 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…

Don’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…

America’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,…

Focus 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,…

Join 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…

Karl 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…

Eric 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…

Kim Shuck hosts our twice monthly online poetry reading, every 2nd and 4th Monday. Featured readers precede an open mic on the 2nd Monday, while the 4th Monday reading is all open mic. Watch this space for the zoom invitation. Susan Dambroff is a poet, performer and teacher.  She has published three compilations of poetry.…

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Roots, Jazz and American Music (RJAM) program sends another stellar ensemble our way this Sunday! This evening’s combo has been growing strong under the tutelage of local jazz tenor sax titan, Patrick Wolff. Prepare to be stunned by their talents! The SFCM combo will perform a set starting at…

Tammy Lynne Hall is among the premier pianists in the Bay Area, with a richly deserved international reputation and audience. Her playing is steeped in jazz, gospel and classical influences. She is one of our most treasured artists in this music! “A musician who has much to offer in the way of originality, fine technique…

Eric Shifrin, piano Ari Munkres, bass Mark Lee, drums Jazz and pop tunes for the swells and the swindlers. Rueful, insouciant, always swingin’… This is what it’s like on a good night in the penthouses and the dives, and in your little neighborhood bookshop. Can’t make it into the shop? We’ll miss you. But you…

An open mic follows our featured readers. All welcome to one of the most vibrant reading series in the City. This evening, two poets with a longstanding commitment to social change through poetry are featured. Barbara Paschke has been involved in translation for over thirty years, both as a translator and editor. Her publications include Riverbed…

Once a month, jazz combos comprising students from local colleges and high schools open the program, followed by a student jam session hosted by a professional trio. All young (or youngish) students aspiring to a career in jazz — including those who are learning on the bandstands and in the public squares — are encouraged…

Darren Johnston – trumpet Ben Goldberg – clarinet, contra-alto clarinet David Boyce – tenor sax, bass clarinet Gerald Cleaver – drums BYOB, and bring a twenty for the band. If you’re watching in the stream, thanks for helping us meet the quartet’s guarantee and the cost of streaming by donating online. Find the stream on…

Enjoy an intimate evening of jazz standards, a few tunes off the beaten track, a couple of originals, and hear what a long-running quartet can bring to the table Mark Secosh, saxophone Bob Jones, piano Dan Keller, bass André Custodio, drums Joining CBop for their second set, soulful jazz vocalist Raja Live in the shop…

Illuminating the paragraphs of such sages as Mulla Nasrudin and Lao Tsu is like singing with your eyes, or making scat-notes out of the tracks of a tattered clown.  Wise fools.  Old sages who ride off on donkeys into the mountains.  Scattered texts and word-of-mouth.  Jokes that strike home.  Such stuff as dreams are made…