No charge; but if you can spare a few bucks to help us reward the featured poets, that would be great. Jeanne Powell’s latest collection, TWO SEASONS: STORY-POEMS, has just been brought out by Taurean Horn Books. Along the way, her poems have appeared in several print and online journals, including Essence Magazine, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal and the tenth anniversary issue of Drumvoices Revue from SIU-E. Jeanne Powell’s poem, “Next Time” won first prize from the Detroit Writers Guild in 2002. Three poems were selected for the Creative Justice Art Show at the University of San Francisco, 2006: “If The Shoe Fits,” “Next Time,” and “Making Amends.” Early collections of her work included February Voices (1994), Cadences (1996), and Tangerine Dance (1999) and were reprinted in 2003 as CELEBRATION OF THE WORD. MY OWN SILENCE (poems and haiku) was a finalist in national competition in 2002, shortlisted for the…

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated. Join us in the velvet lounge… for Social Stutter Beth Schenck – alto sax, compositions Kasey Knudsen – alto sax Phillip Greenlief – tenor sax Cory Wright – tenor and baritone saxes Social Stutter, comprised of some of the Bay Area’s most unique voices — Beth Schenck, Kasey Knudsen, Phillip Greenlief  and Cory Wright, blurs the line between strictly written chamber music and soaring free jazz. Solos emerge from the natural order of intricately written lines that, although begin simply in structure, twist and distort themselves into surprisingly complex shapes and forms. Unlike traditional saxophone quartets, some of the pieces are composed for two altos and two tenors, which leads itself to denser harmonic territory and a uniquely homogenous sound. Masters of texture and nuance, the quartet has a keen awareness of how to support and push one another’s creative boundaries. Social Stutter is…

$20 cover charge/sliding scale available. Tim Lin, saxophone Joe Gilman, piano Shempei Ogawa, bass Curran Sinha, drums Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tim Lin is a Taiwanese American jazz talent whose progressive sound comes from his appreciation of the bebop jazz tradition. During his junior year in high school, Tim was mentored by bay area saxophonist and educator Dann Zinn. Guided by Zinn’s inspirational teaching, Tim discovered his passion and calling for jazz. Attending the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, Tim received a scholarship to study with the world-renowned jazz recording artist Bob Sheppard. 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. In his twenties, Tim has performed as a sideman with jazz luminaries such as Kenny Burrell, Tootie Heath, Russell Ferrante, Carl Allen,…

On Sunday, July 28th, San Francisco lost one of its greats, an artist, poet & translator and also promoter of the arts, especially in North Beach where the Beat legacy hangs by a thread, but a golden thread.  And Ron was a great part of that work to keep bohemia alive sans politics, sans “career,” and sans celebrity. He will be remembered not only for his masterful painting and collage work, but also for his surreal but deeply human writing and laser-sharp criticism of everything from lame liberalism to fascist communism, and especially as far and away the best and funkiest translator of Baudelaire, bar none; also for his unmerciful humorous family portraits, inventing new forms of modern disfunction for the professional psychologist and lay reader alike. Together with his partner Rebecca Peters, another master collagist in her own right, worker of magic champaign cork wiring and editor of Off…

$20 suggested donation; contribute only what you can Christian Tumalan, piano Aaron Germain, bass Brian Andres, drums Brian notes that a trio is a much more intimate, yet demanding musical setting for musicians to explore. There is no place to hide, no weak link allowed. In such a small setting, the dynamics must become more acute, the musical idea that much more clear, the technique that much more precise. It is in that context that the Brian Andres Trio Latino thrives. Three musicians making a statement within the freedom of Jazz and the cultural richness of the Afro-Latino diaspora. Featuring original compositions and exciting new arrangements of jazz and Latin standards, Brian Andres Trio Latino went into the studio to record their debut album earlier this year, and release is imminent! In Trio Latino, bandleader and drummer Brian Andres features: PIANIST Christian Tumalan was born in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico. His…

$20 cover charge/sliding scale available. “Kiah is a master on the looper and multi-instrumentalist who takes things to new heights as a sound scientist! You’d have to come to a show to fully grasp what wonders she is capable of. Her ability to switch from one instrument to the next (ahem..like 12 of them), write songs, sing harmonies all while keeping an unassuming smile on her face is as noteworthy as can be.” -Charity Ann, singer-songwriter Come at 7 to mingle & visit. Music starts at 7:30!

$20 suggested donation; any amount is appreciated Among the most delightful dates we host at the bookshop are the occasional appearances of Friends of Old Puppy, playing from their eclectic bag of tunes. By popular demand, here they come again! Just the thing for a Sunday afternoon in the late summer. Steven Strauss, ukulele Greg Pratt, guitar Ed Johnson, washtub bass Cynthia Wilson, drums  

$10 suggested donation; any amount appreciated Kabir, 15th century mystic poet.  Rural visionary, satirist, improviser, weaver, lyricist, heretic before there was even a word for it.  Encompasser, dramatizer, transcender of all known religious dichotomies.  Electrifying, re-vivifying, calming, startling.  Egalitarian.  Inspiring. Walker Brents III addresses topics philosophical, poetic, and never pedantic on the last Sunday afternoon of the month.  

