Bay Area-raised, Brooklyn-based pianist Richard Sears possesses an original voice as an improvisor and composer. His composition has been recognized by grants from the Aaron Copland Fund and the Los Angeles Jazz Society. As a performer, Richard has appeared with the likes of Chick Corea, Mark Turner, Muhal Richard Abrams, Joshua Redman, and Billy Hart. His most recent release, “Altadena”, features the legendary drummer, Albert “Tootie” Heath performing with Richard’s sextet. “Altadena” earned 4 stars in Downbeat Magazine, and was named “one of 2016’s best release” by AllAboutJazz. Richard continues to perform and teach internationally, and curates the “Open Ground” performance series in Brooklyn to promote the work of his colleagues. In 2015, Richard Sears released his first trio album, “Skyline”, on Fresh Sound Records. Andrew Gilbert, music critic for the SF Chronicle and SJ Mercury News, wrote of “Skyline”: “Great jazz performances take a listener to a realm that’s both…

The Jazz Commissioner is on the job! Latin jazz specialist John Calloway brings in a quartet. Latin, straight-ahead, bebop and beyond! John’s most recent album, “Asere Ko,” was recorded in Cuba and the Bay Area with top musicians in both locales. Pick up a copy of the cd at Bird & Beckett, or go to Bandcamp to buy the download there. No cover charge, but bring $10 or $20 for the band if you can. BYOB. John holds a Doctorate in Multicultural Education from USF, is the music supervisor for the SFUSD and is on faculty at SFSU in the School of Music and the College of Ethnic Studies. Dr. Calloway has been recognized by the Jazz Journalists Association with the Jazz Hero Award in 2012, and by the California Music Educators Association with the Ernest R. Yee Illuminating Culture Award in 2015. He is an Entertainment Committee chairperson for…

Bassist Prell got his start in L.A. in the 1950s, traveling for several years as a member of the Bud Shank Quartet. He’s been a cornerstone of the Bird & Beckett Friday night jazz series since its inception in 2002, and leads a group here on the first Friday of each month.   Al Molina, trumpet Jerry Logas, reeds Don Prell, bass Omar Aran, drums   San Francisco’s longest running weekly jazz party is well into its 15th year and shows no signs of flagging! We’ve never skipped a single Friday since October 2002, when it all started as neighborhood tenor sax player Chuck Peterson roped Don Prell, guitarist Scott Foster and an ever expanding network of players into making the Bird & Beckett jazz scene happen. Since then, it’s grown like Topsy. Wasn’t God what made this happen, just folks showing up to play and folks showing up to…

  Join us to hear and bid bon voyage to two great young drummers who have been tearing it up on the San Francisco scene for the past several years — they’re Big Apple bound!   Louis and Tim will trade off on drums, along with pianists Grant Levin and Simon Rowe, and bassists Chris Amberger and Giulio Xavier, and tenor player Jason Hainsworth is on board as well. Who knows who else will join the fun! Don’t miss it! No cover charge, but bring some money for the rhythm section players anyway. Jazz is not just life, it’s also work and a way of paying the rent!!!

Avotcja, spoken word and small multi-percussion; Frances Wong, saxophone; Manny Moku, piano Heshima Mark Williams, bass Raul Ramirez, multi-percussion Avotcja is a jazz musician with deep roots, a riveting poet, an imaginative and ruminative prose writer, a pioneer, an individualist, a fierce champion of her fellow musicians, poets and artists.  She leads the group named Best Jazz Group of the Year in 2005 and 2010 by the Bay Area Blues Hall of Fame, Modúpue (“graditude”) — a flexible ensemble with anywhere from four to fourteen musicians, a company that includes some of the Bay Area’s very best. Francis Wong and frequent Modúpue collaborator Jon Jang have just joined Avotcja among the ranks of Jazz Heroes in the estimation of the Jazz Journalists Association, accolades richly deserved by all three! Read more about Avotcja and Modúpue on her site at http://www.avotcja.org/ CELEBRATE WITH A HEALING EVENING OF POETRY, JAZZ & THE FIRE OF WORDSONG it’s gonna…

