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!
Thursday, August 8th – 7:30-9:00pm
Sitar and Tabla Concert
featuring Charles Lloyd and Ferhan Qureshi
Charles Lloyd (sitar and guitar) is a disciple of the renowned sitarist Pandit Habib Khan. Ferhan Qureshi (tabla) is a disciple of the legendary tabla maestro Ustad Tari Khan. Charles and Ferhan have been performing music together for over 15 years years and their concerts feature both traditional Hindustani (North Indian) classical music on sitar and tabla as well as musical explorations into other genres. $20 cover charge; byob Reservations: 415-586-3733
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She wore a cape to S.F. City Hall to protest police violence. Then she got kicked out https://thecape.substack.com/
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Music journalist Jeff Kaliss returns to Bird & Beckett to present his deep dive into the world of Sly Stone and his band, revised & updated for a new edition just published by Backbeat Books, with George Clinton’s preface and a new forward by Ricky Vincent. From his anthemic early hits (“I Want to Take You Higher,” “Family Affair,” “Dance to the Music”), through the moody meditations of the band’s 1971 lp, There’s a Riot Going On and beyond, Sly & the Family Stone left an indelible stamp on rock, funk, pop, and hip hop, and their enigmatic frontman in particular continues to inspire fascination and speculation. This fully updated edition fills in the gaps since the book’s original 2008 publication, including Sly’s successful legal action against his former manager, the death of band member (and mother of a child with Sly) Cynthia Robinson, and the new projects undertaken by family…
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Stephen Vincent reads from Sleeping with Sappho and The Golden Book. Michael Wolfe reads from Cut These Words Into My Stone. Sleeping With Sappho is the enigmatic title of Stephen Vincent’s poems that imagine and explore the dramas that emerge from a radical re-making of Anne Carson’s translations of Sappho, If Not, Winter. Peter Manson, the Scottish poet writes, ‘I love the way you seem to load all the dice against the possibility of this being a personal, expressive work, by foregrounding the process and the workings against the source text, and I also love the way that leads to it ending up as personal and expressive a book as anyone could have made. The most fragmentary poems often have a great goofiness about them, and that gives a real zest and leavening to the whole thing. It’s such a complex act of overlaying of your present perceptual field, your memories and…
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Jazz journalist Andrew Gilbert provides some background on Dred Scott: https://www.kqed.org/arts/13932120/alphabet-soup-spelled-out-jazz-and-hip-hop-fusion-in-the-90s These two paragraphs from Andy’s article, about the formative early 1990s Bay Area years, say alot (although you should read the whole thing): Vocalist Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers turned Café du Nord into a jump blues joint, while guitarist Charlie Hunter brought low-down funk to the Elbo Room. Pianist Graham Connah turned Bruno’s into a protean jazz workshop with an array of ensembles, while vocalist Paula West started her rise to national prominence. Drummer Josh Jones brought a vivifying jolt of Afro-Cuban beats to the Up & Down Club on Folsom Street, which became ground zero for many of the era’s most exciting acts. Two 1995 compilation albums released by Mammoth Records, Up & Down Club Sessions Vol. 1 & 2, captured this creative frisson with tracks by Alphabet Soup, Charlie Hunter, Kenny Brooks, Will…
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Sandra Aran, vocals John R. Burr, piano Daniel Fabricant, bass David Rokeach, drums BYOB and a twenty for the band! Teens and music students, $10 Kids free Sandra Aran and pianist/bandleader John R. Burr have developed a fine musical rapport that promises a beautiful evening. Dan and David are beyond wonderful. Do come! Sandra Aran has been gracing the stage for over 30 years. As a Mexican/American artist who has dedicated her musical life to the study of Jazz and Latin music, her music reflects her migration to and from her native Mexico and the U.S. A graduate of Berklee College of Music and the National School of Music of Mexico, Sandra brings commitment and passion to every song in her repertoire. Whether she is singing in English, Spanish or Portuguese, Sandra coaxes her audience into a musical journey that is universal. This evening she is accompanied by a musical…
