Friday 12/19, 6-8pm: Scott Foster / David Boyce Duo {$20}…Friday 12/19, 8:30-10pm: Tommy Noble Trio {$20}…Saturday, 12/20, 7:30-9:30pm: Steve Carter Quartet {$25}.

     Sunday, 12/21, 5-7pm: Vince Lateano Trio with guest Erik Jekabson on trumpet {$20}.

     Sunday, 12/21, 7:30-9:30pm: Tim Lin Quartet “Heartfelt” Album release concert, with Charles Chen, piano; Nick Panoutsos, bass; Jason Tiemann, drums {$20}.

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Make seat reservations by calling the bookshop at 415-586-3733. We’ll hold your reservation until the music starts. No advance ticket sales;  plan to pay with cash at the door, and byob. Thanks for supporting live jazz in San Francisco. We’ve been presenting four to five shows a week for several years, with the tradition here dating back to 2002, nearly a quarter of a century! Poetry and other literary and community events as well.

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Sunday 12/21, 5pm: The Vince Lateano Trio with guest Erik Jekabson, trumpet. Drummer Vince Lateano, a Sacramento native, has been a key player in San Francisco jazz since he rousted out of the Army and came into the City for good in 1965. In those early years, he played every club in town and toured with Woody Herman’s band and others.
     Vince’s long-running trio with bassist Peter Barshay and pianist Ben Stolorow is one of the great joys of the Bird & Beckett rotation. You can hear the trio here, usually with a guest musician joining for the evening, on the third Sunday of each month. This evening’s guest, trumpeter Erik Jekabson, leads his own combos as well as the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, and is a first-call sideman with every major jazz musician in the region. Composes, arranges and teaches as well, has a number of cds to his credit and is in solid rotation on jazz radio from our own KCSM, to WBGO and WKCR in NYC. We’re always pleased when he graces the bandstand at Bird & Beckett.
Also, make note! The region’s upcoming and established jazz musicians know that Vince’s trio runs a relaxed and hugely enjoyable jam session on the last Sunday of each  month. Get in the know  yourself, by coming out to hear great music in the making!

 

Sunday 12/21, 7:30pm: The Tim Lin Quartet — with Charles Chen on piano, Nick Panoutsos on bass and Jason Tiemann on drums — celebrates Tim’s new album, his third, called “Heartfelt.”  Pianist Charles Chen, a Bay Area colleague of Tim’s, wrote these insightful notes on the new album and Tim’s relationwhip with Dick Oatts, who is featured on the album. Tim Lin is a Bay Area native whose career has taken him to New York City, where he performs, records and most recently has established the Bebop Sax Shop. His debut recording, “Romance in Formosa” was released in 2022, followed by “Empathy” in 2023. John Coltrane’s masterpiece “A Love Supreme,” drew Tim into jazz, and during his junior year in high school, he was mentored by saxophonist and educator Dann Zinn. He headed for the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, receiving a scholarship to study with the world-renowned jazz recording artist Bob Sheppard. During his college years in Los Angeles, Tim was a member of the award winning USC Thornton Jazz Orchestra directed by Bob Mintzer in addition to the USC Honors Combo directed by Jason Goldman. By his early twenties, he had performed with jazz luminaries including Kenny Burrell, Tootie Heath, Russell Ferrante and Carl Allen, among many others. Last we checked, he had performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, Blue Whale, Catalina Bar and Grill, Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival, Fillmore Jazz Festival, and internationally in Taiwan. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then. Chat him up at the break tonight and you can have him bring you up to date.

 

Friday 12/19, 6pm: Scott Foster/David Boyce Duo. The third Friday of each month is the province of guitarist Scott Foster, who’s been on the gig here at Bird & Beckett since the beginning, starting in the fall of 2002. Each month, Scott concocts a fresh program to explore the wonders that jazz can offer, and a favorite formation is found in his collaborations with multi-reeds player David Boyce, long associated with the Broun Fellinis and the boohabian search for resonance and meaning through sound. Scott’s right there with him. Together, they’ll explore the tonal and atonal universe on a unique and daring journey into the unknown.
Hear a sample of what David is known for at this link:
David Boyce solo at the SFPL Golden Gate Valley Branch 6/28/25

Friday 12/19, 8:30pm: Tommy Noble Trio, with Isaac Coyle on bass and Howard Wiley on drums. Tommy Noble is a saxophonist and composer hailing from the Bay Area, for the past five years a student at Michigan State University in Lansing, where he’s finishing his masters degree. He’s home for the holidays and brings a trio showcasing a broad spectrum of jazz, ranging from swing and blues to avant-garde, drawing inspiration from Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk. A new album is in the can, with a two-horn, bass & drums configuration. Tonight’s trio features a towering saxophonist well known to Bay Area jazz audiences, and a young bassist whose reputation has grown quickly and justifiably among the cognoscenti.

Saturday 12/20, 7:30pm: Steve Carter Quartet, with Dennis Smith, bass; Billy Johnson, drums; and Marquinho Brasil, percussion. Pianist Steve Carter became a first call piano player in the thriving Bay Area Funky-Latin-Jazz scene of the 1980s, and has cut a wide swath through the profession in the decades that have followed. Here’s video of the group’s 8/1/25 performance at Bird & Beckett: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EluGwG4EeuQ&list=UUm-XcxdhX8rmlD-jvxLwzuw&index=2

 

Sunday 12/21, 5pm: The Vince Lateano Trio with guest Erik Jekabson, trumpet. Drummer Vince Lateano has been a key player in San Francisco jazz since he rousted out of the Army and stayed in the City in 1965. His trio with bassist Peter Barshay and pianist Ben Stolorow is one of the great joys of the Bird & Beckett rotation. You can hear them here, often with a guest joining for the evening, on the third Sunday of each month. The trio is typically back on the last Sunday of each  month to host a jam session, though that may be interrupted during the holidays. Watch our calendar for info.

 

Sunday 12/21, 7:30pm: The Tim Lin Quartet — with Charles Chen on piano, Nick Panoutsos on bass and Jason Tiemann on drums — celebrates Tim’s new album, his third, called “Heartfelt.”  Pianist Charles Chen, a Bay Area colleague of Tim’s, wrote these insightful notes on the new album and Tim’s relationwhip with Dick Oatts, who is featured on the album. Tim Lin is a Bay Area native whose career has taken him to New York City, where he performs, records and most recently has established the Bebop Sax Shop.