Jam session every 2nd Monday! 7:30 to 9:30 pm Free Hosted by the first-year students in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s brand new Roots, Jazz & American Music (“RJAM”) undergraduate program. College & high school students welcome. Free

Francis Vanek, saxophone; Grant Levin, piano; Chris Amberger, bass;  Rodney Ruckus, drums. This quartet reflects a web of personal and musical connections that is both immediate (Chris and Grant started working with Ruckus just a few short months ago) and long-term (Chris and Francis go way back). In the solid midrange, Chris (a veteran player who was present at the birth of free jazz in Oakland in 1967/68, toured with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the U.S. and Europe in 1976 and then toured the U.S. and Canada with pianist George Shearing) was instrumental in recognizing Grant’s potential while Grant was still a college student in Reno and did a lot to facilitate Grant’s entry into the San Francisco jazz scene a decade ago. Since then, it’s been jazz history in the making! A little more on Chris Amberger, from a profile in Northside magazine a few years back: After…

March 9th – 9 pm $20 cover charge. San Francisco’s Preeminent Jazz Vocalist ~~ Denise Perrier ~~ In residence at Bird & Beckett through May! Grant Levin, piano, Ollie Dudek, bass, Greg Wyser-Pratt, drums.   Mark your calendar now for April 13 and May 18

      Mike Olmos, trumpet; Patrick Wolff, tenor sax; Keith Saunders, piano; Eric Markowitz, bass; Evan Hughes, drums     Five of the City’s top jazz musicians convene to play music composed by jazz greats Kenny Dorham, Clifford Jordan and Horace Silver, and a few originals as well!  

Barbara Hunter, flute and sax Bliss Rodriguez, piano Richard Saunders, bass Achyutan, drums Achyutan has been a professional drummer for over 40 years, with musical roots that go back to Kansas City where he studied at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music and played drums for five years with the legendary Jay McShann. Achyutan has performed with jazz greats John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Archie Shepp and Ruswell Rudd. He enjoyed concert tours in Italy and France with Gato Barbieri, and played throughout the East Coast with the late Pony Poindexter, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson and Booker Ervin. He has recorded with many jazz legends including Pharoah Sanders and Sonny Simmons, and has mentored more than a few generations of great professional drummers. Achyutan and Barbara Hunter, a fine and well experienced musician on both flute and saxophone, have long been admired figures on the Bay Area jazz scene. Time to get…

Joe Goldmark, a modern master of the pedal steel guitar, is at the heart of the Seducers, which features Mitch Polzak on lead guitar and vocals, Hank Maninger on electric bass and vocals and Kenny Owen on drums. Originals and classic country numbers from the likes of Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams and more.

Community Music Center instructors and students will present a wide ranging program to celebrate Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dog. The opening set will include a gamut of music from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, and a tribute to the late San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. The second set will feature a jazz ensemble led by pianist Randy Craig, featuring, among others, reed player Ken Rosen and bassist Richard Saunders, and a guest appearance on piano by long-time director of the CMC, Steve Shapiro.

    Benjamin Aaron Goldberg William Altrist Bernard Scott Anthony Amendola Serving you since the 1900’s Vote with your butts! Get in here & siddown!

[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7MuMSND-iE” /] Guitarist Duncan James and vibes & harmonica player Jon Eriksen have been playing in various configurations for more than thirty years, and bassist Rich Girard has played with both of them in different situations for that long or longer. These three musicians have a deep and eclectic common repertoire to draw on, from Brazilian tunes to jazz and pop standards, to numbers by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Chick Corea, Frank Zappa and plenty more. Jon is most widely known in these parts as the co-leader of SoulSauce, a Latin-jazz quintet based on the Cal Tjader sound that got its start in 1998. He’s also been in the house band at Nick’s in Pacifica for 24 years, and plays jazz harmonica ala Toots Thielemans (with some Stevie thrown in). Duncan James has worked side by side with highly esteemed jazz guitarists George Barnes, Howard Alden, Bruce Foreman…

Five first call jazz players join forces for two sets of straight ahead jazz and bebop: Lyle Link, alto sax; Bob Kenmotsu, tenor sax; Keith Saunders, piano; Adam Gay, bass; James Gallagher, drums.

We’ve been held in thrall by pianist Grant Levin ever since he first graced the Bird & Beckett bandstand in a couple different units in 2011 and 2012 (Home Spun Trio and Hawkeye), then in extensive collaboration with the late Houston, Texas alto saxophonist Terrance Tony (a veteran of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers); in groups led by local heroes Noel Jewkes and Peter Barshay; and on countless dates here as a leader of his own groups (frequently including another Jazz Messengers vet, bassist Chris Amberger, as well as many esteemed and emerging local and regional players). Grant leads a trio this afternoon that features the New York City-based drummer Sylvia Cuenca (a San Jose native with extensive experience in bands led by tenor titan Joe Henderson and the marvelous trumpeter Clark Terry) and bassist Aaron Cohn — Sunday at 4:30. Don’t miss it!

Walker Brents III has been musing on topics of his choosing monthly at Bird & Beckett for fifteen years or more — thoughts on individual poets, philosophers, seers… bits of mythology…  There are wonderful reasons that he’s got a loyal coterie of fans, and not just at the bookshop, but at storytelling festivals, in schoolyards and classrooms, at art museums. Come hear for yourself. He says,  “Human speech is the place where myths unfold, today and tomorrow. It has always been this way. The language of storytelling contains within itself how we, both as a species and as unique individuals, understand events as they occur. This is a process continually in transition. The more we are aware of its nuances as it makes itself known, the more is our vigilance honed, our intuitive faculties strengthened, and our trust in life assured.” This afternoon, his subject is Goethe’s poetic science: the unity…

The sound of tomorrow’s jazz today!  Drummer Christian Kyle Burgs arrived in San Francisco out of Houston last September to enroll in the inaugural class of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s undergraduate degree program in “roots, jazz & American music” (read: JAZZ!). Bassist Cris Carrera and tenor player Jayden Clark turned up at the same time for the same reason. We’ve been hearing these players and their cohort of twelve for the past six months in a monthly jam session here at the shop, and we quickly realized that any of them could lead a tight unit with unbelievable talent and fresh energy to burn! For this date, Christian has also enlisted San Francisco native son Zack Shubert to handle the piano duties. You’re in for an earful! Jayden Clark, tenor saxophone – Sydney, Australia Zack Shubert, piano – San Francisco, California Cris Carrera, bass – McAllen,Texas Christian Kyle…