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Alice Elizabeth Rogoff grew up in New Rochelle, New York. She lives in the Sunnyside District of San Francisco near Bird and Beckett. Her poetry book Mural won a Blue Light Book Award. Her other books of poetry are Materials, Painting the Cat’s Vision, and the newest, City Canyons. Painting the Cat’s Vision was a semi-finalist in the Codhill Poetry Contest. From the San Francisco Arts Commission, she received a Cultural Equity Commission for a poetry project about local women labor organizers. Her poetry has appeared in Borderlands (Texas Poetry Review), Poetry Pacific, Blue Collar Review, Pudding Magazine and Swerve from Ireland. She has an MA in Creative Writing and is the Co-editor of the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal. Antoinette Vella Payne, a San Francisco native, hosts 1428 Poets, a monthly open mic reading at 1428 Haight St in San Francisco, and is a regular participant at Sacred Grounds, the longest running weekly poetry venue in San…
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Marvin Carter, saxophone. Ingbar Solomon, saxophone. Tamir Lifshitz, guitar. Lillian Charlotte Stern, bass. Gary Jones III, percussion. with special guest, pianist Art Khu. $20 cover charge; byob. Reservations, 415-586-3733. Lily Stern has just completed her degree in music at the New School in Manhattan, and is home this summer, preparing her debut album and playing at venues this weekend from Mr. Tipples on Saturday to Oaktown Jazz Workshops and Bird & Beckett on Sunday. Catch her before she flies away! Lily is a bassist, composer, vocalist and producer who came highly recommended by two friends of Bird & Beckett, both titans of local jazz and champions/mentors of young talent — drummer Myron Cohen and saxophonist Richard Howell. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Lillian Charlotte Stern was immersed at a young age in music from funk, American folk and rock to traditional jazz, Afro Cuban jazz, Timba, and Hindustani…
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All jazz players welcome! No charge to play. Audience, your donations allow us to pay the hosting trio members a fair wage for their labor. Drummer Vince Lateano, bassist Peter Barshay and pianist Ben Stolorow set the stage and relinquish their instruments to anyone with the chops and nerve to join in the long tradition that is the jam session. Players come together to find common ground and individual expression, drawing on musical language and tunes that generations of jazz players have made into standards.
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Noel Jewkes, saxes Grant Levin, piano Robb Fisher, bass Mark Lee, drums with guest vocalist Kay Kostopoulos $20 cash cover charge, byob. Reservations, call 415-586-3733 Noel is now the grand old man of San Francisco saxophone, with a career spanning six to seven decades. They call him Dr. Legato, for his lovely long saxophone lines and graceful phrasing. His companions on the bandstand are first-call players who have worked alongside Noel for years, and the chemistry will be evident from the first tune. Joined by the sultry and emotive vocalist Kay Kostopoulos, whose rapport with Noel is complete, the quartet will offer two sets of jazz standards, bossas and Noel’s original compositions.
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Laura Dreyer – saxophone and flute Marcos Silva – piano Richard Lindsey- bass Zach Mondlick – drums $20 cover charge; byob. Reservations: 415-586-3733 Saxophonist, flutist and composer Laura Dreyer is a vibrant and widely acclaimed voice in the New York and global jazz scene. Her compositions combine lyrical melodies with jazz, Brazilian rhythms, funk and rock, and she’s been called to work for Dr. Billy Taylor, Dom Salvador, Helcio Milito, Portinho, Walter Bishop Jr., Mel Lewis, Robert Palmer, Nnenna Freelon, James McBride, The Diva Jazz Orchestra and many others. Laura has headlined at the Kennedy Center’s “Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival,” and The Syracuse Jazz Festival, as well as many NYC venues including The Blue Note, Ornithology, Sweet Rhythm, Birdland, The Zinc Bar, The Roxy Hotel, and many others. She’s released four CDs as a leader/producer, including Mysterious Encounter (Lavasphere), Free Flying Bird (Sony/Piloo), Sax in the City…
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Bob Kenmotsu, tenor saxophone Keith Saunders, piano Matt Montgomery, bass Tony Johnson, drums $20 suggested donation, byob. Teens and music students, $5-10 sliding scale Kids free Australian native Tony Johnson arrived on these shores in 1959, sneaking into the U.S. from British Columbia and quickly becoming a fixture on the North Beach jazz scene. He was first heard on record on an album recorded live at the Coffee Gallery on Grant Avenue in 1960 by vocalist Bev Kelly with Pony Poindexter on saxophone and Flip Nuñez on piano, produced for Riverside Records by Orrin Keepnews. Not a bad start! He’s been swinging ever since. Habitués of the legendary Club Deluxe well remember the countless nights in the first couple of decades of this century when he ruled the venue’s bandstand from behind the drumkit, carrying all the City’s best young jazz players to ecstatic levels of performance. This evening, Tony’s…
