Glen Park will always be a beautiful little neighborhood. Thanks for being part of it. The good times will roll again! Live streams from the bookshop stage today: 1pm – Jerry Ferraz, troubadour 2:30pm – Walker Talks, on Ezra Pound at St. Elizabeth’s 4:30pm – The JOA Trio

You know what we’ve said for years now– “Never a missed Friday since 2002!” It’s been true for well over 900 Fridays, and remains true to this day. Not so easy to keep to that with the pandemic shutting down so-called normal life, but “cohabitating musicians” Jon and Noah Frank, père et fils, step up this Friday to give you two sets of duo and solo jazz from the Bird & Beckett jazz lair on Chenery Street! Jazz Heroes for sure! Those of you who frequent San Francisco’s wonderful Ocean Ale House over in the Ingleside near City College, and especially their 1st and 3rd Wednesday jam sessions led by Noah, with Greg Jacobs, piano; Curtis Aikens, bass; and Jon Frank, drums,  know their work. Jon and Noah have have played together and in their own individual groups at Bird & Beckett many times through the years, and we’re overjoyed…

Co-housed musicians Stephens & Williams presented three sets of trad, swing & bop jazz your listening pleasure — straight from your living room away from home, Bird & Beckett, down on Chenery Street in San Francisco’s lovely Glen Park neighborhood.   No audiences are allowed in the shop these days, just the musicians and the proprietor, but thousands of you can listen & watch from home. If you do, and you’re not squeezing every dime, donate so that we can pay these musicians in a time when paying gigs are hard to come by! View/Listen                 Donate                  Subscribe If you’re “on facebook” you can stream the performance live from our Bird & Beckett facebook page (click  on the “videos” tab, and when the time comes there will be a little red rectangle that says “live” — always…

This Friday’s jazz party is a fundraiser for the Independent Musicians Alliance’s emergency grant program for jazz musicians in need. For many years, we’ve relied on Scott Foster to bring a wonderful evening of jazz to Bird & Beckett on the third Friday of each month, and he’ll be filling that role once again this month, keeping the jazz flowing at Bird & Beckett.  This is the first time we’ve asked him to do it solo, a social distancing precaution and a requirement of the current shelter-in-place reality. Scott has been a cornerstone of our Friday evening jazz programming since its beginnings, more than seventeen years ago. All along, he’s been our favorite jazz guitarist bar none, both for his technique and sensibilities and for his low key sincerity. Both are qualities that no doubt have stood him in good stead as a jazz educator as well. He’s promised a…

No in-store audiences are allowed during this pandemic, but click through to the full post (or scroll down if you’re already in it) for a live stream link, and to contribute to the musicians’ much needed payday.           Kaylah wrote and performed as a child with her father, jazz saxophonist Philip Marin. He instilled in her a love of music and dance rich within her Central American Garifuna roots. A powerful songwriter and vocalist, she has worked with Narada Michael Walden, and her single “Oh Baby Please” debuted at number 3 on the dance Billboard chart, maintaining a top ten spot for over a month. Kaylah performed for human rights activist Dolores Huerta’s  “Weaving Moments Together” benefit concert celebrating Huerta’s 80th birthday at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. She scored music for the award winning documentary “Texas Gold” and did the voice-over and score for…

Tenor saxophonist Phillip Greenlief plays two sets of Monk’s music, solo, streamed live in real time from Bird & Beckett via facebook. Saturday, April 11th, 7:30 and 8:45 pm. Some of the arrangements Phillip will perform this evening were featured on the release Monkwork by The Lost Trio (the cd was listed in NPR’s Top 10 releases of 2014). Both sets will feature medleys and stand-alone readings of classic and obscure Monk tunes, highlighting the craft of Monk’s iconoclast composition style. Since his emergence on the West Coast in the late 1970s, Evander Music founder and saxophonist Phillip Greenlief has achieved international critical acclaim for his recordings and performances with musicians and composers in the post-jazz continuum as well as new music innovators and virtuosic improvisers. He has performed and recorded with Wadada Leo Smith, Meredith Monk, Rashaun Mitchell and They Might Be Giants; albums include Lantskap Logic with Fred…

No in-store audience was allowed due to the pandemic, but folks found the live stream link below, and to contributed generously to the musicians’ much needed payday. Housemates in San Francisco’s nearby Excelsior district, pianist Javier Santiago and bassist Giulio Xaxier Cetto have been in high demand on the local jazz scene in recent years, each having arrived in San Francisco not long ago… First, Giulio, a Stockton native, and a bit later, Javi, with roots in Minneapolis. Before either made their way to San Francisco, the two had met in Cetto’s Stockton, where Javi was enrolled at the Brubeck Institute. This evening we’re pleased to be able to present them together in a program of duo performances interspersed with solo turns. Scoll to the bottom of this post for a link to the live stream and to find the “donate” button. Javi and Giulio are among the finest young…

$20 cover charge; sliding scale available Darren Johnston, trumpet aka (also known endearingly as) the peace cannon Matt Renzi, tenor sax, clarinet, English horn Adam Shulman, piano Eric Vogler, bass Jon Arkin, drums On the eve of a live recording session to take place the next day at the Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley, Bye Bye Bartok convenes to run down the tunes — chamber music and orchestral material done all jazzy like.

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated Don Neely, clarinet & vocals Jeff Hamilton, piano Clint Baker, bass Riley Baker, drums

Jump blues and jazz from the foremost local practitioners of the art! Karina Denike, vocals Michael McIntosh, piano Tom Griesser, reeds Joe Kyle, Jr., bass Randy Lee Odell, drums

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated