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!
Refresh your browser to catch a show in progress!
Visit our Facebook page or YouTube channel!
But nothing beats being in the room with the music & the musicians!
Two sets of interplay between one of the best young jazz piano players we’ve ever heard, and a bassist whose skills, talent and reputation have been solidly established in these parts for decades. Kash Killion is a San Francisco based cellist, bassist, sarangist, vocalist, and composer, who began his professional music career at age ten. Kash is a visionary musician who stretches the boundaries of what one would expect from string instruments. He hears the cello as a bass, a violin, a guitar, a saxophone, and a piano, and he seeks to share that with his listeners. He strives to put the string instruments in unusual situations and play any style of music and make it sound authentic. His focus is to create something unique, and from that his music and CDs have wide appeal, as there is something for everyone to enjoy. Kash records and performs with various ethnic…
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Trumpet player Al Molina, reed player Jerry Logas and drummer Vinnie Rodriguez join bassist Don Prell for two generous sets of live jazz. Decades of professional experience and tons of improvisational skill on the bandstand tonight. Don first made his mark on the jazz scene in the 1950s, when he was an integral part of the Los Angeles area activity that centered on Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach (where so-called “West Coast Jazz” was born, developed, codified and made world famous), as well as the Central Avenue clubs where African-American musicians dominated the scene, clubs including The Hague in downtown Los Angeles, and many other storied venues. Don was the bassist in the hugely successful Bud Shank Quartet, along with pianist Claude Williamson and drummer Chuck Flores, making several records and touring internationally to great acclaim. He was also in a handful of movies you may well remember, generally…
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Thursday, October 6th, 8-10 pm. Parris Bertolucci on keys and Randy Lee Odell on drums join phenomenal guitarist, singer and blues composer, GG Amos for two sets of blues solidly in the West Coast tradition. West Coast blues was spawned in the 1940s by an African American population influx to the West Coast, drawn by employment in the shipyards and plants that sprang up with the U.S.’s entry into World War II. GG was raised in Sacramento, and was drawn at an early age to the blues of Lowell Fulson, Jimmy McCracklin, T-Bone Walker and others. Later, she came under the tutelage and influence of the great Johnny Heartsman. It’s a wonderful and unique tradition, and GG is a fabulous proponent of it. Canyon moonlight series: Americana music — soul, country, blues and more — every Thursday night at Bird & Beckett.
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Avotcja Jerry Ferraz Francisco Herrera Genny Lim Kaylah Marin Kim Shuck Bill Vartnaw Nellie Wong plus open mic! Stars of Bay Area Poetry read to benefit KPFA! More headliners as they confirm, so stay tuned! Don’t touch that dial! KPFA is crucial always, particularly in these trying times. Help them get through a dire financial crisis! Bring your checkbook, or contact the station directly.
Read MoreSunday night, 8-10 pm. October 2nd No cover charge on Sundays, but please bring your money anyway. Musicians must eat, cover charge or no. Lavish them with your cash, it can’t hurt! In this instance,  accompanying picture notwithstanding, no horn. R.I.P. Terrance. Tell Howie we said “hi.” Count Bill in on that sentiment, I bet. Henry doing ok? Mary? Miss you all. Halloween comin’. Y’all should visit! It’d be fun. We’d invite Blanche! Anyway, piano trio tonight, led by Grant Levin. Grant Levin, piano Chris Amberger, bass Mark Lee, drums The art of the trio: sublime. Just the ticket for a San Francisco Sunday night. Hear jazz as it is played in San Francisco in 2016. You won’t regret it.
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7:30-10 pm. Saturday, October 1st. $10 cover charge. “Melody is the knife that cuts through to truth. Then there is the importance of breath, and personal expression.†— Michael Coleman. In the early 1990s, Ben Goldberg made a mark with his New Klezmer Trio (which included Dan Seamans– see last night’s Lost Trio booking). He’s been productive ever since. Associations include Tin Hat and a batch of other aggregations, like Ben Goldberg School, Go Home, Unfold Ordinary Mind, etc.,. etc. The Ben Goldberg Trio includes Kenny Wollesen, the third leg of the erstwhile New Klezmer Trio. Invisible Guy is its own thing. Come find out. Principally, it’s three musicians making music together as suits them. Hamir Atwal is in it.  He’s a Berklee College of Music graduate, has played with Joe Lovano, Greg Osby, Grant Stewart and many more, including all the best local cats, etc., etc. None like him.…
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Of course you don’t know what to make of it! Even David’s just guessing! But get down here and find out!! Take it from San Francisco Poet Laureate emeritus Diane di Prima, who calls Meltzer “one of the secret treasures on our planet. Great poet, musician, comic; mystic unsurpassed, performer with few peers.†Few peers, but some damned worthy associates for sure! Kudos to Les Gottesman, poet & publisher, whose Omerta Press is being justly celebrated with a series of six readings in September and October here and at Green Arcade, including this one.