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In This Ravishing World (Regal House Publishing, 2024) Winner of the W.S. Porter Prize and Winner of The Prism Prize for Climate Literature, Bay Area novelist Nina Schuyler’s latest book, her fourth, takes her writing to a new level of engagement and artistry. “In this ravishing book, you will find stories that lift your heart and stories that break it. Powerfully beautiful and beautifully powerful, Schuyler has written exactly the book this moment needs.” Karen Joy Fowler In This Ravishing World is a sweeping, impassioned short story collection, ringing out with joy, despair, and hope for the natural world. Nine connected stories unfold, bringing together an unforgettable cast of dreamers, escapists, activists, and artists, creating a kaleidoscopic view of the climate crisis. An older woman who has spent her entire life fighting for the planet sinks into despair. A young boy is determined to bring the natural world to his…
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Fabiana Cozza, vocals. Annette A. Aguilar, drums. Ricardo Peixoto, guitar. Brian Moran, cavaco, bass & guitar. Ricky Aguilar, percussion. $25 cover charge. Cash or Venmo at the door, please. We’re flexible on the cover charge, but please do consider that with the addition of percussionist Ricky Aguilar we have five mouths to feed tonight! For reservations, call 415-586-3733. Byob! Annette A. Aguilar, New York-based bandleader, drummer and educator, brings her West Coast quartet featuring guitarist Ricardo Peixoto, Brian Moran on cavaco, bass and guitar, and Ricky Aguilar on percussion to present the renowned Brazilian vocalist Fabiana Cozza on the Bird & Beckett stage. Fabiana is said to have one of the most stunning voices to emerge from Brazil in recent years, and is considered by her countrymen to be one of the nation’s leading interpreters of Afro-Brazilian music, beginning with samba! Fabiana’s repertoire reflects a deep knowledge of the many…
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Ben Stolorow, piano Peter Barshay, bass Vince Lateano, drums Special guest, guitarist Brad Buethe $20 suggested donation Teens, music students – $5-10 sliding scale Kids free One of the great pleasures in jazz is the piano trio. Vince, Peter and Ben — three talented veterans spanning three generations — have been working together in a third Sundays residency at Bird & Beckett for two years now, and it’s been wonderful to hear the delight and ease of their collaboration. Lately, the trio has been inviting a guest to join them on their dates to add an extra dimension and this Sunday, it’s Brad Buethe — a guitarist with a complex harmonic bent that will be interesting to hear intertwined with Ben Stolorow’s open, economical and lyrical approach to the piano with his own keen ear for harmony. Brad has been on the scene with Vince and Peter at least since…
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Your donation to the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project helps us pay for a multitude of operating expenses necessary to present, promote and preserve local music, poetry, and more.
Help us keep the arts alive and thriving!
The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project was created in 2007 "to present, document and archive the creative work of significant living writers and musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, for a neighborhood audience and future generations." We've been doing that very thing for more than a decade and a half, continuing the work we began when the store was established in 1999.
We continue to present a full slate of programming of live music and poetry readings, and produce a literary journal and poetry chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support by way of donations through our fiscal sponsor, Jazz in the Neighborhood.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above. Better yet, send or drop off a check made out to our fiscal sponsor, Jazz in the Neighborhood, with BBCLP in the memo line. Our mailing address is:
Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
Call us at (415) 586-3733 to find out how else you might lend your support.
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The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
Our events are put on under the umbrella of the 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 [Read More ]
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
