The Vince Lateano Trio has a long-standing monthly residency at Bird & Beckett on the third Sunday of each month. Vince has been a mainstay of the San Francisco jazz scene since the mid-1960s. No better way to spend a late Sunday afternoon! Do come, byob and a twenty for the band, or whatever you can afford. Bring kids, neighbors, friends, and introduce them to the joys of jazz at Bird & Beckett! Ben Stolorow, piano Peter Barshay, bass Vince Lateano, drums   Special thanks go out this month to Jazz in the Neighborhood, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to raising the wages and working conditions of the region’s professional gigging musicians, for their subsidy of a guaranteed fair wage to twenty of the musicians crossing our stage this month! DONATE TO JitN AND TELL ‘EM WHY! JitN’s support allows us to go out on a limb to pay that same…

Nathan Tokunaga, at the tender age of 16, has already been making waves for years with his amazing depth and maturity as a jazz clarinetist, particularly delving into the classic eras spanning the jazz of the 1920s to 1940s. In the company of a raft of jazz mentors, among them the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and musicologist Clint Baker and drummer/pianist Jeff Hamilton, he’s been received with great enthusiasm on the concert and festival circuit. Steve Pistorius, a renowned New Orleans jazz pianist, after sharing a stage with Nathan in 2022, observed that, “I’ve been doing this for almost 50 years professionally and Nathan is playing at a level I’ve seldom heard (with a) depth of understanding of New Orleans Jazz as I’ve heard coming out that horn…” With Nathan’s contemporary, Benny Aron, on drums, this quartet is guaranteed to please, and Nathan’s talent will likely leave you breathless. Come and hear…

Walk on down to Bird & Beckett this weekend! Scott Foster has just returned from New Orleans and has some deep and beautiful thoughts to convey Friday evening at 6pm, with a wonderful jazz quartet as the vehicle — Mike Rinta on trombone, Ollie Dudek on bass and groove merchant Larry Vann on drums! Bring the kids and the old folks, a date, a friend, yourself… Make an evening of it among neighbors and friends old and new in Glen Park, a wonderful hidden neighborhood in the storied city of San Francisco… Those in the know, know that Scott brings a different, wonderful aggregation of musicians and a fresh concept rooted in the jazz traditions on the third Friday of each month, and that he’s been a cornerstone of the Bird & Beckett jazz edifice since the beginning of the century, though he’s still a young man… Saturday at 7:30pm,…

Mitch Polzak – lead guitar & vocals Hank Maninger – bass guitar & vocals Joe Goldmark – pedal steel guitar Kenny Owen – drums You’ll find the Seducers playing songs of lovin’ and longin’ at Bird & Beckett on the second Sunday of every other month —  January, March, May, July, September & November, the odd numbered ones… Twangtastic tunes and gorgeous convergence in honky tonk heaven. There’s so much more than just jazz at Bird & Beckett. Join us! BYOB and a twenty for the band. That’ll git it!

  Gustavo Lorenzatti is an Argentine double bass player, composer and long standing member of the Symphony Orchestra of Córdoba. He has a background in jazz, improvised and, classical music, tango and argentinian folklore. He formally studied at the Rotterdam Conservatory of music with the soloist of the Netherlands Philharmonic, Hans Roelofsen. Gustavo will be performing a solo double bass concert which will feature a number of his own compositions characterized by the use of bowing, pizzicato, voice and percussion, all of which create a unique and stimulating experience.

A year and a day since its theatrical debut, Emily Keeler’s Dark Days and a Black Dog returns to Bird & Beckett tonight, with live music. A solo turn by actor Andrea Snow, directed by Jael Weisman, Emily’s piece unspools seven heart-wrenching years in an intensely personal, darkly comic and breathtakingly recognizable theatrical experience. This time around, Andrea delivers Emily’s words with the expansive dimension of Randy Craig’s piano accompaniment. https://www.darkdaysandablackdog.com/fromthepiece Emily Keeler has been a dancer in San Francisco since 1974. She was a principal dancer for The Moving Company, Cliff Kuter’s New Dance Company, and Joe Goode Performance Group. She choreographed for numerous dance companies both ballet and contemporary including SF Dance Theater, Chrysalis, The Moving Company, DanceArt, Oakland Ballet, and Joffrey Dancers, and was a four time recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographic Fellowship. She and has been an educator and artist in residence…

Macy Blackman & the Mighty Fines come to Bird & Beckett tonight to deliver a rockin’ excursion through a couple dozen gems, known and obscure, from the musical minds of New Orleans greats like Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint and Fats Domino. The Mighty Fines have been playing New Orleans R&B in San Francisco since 2003, with Ken “Snakebite” Jacobs arriving from the Crescent City in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and taking on the bari sax and clarinet role in the band. With tenor player Nancy Wright out tonight, he’ll handle that aspect with alacrity. Mighty Fines stalwart bassist Bing Nathan and Macy are practically joined at the hip, and Mark Lee is a natural behind the drum kit. A good time, guaranteed. $20 cover charge (cash/venmo at the door) byob  

