653 Chenery Street
in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood
1-415-586-3733
[email protected]
Open to walk-in trade and browsing
Tuesday to Sunday
noon to six
Live Streams every weekend!
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But nothing beats being in the room with the music & the musicians!
Poet Arturo Mantecón presents a reading from the work of three late 20th century Spanish language poets/writers — Francisco Ferrer LerÃn, Leopoldo MarÃa Panero and Mario Santiago Papasquiaro.  Mantecón is joined on the program by Gilberto Rodriguez, who will declaim poems of Panero, and by musicians Dylan Morgan and Arturo Balderrama. Mantecón’s translations include poems of Ferrer LerÃn as well as poetry and prose of the mad Spanish poeta maldito, Leopoldo MarÃa Panero (Like an Eye in the Hand of a Beggar, Editions Michel Eyquem, 2013). He is currently translating work of the Mexican infrarrealista poet Mario Santiago Papasquiaro. Mantecón was born in Laredo, Texas and raised in Detroit, Michigan. His poetry has appeared in La Ventana Abierta, Poetry Now and various anthologies. A collection of his short stories, Memories, Cuentos VerÃdicos, y Otras Outright Lies, was published by En Casa in 2014.  Mantecón’s notes with regard to today’s program follow:…
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Cuban style son with timba and folkloric strains cooked up by percussionist Sandor Moss y su mecanica… From Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba — Fito Reinoso, tres & vocals “El Niche” Romero, trumpet & vocals From Havana, Cuba – Vladimir Cepeda, congas From Bolivia — Gabriel Navia, bass From Nicaragua — Sandor Moss, drumset A proud Mariel, Fito Reinoso has been in the states since 1980 and in San Francisco for thirty years or more.  With a voice reminiscent of Beny Moré, Fito handles timba, son and the latest Havana grooves with equal mastery.  He has worked with top players through a long professional career that began at age 12 in Candekaria, Pinar Del Rio, which has seen him playing with such legends as Francisco Aguabella, Armando Peraza, Carlos “Patato” Valdez and Israel Lopez “Cachao”, Mayquel Gonvalez and Jose Luis Gomez, among many others. Dileivys “El Niche” Romero — like Fito, coming from…
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Time to revisit some music released in that fabled year, 1967! Lincoln Adler, sax Scott Foster, guitar Mike Bordelon, bass Dan Foltz, drums Unbelievably wonderful jazz guaranteed
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ARCANA BOIL! – Concert and Reading in celebration of the Shuffle Boil Special Issue of AMERARCANA – featuring Hafez Modirzadeh, David Boyce, Marshall Trammell. The latest issue of AMERARCANA is guest edited by poets Steve Dickison and the late, great David Meltzer, erstwhile editors of SHUFFLE BOIL: A Magazine of Poets and Music, and consists of 160 pages of writing by Bill Berkson, David Boyce, Brandon Brown, Gerald Bryant (interviewed by Julie Rogers), Garrett Caples, Ornette Coleman (interviewed by Howard Shore and Zan Stewart), Justin Desmangles, Steve Dickison, Patrick James Dunagan, Howard Eiland, Stephen Emerson, Owen Hill, Ted Joans, Alastair Johnston, Andrew Joron, Ava Koohbor, Oliver Lake, Marina Lazzara, Brian Lucas, Francois Luong, Nathaniel Mackey, Jake Marmer, David Meltzer, Hafez Modirzadeh, Jason Morris, Joseph Noble, Linda Norton, Maryam Ivette Parhizkar, Julien Poirier, Rod Roland, Chris Stroffolino, and Marshall R. Trammell; with artwork by Alex Cruz, George Herms, and Julie Ezelle…
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Classic, Outlaw & Honky Tonk Music by legends of the Bay Area country scene  Joe Goldmark, pedal steel guitar Mitch Polzak, lead guitar and vocal Hank Maninger, bass guitar and vocal Kenny Owen, drums
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Drummer Otto Huber brought us this project, his organ trio sans organ this afternoon, with Sean Williams on guitar and Parker Grant on piano, swinging hard on material that echoes the work of such jazz legends as John Patton, George Benson and Jack McDuff. Otto was raised in Chicago and early on steered to the Jazz Showcase in the Blackstone Hotel, where he heard countless top flight jazz performers. He became serious about drumming and started studying orchestral percussion to prepare himself for studies at Northern Illinois University where he received a Bachelor of Music. Otto drove into Oakland CA in 1998, and says he’s been a happy local ever since. Here, he’s played with the likes of Cody Anderson, Brenda Boykin, Jamie Brewer, Gary Brown, Steve Carter, Michael Coleman, Delta Wires, Tod Dickow, Sharman Duran, Brandon Essex, Lorenzo Farrell, Ben Flint, Jesse Foster, Evan Francis, Herb Geller, Aaron Germain,…
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Trumpeter Erik Jekabson has built a substantial and well-earned reputation as one of the very best trumpet players in the region. He’s got five cds out under his own name, has spent time on the road with Illinois Jacquet, John Mayer, Galactic, and the Howard Fishman Quartet, and has performed at such notable venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Algonquin Room, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Madison Square Garden, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman. As an arranger and composer, he’s written for both vocalists (Madeleine Peyroux, Ani DiFranco, Jane Krakowski, Jackie Ryan, Kenny Washington, Madeline Eastman, Kellye Gray, Sandy Cressman, Raz Kennedy, Shanna Carlson) and instrumental ensembles. (San Francisco Symphony, the Stanford Jazz Orchestra, the Realistic Orchestra, the California State University East Bay Jazz Ensemble, the SF Composers Orchestra and his own Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, which plays every Sunday at Doc’s Lab…
Read MoreThe pianist Grant Levin and bassist Giulio Cetto have been developing a fruitful collaboration for the past several months, striking out in new directions each outing. Don’t miss Grant’s twice-monthly duo sessions at Bird & Beckett. Every 2nd and 4th Saturday from 4 to 6 pm. They’re already going down in the annals of the San Francisco jazz scene as legendary.
