From the bookshop stage, mostly viewable on malevolent facebook, where you DO NOT need to be registered to tune in… just find the Bird & Beckett facebook page and gaze upon the goings on here in the shop! (fb doesn’t need to know your name or steal your information) here’s a link: https://www.facebook.com/bird.and.beckett/   Friday,…

Whither goeth jazz?! We’re cooking up a new idea for when jazz club opens back up. Stay tuned! Especially you members of the Jazz Philanthropists Union– you know who you are. Your country will be calling on you to make it work for all the peoples of jazznationsf. Ask not how, but when! Remember, what…

We’re now open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. We can fill your requests for specific titles and help you find the books you don’t know you need. Upon request, we can admit you to the shop to browse. Walk down, take a bus or find a parking space — and visit our…

5/5 update: Slow down, people! Just kidding, but really, the onslaught of orders is hard to handle. We’re in it for the long haul, so we need to slow it down. Twenty years and counting now… When the City announces that you can come to — though not into — the shop, we’ll ask you…

The live streams from Bird & Beckett all started with Friday the 13th, when the towering saxophonist Michael Zilber brought his trio (Jason Lewis on drums and Tyler Harlow on bass) into the shop in the face of the exploding novel coronavirus crisis. Angela Bennett pioneered our broadcasting foray with these two tunes that ended…

  TonaLaura Jazz Duo is the musical marriage of the husband-and-wife team, pianist Laura Klein and guitarist Tony Corman.Laura’s unique, lyrical harmonic sense and Tony’s extraordinary arranging skills bring a rare richness to the duo format.  For this special performance, they’ll be playing a wide selection of tunes drawn from the Great American Songbook, bebop, Brazilian…

We’re pleased to present classical guitar soloist Lyle Sheffler this Sunday evening. As a performer, Lyle is an integral part of the San Francisco music community, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. He also maintains a thriving teaching studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. Besides classical guitar, Lyle is proficient on…

Keith Saunders is in the very top echelon of great jazz players in the region, with decades on the scene in New York, decades more in San Francisco and environs, many years leading his own quintet back east, a deeply felt bebop ethos and a vast knowledge of the music in all its forms. He’s…

This Thursday, 7/25, at 7:30pm, we present a live stream talk and performance by Zan Stewart — decades in the jazz journalism business and decades more as a jazz saxophonist and composer. He has stories to tell about the greats he encountered in his writing career, and notes to blow by way of illustration, tribute…

A formidable roster of poets assembles this Sunday and three Sundays later for a reading addressing the searing moment, its long time coming and its crucial path forward. We are proud to be associated with this monumental gathering of voices at this pivotal moment in time Read at the link below an extensive piece prepared…

Jazz in the bookshop, every Friday! Jazz in America, and around the world, every minute of every day since the turn of the last century… and who can say when it really started. But jazz as we know it? It’s here now! This week, we present a return engagement by pianist Walter Earl — performer,…

The Elegance of Noel Jewkes Saxophonist Noel Jewkes has been a revered and well loved figure on the San Francisco jazz scene for five decades plus, and he’s turning 80 today! We’ll celebrate in the bookshop with a duo concert featuring Noel and pianist Keith Saunders. Be sure to have some cake on hand at…

Adam Shulman plays two sets of originals and jazz standards from swing to bop to the new thing. He’s been a driving force on the Bay Area jazz scene as ensemble player, soloist, accompanist, composer and bandleader since moving to San Francisco 18 years ago.  At 7pm, you’ll find the  facebook live stream here Scroll…

Rich and Jenny have each had long careers in the jazz circles of the Bay Area, and have worked together in a variety of contexts, not least their marriage… As a “cohabitating couple” we’re able to let them stand unmasked within six feet of each other to perform from the Bird & Beckett stage, if…

Boccaccio’s Muthologos Boccaccio (whose name means “mouth”) offers to us his purpose in composing The Decameron:  “to tell a hundred tales, or fables or parables or histories, call them what you will, told in ten days by a worthy group of seven ladies and three young men formed in the recent season of deadly pestilence,…

The bassist Giulio Xavier Cetto and the pianist Javier Santiago, both prominent figures on the San Francisco jazz scene, share an apartment here in San Francisco; fortunately, that cohabitating status allows us to book them as a duo for our live stream series, and we welcome them back! No in-store audience is allowed due to…

Click here to view and listen on YouTube! King of the San Francisco saloon and salon pianists, Eric Shifrin sings too, and rolls through material from Cole Porter to Hoagy Carmichael to Gene Autry.   He’s been charming the swells, swindlers and stand-up guys in bars and bistros from the Barbary Coast to Nob Hill…

  Vocalist Sherri Roberts and pianist David Udolf are collaborators in music and life and household chores, including much dog walking. Incidentally, they’re wonderful musicians, both! They’ll present an evening of jazz standards, familiar and surprising, charming and impeccably performed. Settle in for a cozy hour of lovely music. Sherri has several albums to her…

A long-time force on the Bay Area jazz/hip hop/afro-funk music scene, David Boyce is revered for his work since the mid-1990s as a founding member of the Broun Fellinis as much as for his connection with the soprano saxophone genius of New Orleans jazz pioneer Sydney Bechet, aand so many points along the jazz journey.…

Come to Bird & Beckett via our live stream to celebrate with Nashville Honeymoon. Lynne Maes and Hank Maninger are the Tammy Wynette and George Jones of our time and place, though with much less alcohol. Two voices, two guitars, two songwriters. Cohabitating and so contagious! Remember while you’re here to pay the cover charge,…

Pianist / improviser composer / producer Walter Earl The music flows from Walter’s huge heart through his hands and the instrument to create a soulful experience you won’t be able to, and won’t want to shake.     Help us help Walter meet the bills in this time of few gigs and short bread! If…

Few are better suited to a solo outing than guitarist Jeffrey Burr. Widely acknowledged as among the very top jazz guitarists in the Bay Area, he ranks with the best anywhere in contemporary jazz. Come to Bird & Beckett via our live stream this Friday evening, 5:30 to 8:00 pm for two sets of gorgeous…

John Calloway – flute, piano & percussion Angela Doctor – vocals & percussion Oliver Paddock – piano, guitar, bass & vocals Three great musicians join forces to bring you an eclectic performance reflecting the wide variety of musical styles and tastes that go on under their own shared roof! click on these links: View/Listen   …

Walker Talks on the last Sunday of each month, this time on Ezra Pound, in his end years at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Live streamed at 2:30 pm on Bird & Beckett’s facebook page.