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Mississippi born, San Francisco soul! Vocalist Derek Evans with his band featuring Joe Lococo, guitar; Willie Riser, bass; Elvis Johnson, drums Derek Evans’ love of music dates back to his early childhood in Hickory, Mississippi. He remembers sitting beside his grandmother as she sang and played the piano, leading the inspirational choir in the soul-stirring spirituals delivered every Sunday to the congregation of the True Light Baptist Church. Later, as a teenager, Derek drew inspiration from the blend of church and secular music created by Ray Charles. On reaching San Francisco, Derek plunged head first into the region’s rich musical diversity, embracing styles of music from soul to country, funk to jazz, rock n’ roll to deep blues. He’s collaborated with the friends and fellow musicians sharing the stage with him here many times over the years, and they know just what it takes to feed the fire. A soulful singer…
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Bird & Beckett presents The John Calloway Jazz Quartet John Calloway, flute Murray Low, piano David Flores, drums Alex Farrell, bass The quartet, led by JC, the Jazz Commissioner himself, will play latin & straight ahead tunes, jazz standards and originals, celebrating the release of John’s astonishingly powerful new cd, Asere Ko, recorded in Havana and San Francisco with top Cuban and Bay Area musicians including pianists Oscar Hernandez and Mark Levine, percussionists Jesus Diaz and Edgardo Cambon,  vocalist Destani Wolf, and a dozen more! Quoth El Killer de la Salsa: Uno de los músicos mas respetados y virtuosos de los últimos tiempos en el mundo del Jazz y la música Afrocubana es sin duda alguna John Calloway, musico magnifico, Multi – Instrumentista la Flauta y la percusión son la parte esencial de este majestuoso trabajo que presenta en este 2016 titulado “Asere Ko” es fiel a su profundo amor…
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The very heart of Bird & Beckett’s music programming is this seasoned group of jazz professionals including the wonderful, gracious and charming vocalist Dorothy Lefkovits. We opened the store in 1999, hosted the occasional jazz concert on weekend afternoons, and then in October 2002 began to present jazz every single Friday evening, with saxophonist Chuck Peterson at the helm. Along came Dorothy with her own group (the late Henry Irvin on guitar, Bishu Chatterjee on bass and the late Jimmy Ryan on drums) for some Sunday afternoon shows, and eventually a full merger of talents was accomplished.  Now, we present Chuck’s band with Dorothy on vocals the fourth Friday of every month. No better way to ease out of the work week and into the weekend then to enjoy a few hours in their company.
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8 to 10 pm. No cover. Thursday, September 29. Every Thursday night, it’s time for B&B’s canyon moonlight series… Amerarcana from soul to surf, rock to rockabilly, country to crooning, cast iron or otherwise… no one does it better than your own local musicians, and nowhere do they do it better than they do it at Bird & Beckett.
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Moonshine Maybelline makes its debut Bird & Beckett appearance Thursday, September 22nd, playing their own gorgeous brand of glamorous honky tonk. Like a siren from the shore, this band will lure you in with spellbinding ballads, mesmerize you with moody soundscapes, and crash your broken heart into their country-rock. Sparks flew and Moonshine Maybelline was born when Catherine Foreman added her songs and her vocals to the guitar and bass of twang-rockers Bob Spector and Ted O’Connell, long adored locally for the country rave-ups of their band, The GoldDiggers.  Moonshine Maybelline’s lineup was solidified with the addition of Ian Taylor Sutton on pedal steel and drummer Steve Pearson. Introduced to the world with a live performance on college radio leader KALX, they earned a spot on KALX’s “Best of 2014†list and scored a SXSW showcase opening for hometown favorite Chuck Prophet. The band continues to shine on the local scene…
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Our current run started Thursday, the 8th, with HowellDevine. the fabulous delta blues trio, in our weekly canyon moonlight Americana series (blues, soul, country, rockabilly) series and continued Friday, the 9th with our weekly jazz in the bookshop party featuring Voz do Brasil, the fabulous Club Deluxe Sunday night house band that showcases vocalist Liza Silva… and on it goes! Saturday, September 10th, two shows:  Grant Levin Duo (4-6 pm) and the Noel Jewkes Quartet (7:30-10 pm). An astonishingly talented young pianist and a legendary, much adored elder of the tenor saxophone take the stage as leaders in turn. Jazz as it’s played in San Francisco in 2016! Proof positive of its vital relevance and sheer joy. In the evening (7:30-10 pm), Noel’s quartet date features Grant on piano along with bassist Greg D’Augelli and drummer Jeff Minnieweather. Greg is Grant’s duo partner earlier in the afternoon (4-6 pm).  Grant plays his duo…
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SUPPORT BIRD & BECKETT - DONATE TODAY!
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." We've been doing that very thing for more than a decade and a half, 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 through our fiscal sponsor, Jazz in the Neighborhood.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above. Better yet, send or drop off a check made out to our fiscal sponsor, Jazz in the Neighborhood, with BBCLP in the memo line. Our mailing address is:
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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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
