653 Chenery Street
in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood

1-415-586-3733
[email protected]

Open to walk-in trade and browsing
Tuesday to Sunday
noon to six

 

Live Streams every weekend!

Refresh your browser to catch a show in progress!
Visit our Facebook page or YouTube channel!
But nothing beats being in the room with the music & the musicians!

Fifth Friday jazz in the bookshop
November 29th, 5:30 to 8:00 pm
Lipskin – Logas – Ventresco
Echoes of Storyville,
Harlem & Tin Pan Alley

Friday, Nov. 29th – 5:30-8:00 pm: Special Fifth Friday Booking!  

Mike Lipskin, acclaimed Harlem stride piano master, teams up with reed player Jerry Logas, whose way with early New Orleans style clarinet is exquisite, and world-class ragtime guitar specialist Craig Ventresco.

Born in New York, Mike Lipskin was digging his father’s Fats Waller records by the age of four, and by high school he was making his way to Harlem to learn the intricacies of Harlem stride piano technique from some of the originators of the music, including Willie “The Lion” Smith, Luckey Roberts, Cliff Jackson & Donald Lamberts.  Listening to one of Mike’s recordings of the music, Waller’s guitarist from the old days, Al Casey, said “I think I’m with Fats right now!”  We’re delighted to welcome Mike back to Bird & Beckett for this return trio engagement, in very good company indeed!

Bird & Beckett regulars have a long love affair with the clarinet work of reed player Jerry Logas, who plays here regularly on the first Friday of each month.  Jerry and Mike have worked together extensively in the past, and mesh beautifully when teasing out the beauty of Honeysuckle Rose, St. James Infirmary and other classics of the early days of jazz music.

Craig Ventresco is no stranger to the Bird & Beckett stage either, and we can never get enough of his guitar work, drawing deeply from 78rpm disks of early blues, ragtime and vaudeville era popular song.  San Franciscans can hear him nearly every week of the year in one or another North Beach spot or the Atlas Cafe, and lucky we are, as he’s known and heralded worldwide by the top acoustic guitarists and most savvy aficionados for his skill and his deep, uncanny connection to the music and its creators.

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The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project

Our events are put on under the umbrella of the nonprofit Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (the "BBCLP"). That's how we fund our ambitious schedule of 300 or so concerts and literary events every year.

The BBCLP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit...
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The Independent Musicians Alliance

Gigging musicians! You have nothing to lose but your lack of a collective voice to achieve fair wages for your work!
The IMA can be a conduit for you, if you join in to make it work.

https://www.independentmusiciansalliance.org/

Read more here - Andy Gilbert's Feb 25 article about the IMA from KQED's site

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