Zinger Phillips is the brainchild of Grammy-nominated bassist Paul Knight who in the spirit of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac named the band after two band members other than himself!   Among their recent shows the band backed up Peter Rowan at the 2019 annual Plumas Homegrown Americana Festival in the California High Sierra Mountains.  …

The threads out of which so much has been woven come from sources first charted by Walter Benjamin. A classic “vates,” in the old Roman sense — a wielder of insight amidst a plethora of forms and hidden values. A chronicler of his immediate age, which strangely resembles ours, as well as a perspicacious navigator…

$20 cover charge; sliding scale available Erik Jekabson is one of the most respected trumpet players on the local scene, known for his prolific and varied work as a composer and bandleader as well as for his nimble and creative work on the horn. His quintet for the occasion comprises top local players Sam Priven,…

$20 donation requested; any amount appreciated, not to worry! The legendary Richie Cole returns to the Bay Area! Doors open at 8:30pm Richie Cole, alto sax Gaea Schell, piano Eric Markowitz, bass Peppe Merolla, drums If you don’t know, and just have a hunch, you’d do well to research Mr. Richie Cole! Come out! You…

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated On the fourth Friday of each month, our weekly jazz in the bookshop series features The 230 Jones Street, Local 6 Literary Jazz Band — a combo in direct line of descent from The Chuck Peterson Trio, which started our regular jazz programming 17 years ago. Comprising five musicians…

Denise Low, Kansas Poet Laureate 2007-09, is winner of Red Mountain Press Award for Shadow Light. Her memoir, The Turtle’s Beating Heart: One Family’s Story of Lenape Survival (U. of Nebraska Press) was a finalist for the Hefner Heitz award. Other recent publications are A Casino Bestiary: Poems (Spartan Press) and Jackalope (Red Mountain). At…

San Francisco’s own Phillip Greenlief, a tenor saxophonist of immense talent and scope whose career in music takes him to major venues worldwide, returns to Bird & Beckett with a quartet anchored by Swedish drummer Kjell Nordeson, now a Bay Area resident. At the core of the group, two traveling musicians whose collaborations stretch back…

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated Valerie Jay, hailing from Yorkshire, England, brings her all-star band to Bird & Beckett for two sets of originals and country classics. Rob McCloskey on bass Jeanine Richardson on percussion Joe Goldmark on steel Todd Swenson on guitar The youngest of five children, Jay picked up the guitar at…

Aileen Cassinetto hosts a reading and conversation involving two Bay Area poets, a writer from New York and a writer from Mumbai, all featured in the anthology Humanity “In HUMANITY, one is presented with humanity’s explorations, often struggles, with itself in a variety of contexts. From the anthology’s contributors—poets, environmental advocates, an ethnomusicologist, a physician,…

$20 cover charge; sliding scale available Akira Tana, drums & leader Masaru Koga, saxophone, shakuhachi, flute, percussion Grant Levin, piano Ken Okada, bass “Akira Tana’s wonderful group is truly doing something very special here and it is a fine example of how music can break down cultural barriers and expose the commonality within us all.”…