BIRD & BECKETT CULTURAL LEGACY PROJECT
Three more awesome musicians on one stage would be hard to imagine. Craig, Essiet and Sylvia are long-time collaborators in jazz and make for a magnificent trio. Hope you can join us! $20 cover charge; byob. Students $10. Reservations, 415-586-3733.
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You never know who might drop in to jam… maybe you! Serious jazz players welcome. Audience, too!
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Can’t make it to Sacramento for the 10th Annual Hot Jazz Labor Day Weekend Jubilee? We have a premier New Orleans jazz duo for you Saturday, the 30th! Marc Caparone on trumpet, and singing, and Jeff Hamilton on piano, two highly regarded practitioners of the art of trad jazz from New Orleans’ Congo Square and Preservation Hall and many an offshoot, will entertain you with two sets of jazz sweet and hot! The New Orleans originators of jazz music steamed up from the Gulf Coast through the bayou and out of Dixie on the Mississippi riverboats to Memphis, St. Louis and Davenport, from which it was just a short hop to Chicago and on to Detroit and New York City… and the other distant metropoli, way out west to the territories, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle… Marc and Jeff promise a sweet and hot experience of that diaspora to…
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Kristen Strom, saxophone. Tammy Lynne Hall, piano. $20 cover charge; students $10. Call the shop at 415-586-3733 for a reservation. Byob. Tammy Lynne Hall has had a long and storied career in music, and is held in extremely high regard by her peers and her audience. We’re always pleased when she can work in a performance at Bird & Beckett, and particularly so in dialog with Kristen Strom, a fabulous voice on the tenor saxophone with experience wide and deep. You’re in for a splendid evening of music. Read more here: https://tammyhall.com/ and here: https://www.kristenstrom.com/
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Macy Blackman, piano. Bing Nathan, bass. Larry Vann, drums. $20 requested donation; students $10; kids free. BYOB. Call the shop for a reservation, 415-586-3733. Let the good times roll! Macy is a piano professor in the tradition of Professor Longhair, James Booker and Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John, in a long line going back to Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton. He’s got a thousand tunes and a thousand stories. Bing and Larry are Macy’s long-time partners in crime who know just what to do to pull off whatever capers Macy might mastermind. Lots of great music in store for you, and a whole lot of gruff charm.
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Most of you in the Bird & Beckett sphere know Tom Misage as our sound guy on our Friday shows, and a good hearted Glen Park neighbor who lives a few blocks down Chenery Street between the bookshop and the canyon. But unless you attend the jam sessions that Vince Lateano runs on the third Sunday of each month, you might not know that he’s a rock solid drummer as well. He’s a jazz guy for sure, and a lot more. With 101 Eastbound, he and his band mates will take you on a road trip covering a whole lot of territory that you’ll enjoy. Come out to Bird & Beckett with a twenty and something to sip, and enjoy an evening of music in the comfort of Glen Park’s sweet little bookshop & music venue. 101 Eastbound Joe Cruz – keys & vocal Eliseo Orellana – guitar Marcus Clark…
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Changüí at Bird and Beckett with none other than José Andrés, the Latin-Grammy nominated composer/singer from the historic Changüí Guantánamo (featured in Harry Belafonte’s “Roots of Rhythm” – link below.) Join us for a night of boleros, son, improv, call-and-response, humor, stories and changüí. $20 general | $10 students | All ages Changüísonico featuring El Sinsonte de Changüí Guantánamo José Andrés – lead vocals Kai Lyons – tres Ceferino (special guest from Berklee College of Music) – bongo Thomas Gettys – maracas Cy Thompson – marímbula
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Simon Aks, guitar. Kevin Person, Jr., piano. Giulio Xavier Cetto, bass. Miles Turk, drums. $20 cover charge (cash please), byob. Students, $10. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Original music from Simon’s upcoming record, plus some classic jazz standards and more modern tunes.
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Two magnificent veteran musicians — John Calloway on flutes and Larry Dunlap on piano — perform on equal footing, listening, responding and creating fresh takes on classic material in the moment. $20 cover charge, payable in cash at the door. BYOB. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733.
