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653 Chenery Street in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood
Open to walk-in trade and browsing Tuesday to Sunday noon to six
phone: 1-415-586-3733 email: [email protected]
Idris Ackamoor, alto saxophone. Bobby Cobb, saxophone. Skyler Stover, bass. Donald Robinson, drums. $25 cover charge; byob. Students $10; Kids free. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Idris Ackamoor is a giant in the music of jazz and has been since the 1970s. From Oberlin College (where Cecil Taylor instilled the magnificence of jazz in his students) to Paris (where Donald Robinson and Idris first collaborated) and Africa (where The Pyramids fully coalesced) to San Francisco (where the Pyramids gave way to Cultural Odyssey, a project of Idris and Rhodessa Jones) to today, with the Pyramids continuing to tour internationally, Cultural Odyssey persisting and Idris’s many projects exploding in the popular consciousness, Idris only grows in stature and depth. Tonight’s quartet will set you on your ear. Don’t miss out!
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$20 cover charge / byob. Students, $10. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733 With this performance at Bird & Beckett, Stephan Crump kicks off a California tour before returning to New York. Stephan’s solo performances are engaging and intimate, celebrating his unique musicality; his solo work is crystallized on the album Rocket Love, of which Will Layman in Popmatters has said, “I am tempted to call Rocket Love my favorite solo bass recording of all time. At a minimum, it is the most varied and fun.” Memphis-bred, Grammy-nominated, Echo Award-winning bassist/composer Stephan Crump is an active bandleader with fifteen critically-acclaimed album releases and numerous film scoring contributions. Stephan’s solo performance, which explores his unique musical language through an expansive range of sonorities on the acoustic bass, is a culmination of decades of work as a bassist, composer, and improviser. From his home studio in Brooklyn, Crump released monthly solo recordings from…
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Charlie McCarthy, saxophone. Sam Cady, piano. Chuck Bennett, bass. Tony Johnson, drums. $20 suggested cover charge / byob. Students $5-$10 sliding scale. Kids free. No reservations needed. Stay for a tune, stay for two hours & two sets. Jazz is here for you at Bird & Beckett, and this band represents the legacy that the “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” aims to sustain and extend for today’s ears and tomorrow’s jazz minds. Jazz in the bookshop started in earnest in 2002, when tenor player Chuck Peterson (at left in the accompanying photo, with Tony at the drum kit, Glen Deardorff on guitar and vocalist Dorothy Lefkovitz at right) proposed that if we’d give him a weekly berth, he’d bring us experienced talent and make sure they were adequately paid — as long as we did what we could to help on that score. We taught our patrons that fair…
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Charles McNeal, alto sax. Joe Warner, piano. Ron Belcher, bass. Jemal Ramirez, drums. $20 cover charge; byob. $10 for students. For a reservation, call the bookshop at 415-586-3733. Saxophonist Charles McNeal has been a featured performer at the Monterey, San Jose, San Francisco and Telluride jazz festivals as well as the Playboy Jazz Festival (now known as the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival), and the Umbria Jazz Festival and Porretta Soul Festival in Italy. He’s performed, recorded and/or toured with: Lyle Lovett, The Headhunters w/Mike Clark and Bill Summers, Jimmy Scott, Charlie Mussellwhite, Keb Mo, John Faddis, Wynton Marsalis, James Carter, Steve Turre, McCoy Tyner, Ray Obiedo, Dave Garabaldi, Steve Turre, James Carter, Brenda Boykin, Claire Dee, Lavay Smith and the Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Barbara Morrison, Jackie Ryan, Take 6, Kirk Whalum, Nneenna Freelon, Barbara Dennerlein, Junior Mance, Bruce Forman, Mark Elf, Roberta Flack, The Temptations, Norman Conners, Jean Carne,…
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Jazzx4 + 1 Lit Talk _____ Tuesday, February 17, 7:30pm {$20} Jerome Sabbagh Trio _____ Thursday, February 19, 7:30pm, a live stream {Free} Walker Talks, on Ella Young _____ Friday, February 20, 6:00pm {$20} Scott Foster/David Phillips/Andrew Higgins/David Rokeach _____ Saturday, February 21, 7:30pm {$20} Levy / Campilongo Guitar Duo _____ Sunday, February 22, 5:00pm {$20} Jam session _____ Reserve a seat by calling the bookshop at (415) 586-3733. We’ll hold your reservation until the music starts. No advance ticket sales; plan to pay with cash at the door, and byob. _____ MORE DETAILS: Tuesday, February 17, 7:30pm – $20 cover/byob Jerome Sabbagh Trio Jerome Sabbagh, tenor sax; Essiet Okon Essiet, bass; Sylvia Cuenca, drums… Thursday, February 19, 7:30pm – donations welcome Walker Talks, a monthly live stream from the bowels of the darkened bookshop. This month, Ella Young—a California presence. An Irish revolutionary, visionary mystic, immigrant, scholar, poet and…
