The Jazz Philanthropists Union presents… Vince Lateano Quartet Dick Whittington – piano Jeffrey Burr – guitar John Wiitala – bass Vince Lateano – drums Vince has been a cornerstone drummer of the San Francisco jazz edifice for decades, a swingin’ cat from the go. Pianist Dick Whittington has a history in Bay Area jazz that reaches back decades, who merits and receives boundless respect as a pianist, and who gets extra points for his tenure presenting music at the Maybeck Recital Hall on Berkeley’s North Side in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Jeffrey Burr and John Wiitala must not go unpraised, but how to demonstrate their great contribution to jazz as it is played here in the present day!? You’ll just have to come hear! jazz club! when lights are low … • $15 cover charge tonight

Grant Levin has an uncanny comfort and focus at the piano, and evidently loves the interaction with his partners on the stand. These duo dates happen every 2nd and 4th Saturday afternoon, with a bassist or drummer, typically. Two sets of close interchange. Myron Cohen has worked in a duo with Grant many times. He’s a swinging and joyous drummer with deep roots in the music and a profound respect for the legacy of jazz.

Bebop, jazz & poetry! Don Alberts Renaissance Band Ian Carey, trumpet • Charlie McCathy, tenor sax Don Alberts, piano • Larry Epstein, bass • Ron Marabuto, drums Plus poet Jeff Kaliss – poetry by Don Alberts & Jeff Kaliss Don Alberts is a bop cat from the earliest ’60s still wailing five and a half decades on. A lyrical romanticist, too, playing with all the lush eloquence of Duke Ellington and Bill Evans. Check his bio at http://donalberts.com/bio.html Come hear him live with a fine band at Bird & Beckett! Need a preview? You can hear some spectacular short clips on his site at this link: http://donalberts.com/music.html  

Chris Amberger has appeared frequently on the Bird & Beckett stage, and we’re fortunate indeed that today he leads a quartet here for the first time — and one that can’t fail to play with great joy and intensity, characteristics that Chris has manifested here time and again.. Chris learned his trade as a youth in Oakland in the late 1960s in the company of now legendary players as free jazz was exploding.  Subsequently, he was hired by Art Blakey and traveled widely with  Blakey’s famous Jazz Messengers. In the decades since, he’s never slowed down! For this date, he’s invited long-time colleague, saxophonist Francis Vanek to front the quartet, and young drummer Lewis Sweatt to lay down the beat, handle the time and more… Pianist Grant Levin has been closely associated with Chris for a decade or more; they’ve often been heard together at Bird & Beckett, always in sympathetic…

 Inside Bird And Beckett Story by Stephen Jackson, Hoodline, July 30, 2016 If you’re in Glen Park and looking to expand your cultural horizons, your safest bet is to head over to Bird and Beckett Books and Records. The name, derived from Charlie Parker and Samuel Beckett, says it all: the cozy shop specializes in both books and records. But it also hosts 25 to 30 events each month, ranging from live music to readings to stand-up comedy. Eric Whittington opened Bird and Beckett in 1999 on Diamond Street; in 2008, he moved right around the corner to his current Chenery Street location. He speaks highly of his landlord, and feels very comfortable in his month-to-month situation. “The same family has owned the property since the 1880s, and has long believed in renting their two commercial properties—this and the preschool next door—to businesses that will benefit the community,” he told us.…

Check out Joel Sackett’s article and photographs in Wingspan magazine– the inflight magazine of All Nippon Airlines.   Book your ticket and you’ll find it in the pocket of the seat back in front of you. Or click here! Bird & Beckett leads off the list of “Hot Spots & Cool Groups” and a pic of Grant Levin’s quartet date at Bird & Beckett a few months back (Walter Savage on bass, Malachi Whitson on drums & Jonathan Bautista on sax) finishes off the six-page article by photographer Joel Sackett, who was ushered through town recently by his long-time SFAI buddy Dennis Hearne, North Beach photographer extraordinaire! Though the pix below are from various venues, virtually every one includes musicians who play often at the shop, from Ulf Bjorkbom, to HowellDevine, Danny Brown & Joe Kyle, Jr., to Lavay Smith & Noel Jewkes, to Jeffrey Burr & Ned Boynton… Page after…