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Saturday, 8/23, 7:30pm JAMMING at 84 with AVOTCJA Francisco Herrera, Heshima Mark Williiams & Val Serrant plus special guests, including San Francisco Poet Laureate Genny Lim, San Francisco Poet Laureate Emerita Kim Shuck, Jordana, David Kubrin, Kaylah Marin, Gregory Pond, Maurisa Thompson, Dan Brady and possibly, schedules permitting, Rico Pabon & blues guitarist Ronnie Stewart Join us to celebrate Avotcja’s 84 years on the planet! Avotcja’s 85th year is already underway! And she’s going strong! If you don’t know, find out! At Avotcja.org. Then tell everybody to tell everybody! $25 cover charge; students $10; kids free. Donate more if you can! Avotcja is a natural national hero! Aside from being among our most valued poets, Avotcja is a deep musicologist and displays her wares weekly on KPFA (Tuesdays 8-10pm) and KPOO (Fridays noon-3pm) Below, you’ll find video of Avotcja’s most recent appearance at Bird & Beckett, in January of this…
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Friday, 8/22, 6pm, Tony Johnson’s 230 Jones Street Band. w/Charlie McCarthy, sax; Sam Cady, piano; Chuck Bennett, bass. Hard bop & swing! $20 cover charge; $10 students; kids free. ~##~ Friday, 8/22, 8:30pm – Byrds of a Feather: saxophonist David Byrd & friends. Jazz Reggae & Vocalese ala Eddie Jefferson! $20 cover charge; students $10 ~##~ Saturday, 8/23, 7:30pm. JAMMING AT 84 WITH AVOTCJA Francisco Herrera, Heshima Mark Williiams & Val Serrant. plus special guests, including San Francisco Poet Laureate Genny Lim, SF Poet Laureate Emerita Kim Shuck, Jordana, David Kubrin, Kaylah Marin, Gregory Pond, Maurisa Thompson & Dan Brady. $25 cover charge; students $10; kids free. ~##~ Sunday, 8/24, 5pm, The John Calloway/Larry Dunlap Duo (flute/piano). $20 cover charge; students $10; kids free. ~##~ Sunday, 8/24, 8pm, The Simon Aks Quartet. Simon Aks, guitar. Kevin Person, Jr., piano. Giulio Xavier Cetto, bass. Miles Turk, drums. $20 cover charge; students…
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Jack Tone Riordan, guitar Ben Stolorow, piano. Ollie Dudek, bass. Vince Lateano, drums. $20 cover charge, cash at the door; byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. The trio returns for their ongoing 3rd Sundays residency at Bird & Beckett. Leader Vince Lateano has been a cornerstone of the San Francisco jazz scene since he arrived in 1966, gigging and touring assiduously for decades before settling in behind the drum kit as the leader of the house band at Jazz at Pearls, the famous club that was situated in North Beach opposite City Lights on Columbus Avenue just off the corner of Broadway. His jam sessions at Pier 23, the Dog Patch Saloon, the Seven Mile House, Sweeties and Bird & Beckett have been a staple of the local jazz world for decades. Vince’s trio with the great bassist Peter Barshay and the elegant pianist Ben Stolorow has…
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Bruce Williamson, saxophone. Brad Buethe, guitar. Peter Barshay, bass. Ron Vincent, drums. $25 cover charge; cash at the door. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Drummer Ron Vincent returns with a quartet for the second Sunday running, this time featuring the saxophonist Bruce Williamson, a musician of great repute who left San Francisco for New York after working here with great jazz artists including Mark Levine, Bobby McFerrin, Art Lande, Mark Isham and Benny Green. You can read more on Bruce at this link. Ron has been New York-based for decades, but has in the past couple of years become bi-coastal, with a home just down the coast, and has quickly made his mark as a key component of the San Francisco jazz world. We’ve been lucky to give him a good berth and great audiences, and we’ve all been well rewarded for our efforts. Last week’s outing featured Rob…
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Søren Lee, guitar. John Wiitala, bass. Brian Melvin, drums. $20 cover charge, cash at the door; byob. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Brian Melvin is a San Francisco native who’s made his base in Estonia for many years, traveling extensively in Europe for gigs and workshops and returning to the States, and San Francisco, a couple times a year. He’s a propulsive and creative drummer with few equals, and we always look forward to his appearances at Bird & Beckett–of which this is his fifth in three years. On his last two appearances, asd on this one, he’s joined by a steady European collaborator, the Danish guitarist Søren Lee, whose contribution to the Brian Melvin sound is huge. With bassist John Wiitala, a local hero of the first order, the trio offers up two sets of awesome jazz. You shouldn’t miss it. Here’s a recording of the trio’s “Tranesformation”…
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Jesse Foster, vocals. Scott Foster, guitar. Andrew Higgins, bass. $20 cover charge requested; cash at the door; byob. Students $10; kids free. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Jesse Foster has a truly individual style and deiivery born of decades of soulful San Francisco jazz experience. With Scott and Andrew, you’ll enjoy an evening of music that’s beyond your day-to-day expectations. You can trust us on that. Jesse and his wife Michelle run a wonderful monthly house concert series on Oak Street, Jazz in the Basement, that’s one of the sweet spots for live jazz performance in San Francisco.
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