Friday, January 12, 6-8pm – $20 cover,  byob ERIC & THE IN CROWD Every Second Sunday! Piano Professor Eric Shifrin’s Residency Continues in 2024! January 12th, introducing “THE COMPOSERS SERIES” Another great show each month featuring composers whose gem-like tunes have become jazz standards. This month’s spotlight falls on VINCENT YOUMANS & VICTOR YOUNG Think “More Than You Know” & “Tea for Two” and “Stella By Starlight” & “Beautiful Love”   Friday late show! 8:30-10pm, $20 cover, byob Macy Blackman & the Mighty Fines featuring Snakebite on saxophone Macy Blackman, piano Bing Nathan, bass Mark Lee, drums New Orleans R&B at it’s rollicking best! Let the good times roll!   Saturday, 7:30pm, $20 cover,  byob Actor Andrea Snow performs in monologue Emily Keeler’s “Dark Days & a Black Dog” with live music by Randy Craig directed by Jael Weisman   Sunday, 5-7pm, $20 cover, byob The Seducers! Honky Tonk! Mitch…

Avotcja, poetry and small percussion Sandi Poindexter, violin Francis Wong, saxophones Heshima Mark Williams, bass Raul Ramirez, drums $20 cover charge reservations: call 415-586-3733 Avotcja & Modúpue kick off another great year of live music at Bird & Beckett! For more years than we can count, Avotcja, a formidably great poet/musician/composer/musicologist, has brought her ensemble of musical geniuses, Modúpue to Bird & Beckett on the first Sunday of the year to perform for you. 2024 continues the tradition! Performances by Modúpue are always a joy to experience. Modúpue was named best jazz group of the year twice, in 2005 and again in 2010, by the Bay Area Blues Hall of Fame. Avotcja herself was named a “Jazz Hero” by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2015. Her radio shows on KPFA (“Bebop, Cubop & the Musical Truth”) and KPFA (“La Verdad Musical”) have been soul satisfying for decades, expressing the boundless…

Jesse Levit, sax and EWI. Colin Hogan, piano. Dexter Williams, bass. Elé Howell, drum set. A fantastic band, top to bottom. You only regret the shows you miss! Join us! $20 cover charge at the door cash or venmo. byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733.

Annie Orzen, piano Maddox Rochman-Romdalvik, bass Will Davies, drums Lily Bogas, vocals Annie Orzen, born & raised in Glen Park, is studying jazz and contemporary media at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She’s been home for the holidays and returns to school shortly, but first a stop at Bird & Beckett! The Annie Orzen Trio pushes the envelope of jazz, bringing a unique repertoire of original compositions and freshly interpreted standards to the Bird & Beckett stage. Heavily inspired by their training in jazz and their collective love for modern genres of music, the group combines jazz, r&b, gospel and funk into a contagiously exciting night of music. It’s the late show Friday the 5th, so enjoy a meal at Manzoni or Tekka House and walk up to the shop for an 8:30 start. $20 cover charge (cash or venmo at the door) $10 for teens and…

Welcoming back to Bird & Beckett, for our first jazz show of 2024, Danny Brown, tenor man extraordinaire, in superb company — with Smith Dobson drums, Eric Markowitz on bass and young Graham Messer on piano. Brilliant players, all! Don’t miss it! $20 cover charge; byob. Reservations, call 415-586-3733.

January 18th, Walker Brents III, gives one of his monthly live-streamed talks, this one on Marie Louise Von Franz, student of Carl Jung, who made great contributions in Jung’s footsteps as both thinker and therapist. Find it on our youtube channel or facebook page at 7:30pm Thursday. Want to come down and sit enthralled, listening in the dark? Call us, and we’ll let  you in and find you a seat. byob. /// Then, starting Friday in the gloaming, it’s jazzz ’til the sun’s gone down on Sunday. Friday, 6pm: Guitarist Scott Foster, having just made a trip out to New Orleans, brings Mike Rinta on trombone, Ollie Dudek on bass and Larry Vann on drums, comprising a deep & wondrous quartet, to play some tunes that have been on his mind in anticipation of the trip, on the hallowed ground there and since his return. Scott’s 3rd Fridays residency has…

Beau Beausoleil reads from his collection War News, a digital book published by AGITATE! War News is a collection of 90 poems, written one a day since October 8, 2023. The poems in the collection reflect on what it means to bear witness to war, killing and destruction in Gaza, Palestine. It asks, ‘what does it means to be alive at a time when even the death and suffering of children fails to elicit a response strong enough to end the war.’ This collection of 90 poems is a witness testimony from afar. It is an archive of grief, mourning and solidarity. It is an accounting of the cost of war. Through these powerful and devastating poems Beau reminds us that we cannot turn away. In the poet’s own words, “[O]ur humanity, our collective morality, requires that we bear witness and then take some kind of action.” Beau’s reading will…