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Noel Jewkes, everybody’s favorite tenor player, fronts a terrific rhythm section — leader Ollie Dudek on bass, Jeffrey Burr on guitar and James Gallagher on drums — doing what jazz musicians do best. Classic and obscure tunes beautifully interpreted, embellished and plumbed to their depths.
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Sorry, we’ll work with the artists to set a new date in the fall for this… _________ McCabe & Mrs. Miller, a collaboration of Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Monks of Doom) and Alison Faith Levy (The Sippy Cups, The Loud Family), blend their voices in the tradition of classic duets; their songwriting styles mesh into a fine mix of blues, folk, and country. McCabe & Mrs. Miller’s performance of Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” at Berkeley’s Pegasus Books First Person Singular Series in July of 2011 was characterized by the duo as a highlight of their musical work, and was well received, with accolades from Greil Marcus. The March 9th Bird & Beckett go round was set to be the duo’s third staging of “Debts No Honest Man Can Pay,” followed by a set of original material from the pair’s album, “Time For Leaving,” and a musical surprise or two. A…
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Bassist Greg D’Augelli and drummer Mark Lee join pianist Grant Levin for two sets of jazz. For good reason, Grant has gained a substantial following at Bird & Beckett and other San Francisco jazz venues for his astonishingly fluid and creative work.
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Buster Baer reads from Electric Cool Jelly. He notes, I wrote most of the book over the Summer of 2015. It was the only way I could keep my head on my shoulders. Then by the end of the Summer I got the wild idea to collect up everything I’d written, format it, and get it printed. Thus, Electric Cool Jelly was born. I got the name from a vision that haunted me when I was 17, in which everything was lava lamp goo that shot lasers. It cost $300 to get 100 copies. Over the year that followed I sold them to everyone I came in contact with. My parent’s friends, my friends, my friend’s parents. Until eventually I moved to San Francisco leaving all but two copies of my book in Los Angeles. One copy will never leave me, its the only copy I have of my own…
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Pianist Keith Saunders’ formative years in jazz happened in Los Angeles, and then came a quarter century making up Keith’s New York years, notably centered around the New York HardBop Quintet, an outfit he co-led which had an eight year run, touring extensively and recording four cds, two of them with Rudy Van Gelder at the controls, one with the great Mickey Roker on the drums. When not with the quintet, he was working with top musicians including Richie Cole, Frank Wess and Hank Crawford. In his work, Keith pays deep homage to Bud Powell and flows on from there. Keith migrated to the Bay Area in 2010 and he’s been a key jazz pianist in these parts since. On a scene with more than its share of fantastic keyboard talents, Keith is at the very top echelon. The cats he works with are likewise fabulous, making ours one of…
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Don got his start in L.A. in the 1950s, traveling for several years as a member of the Bud Shank Quartet and put in 30 years with the SF Symphony as well… Tonight, he’s joined by Al Molina, trumpet; Jerry Logas, reeds and Kris Gustafson, drums.
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Allison Lovejoy performs with Greg Stephens on trombone, Bing Nathan on bass and Randy Lee Odell on drums. Read up on Allison’s career in classical music and her cabaret projects at this link.
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Your donation to the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project helps us pay for a multitude of operating expenses necessary to present, promote and preserve local music, poetry, and more.
Help us keep the arts alive and thriving!
The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project was created in 2007 "to present, document and archive the creative work of significant living writers and musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, for a neighborhood audience and future generations," continuing the work we began when the store was established in 1999.
We continue to present a full slate of programming of live music and poetry readings, and produce a literary journal and poetry chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support by way of donations.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above. Better yet, make a check out to the “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” and drop it off or mail it to:
Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
Call us at (415) 586-3733 to find out how else you might lend your support.
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We're immensely appreciative of Jazz in the Neighborhood for having stepped in as our temporary fiscal sponsor for a few months, while we straightened out some paperwork to get nonprofit status restored to the BBCLP. We're happy to say that's been done, and all past, present, and future donations made directly to the BBCLP are fully tax-deductible!
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The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
Our events are put on under the umbrella of the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (the "BBCLP"). That's how we fund our ambitious schedule of 300 or so concerts and literary events every year.
The BBCLP is a [Read More ]
The Independent Musicians Alliance
Gigging musicians! You have nothing to lose but your lack of a collective voice to achieve fair wages for your work!
The IMA can be a conduit for you, if you join in to make it work.
https://www.independentmusiciansalliance.org/
Read more here - Andy Gilbert's Feb 25 article about the IMA from KQED's site