From NYC: Caroline Davis, alto saxophone and Carmen Staaf, piano, plus local heroes Raffi Garabedian, tenor saxophone; Noah Garabedian, bass; Evan Hughes, drums Caroline, Carmen and Noah — none of whom have played at Bird & Beckett before — are fitting in this date between sessions teaching at Stanford Jazz Workshop’s Jazz Camp and Jazz Institute, and are joined tonight by Noah’s brother, Raffi, and drummer Evan Hughes, both of whom have been heard here to great effect several times in the past. We’re beyond pleased. Bios from Stanford Jazz Workshop on Caroline, Carmen and Noah follow: Mobile since her birth in Singapore, composer, saxophonist, and educator Caroline Davis now lives in Brooklyn, New York. After making her mark on the Chicago jazz community during her 8-year stint there, she moved to New York in 2013, and has proven to be an active leader and sidewoman on the national jazz…

Eric Shifrin, piano Paul Smith, bass Scott Johnson, drums Cole Porter surveyed! Looking at You … Just One of Those Things … So in Love … In the Still of the Night … Begin the Beguine … Everything I Love … Don’t Fence Me In … Miss Otis Regrets … Why Shouldn’t I … I Love You … I Concentrate on You … I’ve Got You Under My Skin … Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye … Love for Sale… You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To … Let’s Misbehave … Brush Up Your Shakespeare … All Of You … You Do Something to Me … Easy To Love … Dream Dancing … It’s All Right With Me … My Heart Belongs to Daddy

Noel Jewkes, saxophone Grant Levin, piano Charles Thomas, bass Rick Rivera, drums Three of Grant’s favorite collaborators, including the great Noel Jewkes, hold forth for two sets of jazz this Sunday night! $15 cover charge tonight. Read more here!

Surf trio Lee Vilensky, guitar Bill McBeath, bass Jamie Lease, drums

The Jazz Philanthropists Union presents… Jesse Levit, sax & EWI Adam Shulman, piano Josh Thurston-Milgrom, bass Lorca Hart, drums A native of Oakland, California, Jesse Levit started playing saxophone and piano at the age of seven. After winning numerous honors and holding the lead alto chair in both the SFJAZZ High School All-Star Band and the Monterey Jazz Festival All-Star Band, he has had the opportunity to perform with such talents as James Moody, Frank Lacy, Jim McNeely, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Jane Monheit, Wynton Marsalis, Eddie Daniels, Peter Erskine, Wycliffe Gordon, Frankye Kelly, Sam Rivers, Dave Liebman, Lenny Pickett, Khalil Shaheed, Mark Levine, Diane Witherspoon, Benny Green, Stefon Harris, Seamus Blake, and Rufus Reid. He has been featured on three CDs: Oaktown Jazz, Pocketized, and Excursions. Jesse currently resides in New York City and recently graduated with a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music. He performs regularly on sax, EWI,…

Tammy Hall Trio Tammy Lynne Hall, piano Ravi Abcarian, bass Ruthie Price, drums $15 cover charge Tammy Lynne Hall is among the premier pianists in the Bay Area, with a richly deserved international reputation and audience. Her playing is steeped in jazz, gospel and classical influences. “A musician who has much to offer in the way of originality, fine technique and a rich, emotional quality that is evident on everything she does. Her playing is warm and persuasive and a listener’s delight.” – Marian McPartland, Piano Jazz Tammy’s bio at http://www.tammyhall.com/bio.html is well worth a visit! Also, be sure to click on Tammy’s name in the personnel list above to hear her performance on Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” NPR show. Get your tickets now for the upcoming theatrical show/concert called “Blues is a Woman” at the Custom Made Theatre on Sutter Street, August 3-27, when Tammy will join colleagues Pamela…

Guitarist Scott Foster will be fresh back from Havana for tonight’s show, so he’s enlisted bassist Adam Gay and drummer Omar Aran to play two sets of music drawing on his experience there!  

Delta blues juggernaut… a howling wind of sound and rhythm Joshua Howell gtr, harp, vocal Pete Devine drums, washboard, jug Joe Kyle, Jr. bass Read up on the band here  http://www.howelldevine.com/about.html Seek out their records read about those here Then come hear them live. You’ll never be the same again!