Take in the show this evening on YouTube  or  Facebook Donate to help us reward the musicians with a decent payday     DONATE     in challenging times and just ’cause they’re worth it! Jim Peterson brings guitarist Scott Foster and bassist Aaron Germain to Bird & Beckett tonight. Jim has played and taught saxophone…

Joe Warner, piano James Wiley, bass Deszon X. Claiborne, drums Consummate piano trio work for today! Jazz in America, 2020 live streamed from Bird & Beckett Joe Warner, by dint of massive talent and tireless engagement in the art and beauty of jazz, has taken up permanent residence deep in the heart of America’s classical…

Walt Whitman saw it coming!  The basic themes are nothing new, no less perplexing, no less calling for creative resolution. Imagine him saying now what he has already said:  “In politics–just as it is in religion–some people get an idea of the necessity of believing certain things, not so much from weight of evidence, out…

Guitarist Scott Foster is joined by Adam Shulman on organ and Dan Foltz on drums, offering up two sets of music to bring you joy and uplift the spirit. Says Scott, “It’s clearly a time when we all can use a couple hours of uplift and a chance to lose ourselves in music that soothes…

Jinx Jones and Angeline Saris bring their jazz duo to Bird & Beckett. Both musicians are enthusiasts of the luxurious jazz guitar and bass duos of the hard bop and soul jazz era. This special event celebrates the instrumental stylings of artists like Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, and Charlie Christian. Jinx and Angeline…

To order Margaret’s book, email us at [email protected] Margaret Randall, whose memoir  I Never Left Home: Poet, Feminist, Revolutionary was brought out this past March by Duke University Press, will focus for this talk on the just-released book My Life in 100 Objects (New Village Press), in which she takes an anecdotal excursion through items,…

  Transition Party!  Originally scheduled last May as a farewell concert after 35 years in the San Francisco Unified School District, this live stream performance will be a celebration-transition concert as John Calloway continues his work as an artist/musician as well as a 20 years-plus faculty member at the School of Music and College of…

MUSIC FOR OUR TIMES: Revisiting old jazz tunes that bring consolation, courage and conversation to our present time. Doug Goodkin (piano) is most well-known as a music educator, an internationally acclaimed teacher of Orff Schulwerk and teacher of children for 45 years at The San Francisco School. He is the leader of Doug Goodkin & the Pentatonics, whose…

Lyle Sheffler returns with a program including works by Alonso Mudarra, Manuel de Falla, Augustin Barrios, Dietmar Ungerank, Isaac Albéniz, Leo Brouwer, George Frideric Handel and Fernando Sor.   ______________________________________________________________________ Take in the show on YouTube  or  Facebook Suggested cover charge — $20 Please donate only what you can $2 to $200 sliding scale available!…

Three expert hot jazz practitioners join forces for a sizzling set or two of gems from the early decades of jazz music! Cornetist Clint Baker has led the Cafe Borrone All-Stars for 16 years or more, also playing — among other instruments — trombone, clarinet, bass, drums and vocalizing as the circumstances demand. He’s played…

Two duos in one program of classical & other musik! SF Opera Orchestra cellist Emil Miland is joined by pianist, Jerome Lenk, organist of Mission Dolores. Tuba player Zachariah Spellman, of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, performs with pianist & accordionist Karen Hutchinson. Miland and Link will offer a program of old favorites by Mendelssohn…

Beau Beausoleil reads his poems written in reaction to the murder of George Floyd and addressing Beausoleil’s whiteness in this racist landscape. Beausoleil’s poems stand in solidarity with the demonstrations against systemic racism around the world.  You can find these poems on the website of Moving Parts Press: https://movingpartspress.com/publica…/poems-for-george-floyd Please use either of these links…

Two dissenting sisters, estranged, entrenched in their positions, every bit as emotional and polarized as counter-demonstrators yelling at each other outside an Israeli embassy.  Leslie Simon reads from her new novel The Divine Comic (Spuyten Duyvil, 2020) on Saturday, September 26th at 2pm. Please RSVP at tinyurl.com/divinecomicRSVP to receive the zoom link for the reading.…

Born in Manhasset, New York, pianist David Udolf moved to the Bay Area in early 1991. A sought after sideman, he has played with Terri Bryant of the Fifth Dimension, saxophonist Herb Geller, R&B legend Bo Diddley, and toured nationally for six years with San Francisco’s own legendary New Pickle Circus. Local artists he has…

Brandon Farmer, Drums Curtis Aikens, Bass Kai Lyons, Guitar Noah Frank, Trumpet Sueños is a high energy group fusing jazz with elements from hip-hop, R&B, gospel, neo-soul and indie rock in tunes penned by trumpeter Noah Frank, improvising and exploring as they go. View the live stream on our YouTube channel or our Facebook page.…

The Scott Foster Trio explores music associated with the finest guitar trios through the years. Scott Foster, guitar Matt Montgomery, bass Omar Aran, drums       suggested cover charge — $20 sliding scale — $2 to $200 Support live music & the musicians who play it!  Use the links below: Take in the show…

Stephanie Woodford, piano and vocals Curtis Aikens, bass Noah Frank, drums The Stephanie Woodford Trio plays a blend of original music and covers, focusing on Black-American music from old school to contemporary. Stephanie’s original songs touch on themes of police brutality and discrimination. Scroll down for links to the stream on YouTube and facebook. suggested…

Delusion, Poetry, and Truth…one of many possible groups of three…here as we grapple with conglomerations of accumulated folly, as democratic citizens often do…Actually, we know the ways of each one, as they transform in and out of each other:  delusion, poetry, and truth.  The art of thinking for one’s self:  the imperative of radical sincerity,…

Neeli Cherkovski will hang out on the bookshop’s stage to chat with you one-on-one, at a polite social distance, fully masked, for five minutes or so at a time, about his re-released Bukowski bio, his book of conversations with the legendary poet & drummer Clark Coolidge and his own latest poetry collection, Hang on to…

The Eli Maliwan Trio consists of Eli on Tenor Saxophone, Curtis Aikens on Upright Bass, and Kai Lyons on Electric Guitar. These three musicians and friends have played together in various projects and in different combinations over the years and their deep musical communication has developed into a unique and personal sound. The trio will…

  Hop on our live stream to funky soulville Todd Swenson leads the band Marc Levine on bass Larry Vann on drums   suggested cover charge — $20 sliding scale — $2 to $200 Support live music & the musicians who play it!  Use the links below: Take in the show on YouTube  or  Facebook…

All day long Monday, in eleven 30-minute sets, professional Bay Area jazz musicians take the bookshop stage in duos, trios and quartets!  All live streamed to you via YouTube & Facebook. Scroll down for the schedule! The show will be at its best when you have a large screen and nice speakers in play, but…

Bassist Charles Thomas plays jazz, soul, funk, reggae, classical — anything you could want. All of it with consummate skill, exuberance and expressive beauty.  At Bird & Beckett, Charles plays jazz. He’s been heard from our stage countless times, most often in the company of drummers Mark Lee and the late Jimmy Ryan and pianist…

Darren Johnston  / Adam Shulman / Lorca Hart         trumpet / piano / drums   Jazz in San Francisco Live streamed from Bird & Beckett Thursday, September 3rd – 7:30 pm suggested cover charge — $20 sliding scale — $2 to $200 Support live music & the musicians who play it!  Use…