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Jazz players assemble for the jam session run by drummer Vince Lateano on the last Sunday of each month. Vince has been a mainstay of the jazz scene in San Francisco for 60 years and has run a succession of sessions for decades at venues including Pier 23, the Dogpatch Saloon, the Seven Mile House and Sweeties Art Bar. All are welcome. No charge to play, but a donation to help us pay the trio is always appreciated.
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Tonight, drummer Sylvia Cuenca & bassist Essiet Essiet bring us their NYC-based colleague Jerome Sabbagh for two sets of trio music. Expect them to propel Jerome to fresh heights of jazz creativity! BYOB and a twenty for the trio. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Saxophonist and composer Jerome Sabbagh was born in Paris in 1973 and has been living in Brooklyn since 1995. A prolific forward-thinking composer, as well as a musician with a deep connection to the well of the jazz tradition, he has recorded nine albums as a leader. Much more on Jerome further down this page. But first a note on his hosts. Essiet Okon Essiet’s career has included a berth in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the time leading up to the great drummer’s death in 1990, documented in two albums recorded and released in that year–Chippin’ In and One…
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The Vince Lateano trio plays every third Sunday at Bird & Beckett. Make it a habit! BYOB and a twenty for the band! Chris Aschman, guest trumpeter and steelpan player.
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Sparky Grinstead’s tunes voiced by his loving bandmates Carole Zingeser & John Rafferty, with guitars, harmonica, melodica & percussive things put to great use! BYOB and a twenty for the trio. Droll lyrics, abundant charm and vast reservoirs of love on stage! Come with your love interest, or just to share the love– It’s what the world needs, now and always! We need yours, and have love to spare! Also seats! We have seats! With cushions Call to reserve one, two or even more… 415-586-3733.
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Join us for the eighth almost-annual Black History Month tour stop at Bird & Beckett by the fantastic, joyous & profound Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, traveling out of Chicago & Detroit across the nation with forays into our neighboring sovereign nation to the north, Canada! O Canada, we could drink a case of you and still be on our feet. Come celebrate with us February 13th. Reserve your seat now (call the shop at 415-586-3733). Just a few seats left! But standing room and some stools will be available for folks without reservations, no worry! $35 cover charge for this show! BYOB and cash for the cover charge.
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Eric Shifrin, piano & vocals. Simon Planting, bass. Mark Lee, drums. $20 suggested donation; students $10; kids free. Reservations not required, but larger contingents are advised to call ahead! 415-586-3733. Eric has been working his way through the alphabet lately in his lonh-running 2nd Fridays monthly residency. He’s up to “D”! So expect a slew of songs with titles starting with the letter D! He’s been wowing the swells and swindlers, the sophisticates and the salt of the earth in the bars and boîtes, salons and saloons of San Francisco and environs for decades. Always a pleasure to hear. Come find out! Bring cash for the band, and bring a few friends! Here’s the trio from a couple years back, so get a taste and make your plans to join us at Bird & Beckett, Glen Park’s living room on Chenery Street, where we’ve been selling books and hosting live…
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Copies of Julien Poirier’s Mansions My Mouth Made (Bird & Beckett, 2025) can be had over the counter at the bookshop and via post through the online store of Impart Ink, where the thing was designed, printed, and assembled: 32 pages, hand-sewn in wrappers printed letterpress from Onyx type on Canson papers in a variety of hues. Yours will be 1 of only 100 copies ever to exist in this world, so don’t wait, or it may be too late… Come to the reading at Bird & Beckett February 12th! Julian will be joined by fellow poet Tongo Eisen-Martin, activist and San Francisco Poet Laureate Emeritus, 2021-2024.
