The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project and the Jazz Philanthropists Union, with financial support from the Zellerbach Family Foundation, present Alternative Acts: Seeking Truth Above #F a series of six concerts beginning April Fools Day and concluding May 20th   April Fools Day: Ourboros Sheldon Brown, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone and clarinet Clark Coolidge, drums Andrew Joron, theremin Joseph Noble, flute, alto flute, alto saxophone and soprano saxophone   The “Alternative Acts” series is devoted to improvised and other avant garde musical approaches by locally based artists: — April Fool’s Day, Ouroboros Sheldon Brown and Joseph Noble, reeds; Andrew Joron, theremin; Clark Coolidge, drums — April 18th, Dalachinsky:Cherkovski:Coolidge 3 poets, with a musician or two tba –  April 20th,  Drummer Scott Amendola’s 3-in-1 with Raffi Garabedian, saxophone and Zach Ostroff, bass — April 21st, animals and giraffes Phillip Greenlief, saxphones and Bb clarinet Claudia La Rocco, text and voice Danishta Rivero, voice…

Erik Jekabson, trumpet Dave Ellis, saxophones John Wiitala, bass Evan Hughes, drums Another fabulous night at jazz club! when lights are low… $20 cover charge tonight. Thanks for supporting the music!

Phillip Greenlief, reeds Dan Seamans, bass Tom Hassett, drums two decades redefining the jazz standard  

Clifford Brown III, trumpet; Charles Hamilton, trombone;  Hal Richards, tenor sax and bass clarinet;  Jerry Logas, baritone sax; Dave Parker, bass; Dillon Vado, drums;  with guest lyricist Scribe Sayar.

A fine guitarist who has shifted his focus to education and composition, Camilo Moreiro Coro is a summa cum laude graduate of the Cuba’s top performing arts school University of the Arts (ISA) where he was recognized by the faculty as the best student-teacher of his graduating class. Since 2010, he’s been teaching harmony, composition, computer music and ensemble practice at the country’s top conservatory for secondary students, the National School of Music (ENA). He also directs the school’s jazz band which was recently invited to perform at Jazz at Lincoln Center in April of 2016. This year (2017), Camilo has taken on the important task of reviving and directing ISA’s Jazz Band. This is easily the most important jazz education initiative in the country.

Amy Farah Weiss will come to Bird & Beckett on Tuesday, the 27th, to discuss her mayoral campaign and to specifically address how ranked choice voting can assure that a progressive candidate takes the Mayor’s office in the upcoming June election. She’ll also talk about a tool she has developed to evaluate the performance of the new mayor, whoever it might be, in achieving goals important to the electorate, a “Mayor Outcomes Tracker.” Bring your questions and concerns, to engage with a candidate whose progressive values and solutions-focused ideas really have the potential to reshape San Francisco in the years to come.

Sandi Poindexter, violin; David Udolf, piano; Ron Belcher, bass; Myron Cohen, drums.   “Billy Higgins used to say you have to get inside the music…listen,use your ears, and play from your heart, as you have people’s feelings in your hands… Also make the other musicians on the bandstand feel good so they can get their sound across… be supportive and uplifting… above all the drummer must swing plenty! …leave some space, and don’t play too many notes.” –Myron Cohen

Grant Levin, piano David Ewell, bass Jeff Minnieweather, drums Grant Levin has been one of the top jazz pianists in the Bay Area since arriving on the scene. His talent seems to have no limitations. We’ve been pleased to present him dozens of times at Bird & Beckett. His playing never fails to thrill the audience, and he never fails to put together a terrific group of collaborating musicians for the date.

Walker Brents III plumbs the poetic psyche of Gary Snyder.

Four giants of San Francisco jazz, setting the standard: Ian Carey, trumpet; James Mahone, saxophone; Adam Shulman, piano; Vijay Anderson, drums.   Supported by Jazz in the Neighborhood’s Guaranteed Fair Wage Fund.  

Friday at the Late Show! Tonight, it’s a trio version of Sandor y su Mecanica! Pianist Eduardo Corzo from Havana, Cuba joins bassist David Pinto from Lima, Peru & the Nicaraguan/American drummer Sandor Moss from the Richmond District! About Eduardo Corzo: Born in “el Vedado”, neighborhood of Havana, Cuba, Corzo began his musical study with his father, Gregrio Corzo, a violinist of the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra. Later, he embarked upon an independent study of guitar and piano, until he decided to complete a formal education at Ignacio Cervantes Conservatorio where he graduated as clarinetist. At 21, Corzo had the opportunity to compose and arrange music for Cuban television, an endeavor which allowed him to later complete further theatrical and cinematic works. He also served as musical director of the Conjunto Nacional de Espectaculos, under the talent of cuban humorist Alejandro Garcia (Virulo), and toured to Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. While…

Tonight, bassist Al Obidinski sits in for 230 Jones Street regular Dean Reilly, with Ray Loeckle and Jerry Logas on reeds, Glen Deardorff on guitar and Tony Johnson on drums.

Neeli Cherkovski, born Neeli Cherry in San Bernardino California in 1945. was an integral part of the mid-1960s Los Angeles poetry scene, edited a literary magazine there with Charles Bukowski called “Laugh Literary and Man the Humping Guns” and came up to San Francisco in the early 1970s. Throughout those years and ever since, he has consorted with Surrealist, Beat, post-Beat and Baby Beat icons and poets to whom no categories apply, including Diane di Prima, Phillip Lamantia, Bob Kaufman, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Hirschman, ruth weiss, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, Joanne Kyger, John Wieners, Harold Norse, Allen Ginsburg and many, many others from Steve Richmond and Sharon Doubiago in his L.A. days to countless younger poets today. Neeli is the author of more than a dozen poetry collections over a fifty-year career from his first, Don’t Make a Move (Tecumseh Press, 1974) to Animal (Pantograph Press, 1996) to From the…

“ “Father Harry,” Msgr. Harry G. Schlitt, got his start in the rock & roll side of the Catholic Church (or maybe created it) in the 1970s in Springfield, Missouri. He’ll tell a sliver of the tale and sign books at Bird & Beckett March 22nd from 5:30-6:30 pm. Read up on Father Schlitt’s Springfield days and his subsequent career here: https://www.news-leader.com/story/life/faith/2016/12/31/rock-n-roll-priest-harry-schlitt-connected-kids/95962534/