Thursday 5/2 at 7pm:
Poets James Cagney and Thomas Dunn,
followed by an open mic hosted by
Jerry Ferraz and Michael Koch.
Featured poets and an open mic presented monthly since 1999.
Free to all, though donations are always appreciated.

James Cagney is the author of Black Steel Magnolias In The Hour Of Chaos Theory, winner of the PEN Oakland 2018 Josephine Miles Award. His newest book, Martian: The Saint of Loneliness is the winner of the 2021 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. For more information, please visit JamesCagneypoet.com

Thomas Dunn is a multi-media artist, poet, and experimental filmmaker from Midland, Michigan. A proud graduate of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Thomas is a Cave Canem Fellow and is completing his MFA in Writing at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

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Friday 5/3, 6-8pm:
The Francis Vanek Trio.
~~Francis Vanek, saxophone;
~~Randy Vincent, guitar;
~~Chris Amberger, bass.
The Jazz Happy Hour,
22 years running!
Every Friday save two since 2008!
$20 suggested donation for adults.
Kids free — teens/students $5-10.

Francis Vanek is a legendary North Coast tenor player who hails from Pittsburgh, PA. There, he cut his teeth as a youth with such masters as the 1940s tenor player Carl Arter, himself a peer of Mary Lou Williams, Ahmad Jamal and Billie Eckstein, as well as the drummers J.C. Moses and Roger Humphries. Francis holds a masters degree in music and taught at the University of Nevada, Reno, and performs regularly at the Mendocino Music Festival, the historic Benbow Inn, and various venues and wineries from Sonoma to Del Norte county. Francis asserts that he always enjoys bringing some North Coast vibes to Bird & Beckett. His friendship with bandstand mates Randy Vincent and Chris Amberger, major talents both, extends back decades, and the three can often be heard together in one combination or another up and down the California coast.

This is the essence of live jazz! No live stream can do it full justice. Come out and enjoy the intimate beauty of Bird & Beckett if you’re anywhere in a hundred mile radius. Watching in the stream? Make a donation by Venmo or Paypal and help us reward the musicians for their work! Any amount helps.

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Friday 5/3, 8:30-10pm:
Macy Blackman’s Mighty Fine Trio.
~~Macy Blackman, piano and vocals;
~~Bing Nathan, bass;
~~Jon Otis, drums.
$20 cover charge;
cash or venmo at the door.
Reservations, call 415-586-3733.

Macy Blackman has been steeped in rhythm & blues since he was a youngster in Delaware. Born in 1948, by his high school years he was leading a local combo that touring vocal acts including the Orlons, Lee Andrews and the Hearts, and The Tymes hired for their local appearances.

Through his career, he’s ranged far and wide musically — you’ll hear evidence tonight! It’s New Orleans R&B that’s at the heart of Macy’s music, ever since the late ’70s when he formed a tight bond of friendship with one of its masters, drummer Charles “Hungry” Williams. Says jazz writer Andrew Gilbert in Berkeleyside, “Macy is as comfortable rockin’ Ellington and Gershwin as he is swingin’ Joe Turner and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson.”  Tonight, he and his steady upright bass player Bing Nathan are stepping out and coming into Bird & Beckett with drummer Jon Otis, son of the late great Johnny Otis, brother of Shuggie Otis–a musician of wide influences from African to Afro-Caribbean to Latin to funk to rock to pop… Blubeatz Sound, he calls his music. Macy’s looking forward to this one, as are we!

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Saturday 5/4, 7:30-9:30pm:
The Jinx Jones Jazz Trio.
~~Jinx Jones, guitar;
~~Kurt Ribak, bass;
~~Rob Hart, drums.
$20 cover charge;
cash or venmo at the door.
Reservations, call 415-586-3733.

Jinx Jones is a titan of rockabilly guitar, a virtuoso of twang and surf, but he’s also long been drenched in the beauty of the jazz guitar as it’s traveled from the fingers of Charlie Christian through the hands of sublime musicians including Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, Tal Farlow, Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Barney Kessel, George Barnes, Emily Remler and a constellation of others. As heard at Mr. Tipple’s, The Dawn Club, Jupiter, Local Edition, Blush and Rigger’s Loft, with less clatter, more books and rich acoustics, and with Kurt Ribak on bass and Rob Hart on drums–both musicians of vast experience in a wide spectrum of music and a deep engagement in jazz, Jinx’s trio will take you on a ride through two sets displaying the richness and variety of the jazz traditions, replete with hints of Link Wray’s rumble and the reverberation of Dick Dale that’s always there for Jinx to draw on.

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Sunday 5/5, 5-8pm:
Two jazz combos from the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts
followed by a jam session with the Akira Tana Trio.
No charge for the student musicians participating in the jam session.
$20 donation suggested for adults; cash or venmo at the door.
Kids free.

On the first Sunday of each month, you’ll hear what youth well schooled in jazz is capable of. The talent and musicianship on display is nothing short of amazing, delightful and full of hope for the culture.

Come out, and be prepared to donate to sustain the professional musicians who report to work to conduct the jam session that follows the combos. And what a core trio the young players who come to jam will have on stage coaching through the jam session — drummer Akira Tana leads the trio, with Parker Grant on piano and Heshima Mark Williams on bass, three first-call musicians of the highest caliber, all well attuned to the tradition by which those finding their way in jazz learn the intricacies of playing in the moment with others they have often just met, speaking a common language and developing a conversation that has depth, joy and profundity that’s inclusive of the audience. It’s really something unique, and something uniquely valuable.