Tuesday, December 30, 7:30pm {$25}

Levit/Behrman Collective

Joel Behrman, trumpet; Jesse Levit, saxophone; Matt Clark, piano; Joshua Thurston-Milgrom, bass; Jeff Marrs, drums.

Hard bop and contemporary sounds; originals and jazz classics.

Nothing beats a trumpet/saxophone front line with a solid rhythm section, and these players are among the very best of the local scene.

Here’s video from the quintet’s
4/17/25 Bird & Beckett performance
(click on the image to go to the recording):

*****

Reserve a seat by calling the bookshop at (415) 586-3733. We’ll hold your reservation until the music starts. No advance ticket sales; plan to pay with cash at the door, and byob.

*****

Bird & Beckett invites you to enjoy live jazz in the bookshop every weekend, a long tradition that dates back to 2002 in Glen Park. Shows every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and other events sprinkled through the week — author events, poetry readings, honky tonk, world music traditions, western classical music, we do it all. For the music, you’ll usually be on track if you bring a twenty for the band (cash, please) and something to sip, if you’re so inclined. (Bring an extra five for a quintet, an extra ten for a sextet.) Don’t miss out on the live culture of San Francisco, the capital of cool!

You can also catch it all in our livestreams. Find those on our Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@bird_beckett) and our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/bird.and.beckett/live_videos/?ref=page_internal). Tell your far-flung friends and family to check it out!

Our donor base makes the livestreams possible; in fact, our donor base underpins the entire enterprise. If you value Bird & Beckett and what we do, donate! We can’t do it just on audience revenues and book sales, though those hard-won revenue streams allow Bird & Beckett to live and breathe and are hugely appreciated.

Live in the area or passing through on holiday? Don’t miss the opportunity to sample our wares noon to six on the bookshop side, and don’t miss the opportunity to experience the artistry of a great many of the Bay Area’s finest professional musicians–from long-in-the-tooth veterans to those just commencing in the business–playing for you in the evenings when lights are low, up close and personal in the lovely acoustics of the bookshop. The livestreams are great; still, they can’t hold a candle to the joy of sharing the music with a cozy and convivial audience in real time.

Here’s what we had for you this past weekend, as we put recouped from the Hanukkah/Christmas holiday and put 2026 to bed (visit our youtube channel to find the video on any and all of these shows–https://www.youtube.com/@bird_beckett):

Friday, December 26, 7:30pm {$20}
Tony Johnson Quartet
Bob Kenmotsu, sax; Keith Saunders, piano; Eric Markowitz, bass; Tony Johnson, drums

Saturday, December 27, 7:30pm {$20}
Duncan James Quartet
Duncan James, guitar; Larry Chinn, piano; Carla Kaufman, bass; Bob Blankenship, drums

Sunday, December 28, 5pm {$20}
Jam session hosted by
the Vince Lateano Trio
Ben Stolorow, piano; Peter Barshay, bass; Vince Lateano, drums

Sunday, December 28, 8pm {$20}
Sedge Green Quintet
Matt Stark, alto sax; Spencer Tantameng, vibraphone; Lucas Chow, piano; Sedge Green, bass; Oscar Wisnia, drums

 

Coming up in the first week of the new year:

Friday, 1/2/26, 7:30-9:30pm – $20
The Andrew Higgins Trio
Colin Hogan, piano
Andrew Higgins, bass
Bryan Fishler, drums

Ring in the New Year with new music!
Andrew, Bryan and Colin will mix new and old
to explore philosophical, sonic,
and mathematical boundaries of music.
What better way to start the year than with something
that you definitely didn’t hear in 2025.
A good hangover cure, physically and spiritually.

________

Saturday, 1/3/26, 7:30-9:30pm – $25
The Noel Jewkes Quintet
Noel Jewkes, reeds & flute
Kay Kostopolous, vocals
Ron Vincent, guitar
Chris Amberger, bass
Mark Lee, drums

Noel Jewkes, the reigning master elder
of Bay Area saxophone, shows how it’s done
and swings joyfully and soulfully
while the marvelous Kay Kostopolous,
exotic, exquisite & sassy, sings
and the rhythm section that’s made Noel’s quartet
the toast of Richmond, CA lays it down
and wraps it in filigree.

________

Sunday, 1/4/26, 5pm to 7pm
$25-40 sliding scale
(students $10  –  kids free)
Avotcja & Modúpue
Sandy Poindexter, violin
Francis Wong, saxophone
Heshima Mark Williams, bass
Myron Cohen, drums
Avotcja, poetry and small percussion

Avotcja brings the magic to Bird & Beckett
on the first Sunday of the new year!
Every new year, for years now!

Hear her every Tuesday evening
on KPFA 94.1FM at 8pm
Bebop, Cubop, and the Musical Truth
and every Friday afternoon
on KPOO 89.5FM at 3pm
La Verdad Musical

Poet, musician, writer, musicologist, dj,
there are no limits to Avotcja’s expressive
depth,  power and talents, nor to the capacity for joy
of her colleagues on the bandstand.

  ¡La musica cura!   Music heals!

---

No student-centric jam on January 4th,
’cause the first Sunday of the year
is the province of  Avotcja!

Mark your calendar now for the next one!

Sunday, February 1st, 5:00-7:00pm
Enjoy a set by the
Urban School Bebop Combo
then, play in the jam session
or come to listen & lend us your lobes!
no charge to play
audience: $20 suggested for adults,
students and kids free