Kahil El’Zabar – African drums and trap set Corey Wilkes – trumpet Alex Harding – saxophone Internationally renowned percussionist and composer Kahil El’Zabar is considered one of the most prolific jazz innovators of his generation. Indeed El’Zabar is a true “Renaissance Man,” with a musical style and content that flows from ancient Africa to the modern world. In his own words, “The spirit of one’s approach comes first before the technical. All the facility in the world with nothing that comes from the heart doesn’t make good music. The basis of the strength of any artistic evolution has come from ethnicity.” $20 cover charge

Grant Levin Trio with Chris Amberger & Mark Lee

The protagonist of Coptic Cross, Bill Haywood, is a black man who embodies “friends, relatives, people in my neighborhood when I was growing up…trying to survive in a nation that has only wanted us as slaves or servants, but never as full citizens. Bill is aware of this and knows that his very presence, for many, is an affront to their whitewashed, Norman Rockwell vision of America that doesn’t include him. That’s a horrible thing, if you really think about it—to be born in a nation controlled by people who wouldn’t bat an eye if every black person in America suddenly disappeared. “Bill has real anxiety about the future—fear. Like millions of people, he doesn’t have enough money to retire on, doesn’t own a house that is bought and paid for, and can’t rely on social security to pay the rent on his small apartment in San Francisco when he…

Debbie has performed, taught and recorded internationally. Critics have noted that her playing is ““crystal clear, with the swinging elegance of Tommy Flanagan combined with the depth of Bill Evans.” A natural born musician, Debbie Poryes took to the piano at five years old, playing show tunes and studying classical music. Hearing Monk and Miles as a teenager, she fell in love with jazz and decided to become a jazz pianist.Debbie has played all over the San Francisco Bay Area, including at Yoshi’s Jazzclub, the Berkeley Jazzschool, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival and Piedmont Piano Company. The 1980s saw Debbie in The Netherlands, in tenured positions teaching jazz at conservatories in Hilversum and Arnhem. She also toured Europe, performing at clubs and in festivals in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, England and France. While abroad, she recorded a trio LP for Timeless Records and worked as an accompanist and arranger for…

Randy Lee Odell presents… Every 1st Thursday in Bird & Beckett’s “canyon moonlight” series Thursday, February 2nd – 8-10pm: Emily Hayes Singer Emily Hayes draws on a repertoire ranging from blues to country to jazz, rich in the work of singers from Bessie Smith to Nina Simone to Patsy Cline. Raised in New England, Emily worked in London for several years, performing at supper clubs with leading early jazz pianists in the area, including Fergus Read, Colin Good (of Roxy Music) and Keith Nichols. Since 2005, she’s been based in the Bay Area where she’s been a band member of The Cottontails (early jazz and blues, featuring Ralph Carney on horns) and the Country Casanovas (classic country and rock). Guitarist Mark Holzinger (2016 Western Swing Hall of Fame inductee) is a special guest on the date, with the Randy Lee Odell Trio — Eric Shifrin on piano; Ari Munkres on…

Brilliant young reed player Eli Maliwan is the centerpiece of this exploration of the jazz saxophone canon, prominently featuring the work of John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter. Her close associate, trumpeter Noah Frank, shares the front line for what is sure to be an exciting and enlightening two sets of music. Drummer Jon Frank leads the rhythm section (Dave Gibbons, piano; Rob Woodcock, bass) in vividly embodying the art of small combo jazz as it was perfected in mid-20th century America and as it’s played today in an era that desperately needs ways to relate on a high intellectual and spiritual plane.

We rely on Walker Brents III for rumination on topics subject to deep interpretation and widely ranging association. How he does it, we’ll never know! But we’re ever grateful that he does. Today, he finds in the poet, printmaker and painter and printmaker William Blake (1757-1827) the kernel of modern humanist and progressive political and social philosophy.

The Jazz Philanthropists Union presents jazz club! when lights are low… every Saturday night, 7:30-10 pm, at Bird & Beckett This week featuring the Wick/Knudsen/Glenn Trio- jazz inside & out Kasey Knudsen, sax Miles Wick, bass Jordan Glenn, drums

Pianist Grant Levin and bassist Charles Thomas converse in jazz for two sets, always with something new to say about familiar topics.

Talk about your San Francisco jazz… On the fourth Friday of each month, our weekly jazz in the bookshop series features The 230 Jones Street, Local 6 Literary Jazz Band — aka The Chuck Peterson Quintet — five musicians whose history on the local jazz scene dates back 60 years, to the very early 1950s.

Get in with the in crowd! Eric Shifrin, jazz pianist par excellence and free spirit, has gathered the in crowd in the saloons and salons of the City for several decades. Associates Bing Nathan (bass) and Dennis Norby (drums)  have been there with him all along the way, and they swing it in the bookshop these days on the last Thursday of the month — helping you shake off the tough times and celebrate the good times.

The Jazz Philanthropists Union presents jazz club! when lights are low… every Saturday night, 7:30-10 pm, at Bird & Beckett Tonight– Aaron Germain Chance Ensemble featuring all original music by bassist and composer Aaron Germain Mary Fettig, sax and flute Murray Low, piano Jon Krosnick, drums Aaron has played in a multitude of genres with fantastic musicians, deeply engaged and creative no matter the setting. The Chance Ensemble is a chance for Aaron to collaborate with highly esteemed peers to explore musical territory without reservation, and has already produced a highly acclaimed cd of some of this music with Mary Fettig and others. This live date in the intimate setting of Bird & Beckett will undoubtedly be a delight. Do come! $10 cover charge. $9 wearing a pussy hat!

What can we say about Scott Foster!? He’s just Bird & Beckett’s favorite guitarist… soulful, deep and endlessly inventive. He’s been steady on the gig here since 2002, now assembling a new act for you every third Friday. Tonight, he’s joined by his colleague and friend, woodwind virtuoso David Boyce. David is a titan of a tenor player, with a high profile career reaching back to the early 1990s when the Broun Fellinis made their debut on the local scene, mixing Afro-Caribbean strains into straight ahead and acid jazz. He’s also a wonderful writer, with a great piece of prose fiction featured in the latest issue of Bird & Beckett’s literary annual, “Amerarcana.”

“Sexy shack-shaking music” from HowellDevine – Arhoolie recording artists! The first blues act signed by this crucial record label in 27 years! And now Arhoolie — home to Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell and the zydeco king, Clifton Chenier — has been picked up for distribution by the Smithsonian. The world is HowellDevine’s oyster… or mudbug… They’re a juggernaut of rural blues, evoking the ghosts of the Mississippi delta and bringing those ghosts howling right into the now. A rollicking present day experience in deep communion with an archetypal past reality. Joshua Howell (slide guitars, harmonica, voice) Pete Devine (drums, washboard) Joe Kyle Jr. (bass) Read all about ’em! Click here!!!