The Jazz Philanthropists Union presents… Sueños expanding the boundaries of this jazz music! Noah Frank, trumpet; Eli Maliwan, tenor sax; James Mitchell, piano; Alex Farrell, bass; Evan Williams, drums, push the evolution of jazz through the present moment — hip-hop & R&B rhythms blended with modal and gospel harmony, bebop-tinged horns flowing over the top. Original music and tunes by Roy Hargrove, Christian Scott, Kanye West, and J Dilla. A flexible sound to fit the space and the time. The Atlantic made Sueños a centerpiece of a heavy-duty feature in their “Saturday Night in America” series - check this link at the 2:10 mark as Noah’s trumpet drifts out from the doorway of Oakland’s 15th Street Naming Gallery, and ride it out, then loop back and ride it through. It’s a ride you should take. Sueños has performed at the Fillmore Street Jazz Festival in SF and the PDX Jazz Festival in Portland, as well as at…

Liliana Herrera, vocals GG Amos, guitar and vocals Tom Griesser, saxophone Parris Bertolucci, keyboards Edgar San Gabriel, bass Randy Lee Odell, drums Two strong women express themselves through blues, R&B and roots music. GG Amos will present a set from the classic era of blues singers 1920s-1940s as well as modern west coast blues and r&b. Liliana Herrera brings her own passionate style to a blues and r&b set with an infusion of Latin soul. Their finale will include the title track from this show, written and recorded by Ida Cox in 1924. Backed by the talents of Parris Bertolucci on keyboards, Tom Griesser on sax, Edgar San Gabriel on bass and Randy Lee Odell on drums, with a guest appearance by Francisco Herrera, GG & Liliana promise that you’re in for a rip-roaring musical journey. These women don’t take no guff from life. And you’ll be all the more…

The Lazy Governors play gypsy jazz, western swing, standards… catch them at Cafe Claude, Amnesia, and now, Bird & Beckett. All strings all the time, except that there’s a vocalist too… Hannah Rifkin. Otherwise, it’s… Geoffrey Boushey Julian Alexander Sam Barnum Russ Kiel  

Two poets who matter. It’s a bloody, inhuman mess out there, and it bears thinking about. And speaking. JB Frame and Dee Allen read their work. An open mic follows. Jerry Ferraz hosts. In re: Jim Frame — Conceived by the Greatest Generation as an antidote to axis victory in WWII. Raised in Sonoma. Vietnam veteran (Medic). 3 years of college. Many jobs, including boho barista when it was cool. Ambulance driver. Muni veteran. As for Dee Allen: African-Italian performance poet currently based in Oakland, California. Active on the creative writing & Spoken Word tips since the early 1990s. Author of 3 books [Boneyard, Unwritten Law and his newest, Stormwater] and 13 anthology appearances under his figurative belt so far [Poets 11: 2014, Feather Floating On The Water, the first 4 Revolutionary Poets Brigade books, Rise and the newest, Your Golden Sun Still Shines]. Dee is the real deal. He…

Joe Goldmark, pedal steel, leads a country music supergroup, with Mitch Polzak on lead guitar and vocals, Hank Maninger on bass guitar and vocals, and Kenny Owen, the Haiku Cowboy, on drums. Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams and a fistful of wonderful originals by Joe & Mitch. 20 shows so far in the past two years at Bird & Beckett — appearing the first Sunday of every month. $15 donation suggested to help us pay these fine musicians. Consider it an investment in the culture. You’ll be glad you did! We don’t run a bar here, so your wallet won’t be taking a beating on that score. Cheapest night you’ll have ever spent in a honky tonk! And since we don’t run a bar here, it’s strictly BYOB. Feel free to share. Snacks to share welcome, too. It’s a bonding thing among new friends that’s scientifically proven to be…

Rob Zuckerman, saxes and flute Greg Jacobs, piano Charles Thomas, bass and vocals Mark Lee, drums Bassist Charles Thomas covers jazz, R&B, funk, classical and many points in the musical spectrum, but it’s clearly jazz that absorbs him most fully. No better way to spend your Sunday afternoon than to be at Bird & Beckett soaking up the music! Bring some cash to help us compensate the musicians, if you can spare it. Skip that burrito if you have to! Also BYOB– the State in its Wisdom forbids our dispensing of foul elixers, but apparently not your consumption of same.

Spindlermühle ((Czechoslovakia), 1930s So clear that night and still, only the sound of the horse’s hooves on packed snow and the sleigh’s bells broke the silence, our breaths mingled with the horse’s steam as we huddled under a heavy blanket my parents and I alert to the brightness of moon-lit sky, so young, so long ago. — Eveline Kanes   Hunger From beside the house where grandmother was born my daughter picked a wild rose, then pressed it in a guidebook before it could dry and crumble. The abandoned house has crumbled into the pasture, like grandmother crumbled into arthritic, melancholy ruin while she tended, like a turf fire, the memory of Cork. We traveled in a car over a road meant for goats to find our cousins—the children and grandchildren of the ones who stayed through the hunger years. Their welcome is warm, their smiles both shy and sly,…

 Graham Bruce writes and arranges for this seven-piece jazz juggernaut, with a book of original music thick as a brick! Mad Duran, alto, soprano, flute Dave Schrader, tenor, soprano Ruth Ahlers, bari Steve Weaver, trombone Dan Neville, vibraphone Graham Bruce, bass Andy Dillard, drums