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Poetry + Live Music! _____ Thursday, February 12, 7:30pm: Julien Poirier + Tongo Eisen-Martin [poets: book release] {free} _____ Friday, February 13, 6:00pm: Eric & the In Crowd [2nd Fridays residency] {$20 cash / byob; students $10; kids free} _____ Friday, February 13, 8:30pm: Kahil El’Zabar & the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble [On tour] {$35 cash / byob; students $10 standing room} _____ Saturday, February 14, 7:30pm: Threetles [Valentine’s Day Trio] {$20 cash / byob} _____ Sunday, February 15, 5:00pm: Vince Lateano Trio w/Chris Aschman [3rd Sundays residency] {$20 cash / byob; students $10; kids free} _____ Reserve a seat by calling the bookshop at (415) 586-3733. We’ll hold your reservation until the music starts. No advance ticket sales; plan to pay with cash at the door, and byob. _____ MORE DETAILS: Thursday, February 12, 7:30pm – doors open at 7pm free / byob Julien Poirier + Tongo Eisen-Martin…
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Poetry twice! Jazz thrice! Chamber Music eince! _____ Tuesday, February 3, 7:00pm {free}: Kim Shuck & Friends [poetry] _____ Thursday, February 5, 7:00pm {free}: Tehmina Khan & Florencia Milito [poetry with open mic] _____ Friday, February 6, 6:00pm {$20}: Jimbo Trout & the Fishpeople [ec;ectic] _____ Friday, February 6, 8:30pm {$25}: Alon Nechushtan Quintet [jazz] _____ Saturday, February 7, 7:30pm {$20}: Benny Amón’s New Orleans Pearls [trad jazz] _____ Sunday, February 8, 1:00pm: The Lowell Ensemble presents “A Musical Tour of Glen Park” A fundraising concert for Glen Park Beautiful and its project to beautify the pedestrian overpass on Bosworth at Glen Park Elementary School! info here: https://www.glenparkassociation.org/youre-invited-a-musical-tour-of-glen-park-to-benefit-glen-park-beautiful/ _____ Reserve a seat for our shows by calling the bookshop at (415) 586-3733. We’ll hold your reservation until the music starts. No advance ticket sales; plan to pay with cash at the door, and byob. NB: To attend the Glen Park Beautiful…
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Matt Renzi, reeds Jesse Levit, saxophone & EWI Alon Nechustan, piano Sam Bevan, bass Isaac Schwartz, drums $25 cover charge; byob. Students, $10. For reservations, call 415-586-3733. Alon Nechushtan’s music has brought him to corners of the globe from the Yokohama ‘Rejoicing Sounds’ Festival in Japan with his contemporary orchestral compositions, to the Manila Cultural Center of the Arts with his Clarinet Concerto for the Philippines Philharmonic Orchestra, to the Sao-Paolo Brazil Jewish Music Festival with his groove based Quintet TALAT, to Toronto and Montreal with his Words Beyond Trio and Tel Aviv New Music Biennale with his Compositions for Large Ensemble. And to Bird & Beckett with these compositions and this fine quintet. Alon has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Central Park Summer Stage, The Blue Note Jazz Club with his projects as a band leader of various groups and as an in-demand sideman. The Kennedy Center, in 2015 commissioned from Alon a…
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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," 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.
TAKE OUR SURVEY
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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