Kahil El’Zabar – African drums and trap set Corey Wilkes – trumpet Alex Harding – saxophone Internationally renowned percussionist and composer Kahil El’Zabar is considered one of the most prolific jazz innovators of his generation. Indeed El’Zabar is a true “Renaissance Man,” with a musical style and content that flows from ancient Africa to the modern world. In his own words, “The spirit of one’s approach comes first before the technical. All the facility in the world with nothing that comes from the heart doesn’t make good music. The basis of the strength of any artistic evolution has come from ethnicity.” $20 cover charge

Grant Levin Trio with Chris Amberger & Mark Lee

The protagonist of Coptic Cross, Bill Haywood, is a black man who embodies “friends, relatives, people in my neighborhood when I was growing up…trying to survive in a nation that has only wanted us as slaves or servants, but never as full citizens. Bill is aware of this and knows that his very presence, for many, is an affront to their whitewashed, Norman Rockwell vision of America that doesn’t include him. That’s a horrible thing, if you really think about it—to be born in a nation controlled by people who wouldn’t bat an eye if every black person in America suddenly disappeared. “Bill has real anxiety about the future—fear. Like millions of people, he doesn’t have enough money to retire on, doesn’t own a house that is bought and paid for, and can’t rely on social security to pay the rent on his small apartment in San Francisco when he…

Debbie has performed, taught and recorded internationally. Critics have noted that her playing is ““crystal clear, with the swinging elegance of Tommy Flanagan combined with the depth of Bill Evans.” A natural born musician, Debbie Poryes took to the piano at five years old, playing show tunes and studying classical music. Hearing Monk and Miles as a teenager, she fell in love with jazz and decided to become a jazz pianist.Debbie has played all over the San Francisco Bay Area, including at Yoshi’s Jazzclub, the Berkeley Jazzschool, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival and Piedmont Piano Company. The 1980s saw Debbie in The Netherlands, in tenured positions teaching jazz at conservatories in Hilversum and Arnhem. She also toured Europe, performing at clubs and in festivals in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, England and France. While abroad, she recorded a trio LP for Timeless Records and worked as an accompanist and arranger for…

Randy Lee Odell presents… Every 1st Thursday in Bird & Beckett’s “canyon moonlight” series Thursday, February 2nd – 8-10pm: Emily Hayes Singer Emily Hayes draws on a repertoire ranging from blues to country to jazz, rich in the work of singers from Bessie Smith to Nina Simone to Patsy Cline. Raised in New England, Emily worked in London for several years, performing at supper clubs with leading early jazz pianists in the area, including Fergus Read, Colin Good (of Roxy Music) and Keith Nichols. Since 2005, she’s been based in the Bay Area where she’s been a band member of The Cottontails (early jazz and blues, featuring Ralph Carney on horns) and the Country Casanovas (classic country and rock). Guitarist Mark Holzinger (2016 Western Swing Hall of Fame inductee) is a special guest on the date, with the Randy Lee Odell Trio — Eric Shifrin on piano; Ari Munkres on…

Brilliant young reed player Eli Maliwan is the centerpiece of this exploration of the jazz saxophone canon, prominently featuring the work of John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter. Her close associate, trumpeter Noah Frank, shares the front line for what is sure to be an exciting and enlightening two sets of music. Drummer Jon Frank leads the rhythm section (Dave Gibbons, piano; Rob Woodcock, bass) in vividly embodying the art of small combo jazz as it was perfected in mid-20th century America and as it’s played today in an era that desperately needs ways to relate on a high intellectual and spiritual plane.

We rely on Walker Brents III for rumination on topics subject to deep interpretation and widely ranging association. How he does it, we’ll never know! But we’re ever grateful that he does. Today, he finds in the poet, printmaker and painter and printmaker William Blake (1757-1827) the kernel of modern humanist and progressive political and social philosophy.