$20 suggested/sliding scale available. Talk about your San Francisco jazz… On the fourth Friday of each month, our weekly jazz in the bookshop series features The 230 Jones Street, Local 6 Literary Jazz Band — in direct line of descent from the Chuck Peterson Trio, which started the whole “jazz in the bookshop” thing 17 years ago. These five musicians  — Ray Loeckle, tenor sax; Jerry Logas, bari sax, clarinet, flute, vocals; Glen Deardorff, guitar; Dean Reilly, bass; Tony Johnson, drums — have all put in decades of work on the local jazz scene, dating back to the early 1950s. The band was originally formed by multi-instrumentalist Chuck Peterson (tenor sax, baritone sax, flute), who was a union activist particularly in his prime years (the 1950s and 1960s) and throughout his career, hence his nod to the address of Local 6 of the American Federation of Musicians, where he and…

$20 cover charge; sliding scale available. Join us in a celebration of Thu’s gorgeous new cd, “Thu Ho with the Noel Jewkes Trio: Live at the Sausalito Seahorse” — eight exquisite jazz standards interpreted by a fabulous singer just making her mark on the jazz world and three consummate veterans whose talents are incontrovertible. At Bird & Beckett, Thu will be ably supported by the incomparable Dr. Legato himself — Noel Jewkes, the superb and oh-so-tasteful Adam Shulman on piano and the swinging, ultra-hip Chris Amberger on bass. Do join us!

$20 cover/sliding scale available. Trumpet player, composer, arranger & visual artist George Sams, from St. Louis, leads a quintet comprising Richard “Zyc” Wood on sax and flute (from Los Angeles), Aaron Parker on flute (from St. Louis) and still, to this day, residing in the Bay Area, Carleton Hoffman, percussion; Joe McKinley, bass; and Gerald Nicosia, poetry.   Already a veteran of the B.A.G. era in St. Louis, Sams was a founding member of the San Francisco Jazz Society alongside Orrin Keepnews and Herb Wong; co-founded the bands United Front and Middle Passage, both key San Francisco units in the mid- to late 1970s; was a developer of curriculum, instructor and then Music Department chair at New College of California; and has consulted for numerous jazz festivals and arts organizations.     He has performed throughout Europe and the United States as a jazz instrumentalist and has made recordings under…

Hosted by San Francisco troubadour-in-chief Jerry Ferraz and San Francisco Poet Laureate Kim Shuck. Owen was writing serious poetry from the time of the late ’60s ferment at SFSU and continues to this day; Greg has four highly regarded collections of poems to his name.  Both fine poets, for sure! No charge, but bring a few bucks to help us reward the featured poets! Sign up for the open mic before the features at 7, or during the break.

Art Blakey is one of the fathers of modern bebop drumming. For decades his group the Jazz Messengers was a proving ground and launching pad for many young musicians who became jazz giants in their own right. As part of his enduring legacy, it’s our privilege to honor the memory of Art Blakey 100 years after his birth. Come join drummer Jeff Minnieweather and four Bay Area legends for an evening celebrating Art Blakey’s centennial birthday. Warren Gale, trumpet Darius Babazadeh, saxophone Grant Levin, piano Chris Amberger, bass Jeff Minnieweather, drums Says Jeff, “I have chosen several tunes from only a handful of LP’s. With over 100+ LP’s recorded, it’s really hard to pick from such a vast library. “I’ve tried to pick tunes that are groove based. I recently saw an interview from 1985 where Mr. Blakey said, ‘If people can’t tap their feet, it’s too fast and not…

By now, the poet Tongo-Eisen Martin needs little introduction in San Francisco. A native son, he’s made his unique and indelible mark in poetry, prison education and hip hop, and has gained huge respect in recent years for his public poetry recitations of work alluded to in, if not quite contained by, two remarkable books: Someone’s Dead Already (Bootstrap Press, 2015) and Heaven Is All Goodbyes (City Lights, 2018). Poet No Land “has surged onto the New York scene over the past couple of years, performing in duos, trios, or solo, mesmerizing audiences with her precise diction and incisive commentary.” She’s been deemed a “force to be reckoned with” by JazzRightNow.com, which made these assessments in a review of dates at La Mama and Spectrum. The January 2019 La Mama performance, in duo with violinist Joanna Mattrey, kicked off with No Land’s “Spiritual Auto-bio-geo-graphy,”  according to the review, “the most…