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!
A wonderful run of shows ahead! Please bring cash for the cover charge, and something to drink, if you like. Call to reserve a seat: 415-586-3733. Teens pay a reduced price, typically $10. Kids free and welcome. …..Thursday, June 12th, 7:30-9pm: The sitar/tabla duo of Srinivas Reddy and Ferhan Qureshi, $20. …..Friday, June 13th, 6-8pm: Eric & the In Crowd, with Eric Shifrin on piano and vocals; Simon Planting, bass; Randy Lee Odell, drums, $20. …..Friday, June 13th, 8:30-10pm: Rick Brown’s Deep State Jazz Quartet, with Rick on trombone; Jeremy Leber, piano; Carl Herder, bass; Chris Cortez, drums, $20. …..Saturday, June 14th, 7:30-9:30pm: Carlo Rabano’s Chordless Trio, with Carlo on trombone; Alan Jones, bass; Miles Turk, drums, $20. …..Sunday, June 15th, 5-7pm: Saxophonist Noel Jewkes with the Vince Lateano Trio — Ben Stolorow, piano; Peter Barshay, bass; Vince Lateano, drums. We’re celebrating Noel’s 85th birthday three days early! Don’t miss…
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An all too rare opportunity to hear classical music in the lovely acoustic chamber that is Bird & Beckett. Janet Popesco Archibald’s Lowell Ensemble will perform works of American classical composers . Re-think any conflicting plans and reserve your seat now, by calling the bookshop at 415-586-3733. Leslie Chin, flute. Vicky Ehrlich, cello. Janet Popesco Archibald, oboe and English horn. Karen Hutchinson, piano. $20 admission at the door; cash, please. Bring something to sip if you like. You’ll find the performance archived on our facebook page and youtube channel, at the links below. But you should note that the sound doesn’t start until Janet is beginning her introduction a little before the 5 minute mark in the video. To view it on our facebook page, use this link: https://www.facebook.com/bird.and.beckett/videos/the-lowell-ensemble/1070492654962414. Remember to scoot 5 minutes in to catch the end of Janet’s introductions and the start of the music! On our…
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Jenna Littlejohn, producer of the SFLives Project, interviews Ramsey Robinson, a mental health social worker and longtime organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). The livestream can be found on Bird & Beckett’s website, as well as on its YouTube channel and Facebook page. Robinson has dedicated his life to organizing with others to gain the economic and political power to bring about a society where, along with our basic necessities, we can all survive and thrive. He organizes and fights back with the PSL wherever war, racism, poverty, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia and environmental destruction are present, specifically in the Bayview/Hunters Point community of San Francisco and across California. The SFLives Project, a series of candid conversations with San Francisco’s artists, activists and free thinkers, was conceived as a print media column by Denise Sullivan for the San Francisco Examiner where it ran from 2018-2022, then transitioned into a live-streamed conversation, produced by…
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Lincoln Adler, saxophone Scott Foster, guitar Kurt Ribak, bass with special guest Scott Larson on trombone! $20 cash or venmo at the door; byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733 Kurt Ribak is a pretty big guy, and a giant on the San Francisco jazz scene. One of the best established bassists in these parts, he’s fresh off an engagement at SFJazz. Chris Cortez, a KCSM disc jockey and drummer, has had this to say about Kurt, “Kurt’s ability to take you on a journey from the deepest waters of the Caribbean to the funky alleys of the urban jungle in one listening makes him a truly gifted original in my book.” Tonight, Kurt will deliver two sets of original music and more, in the company of jazz colleagues that we hold in high esteem. We’ll let Kurt speak for the band, and…
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Join us for an unforgettable evening of jazz with drummer Sheldon Alexander’s quintet. He has a passel of original tunes to play, and always builds a top-flight combo for any occasion. A sought-after sideman for many, many gigs, he’s also passionately developing his own unique projects. Prepare to be captivated by an extraordinary ensemble under the leadership of a young, but by now solidly established & brilliant star in the Bay Area jazz firmament. Kelyn Crapp, guitar Nico Colucci, tenor sax Morgan Harrison, piano Alan Jones, bass Sheldon Alexander, drums $25 cover charge (cash, please); byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Here’s video of a past date with Sheldon’s quintet playing John Coltrane’s “Naima” at Bird & Beckett two years ago:
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Joel Behrman, trumpet. Tod Dickow, saxophone. Matt Clark, piano. Jeff Saxton, bass. Greg Gotelli, drums. $25 cover per adult; byob. $10 teens and students. Kids free. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Tonight, the San Francisco Jazz Quintet brings to you the classic composers of the hard bop genre, as well as the best of the Great American Songbook. They’ll be performing the compositions of Sonny Clark, Lee Morgan, Tadd Dameron, Kenny Dorham, and Clifford Brown to name but a few. The San Francisco Jazz Quintet delivers a dynamic, horn driven sound that stays true to the exciting music that made the hard bop genre some of the greatest, most loved jazz in the world. The San Francisco Quintet’s engagement at Bird & Beckett this evening is subsidized by Jazz in the Neighborhood, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that supports the growth of live jazz in the Bay Area, focused…
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Jessica Loos’s work verges on performance art, channeling a strain of poetic tradition steeped in surrealism, dada and the best of Charles Bukowski. She’s a member of The Living Theatre and a collage artist as well, and organizes the poetry for the North Beach First Friday Artwalk and the North Beach Festival. Never satisfied, she also puts on readings, often with live music, at Specs Bar in Adler Alley opposite City Lights, and in Kerouac Alley between City Lights and Vesuvio opposite Specs–not to mention on Upper Grant Street on the sidewalk in front of Macchiarini Creative Design on the North Beach First Fridays. Cara Vida left a life among the suits long ago to find a dizzying and earthy reality. With a carney’s purity, she utilizes a collage technique in her poetry that digs truth from the rubble-strewn wasteland of the news-entertainment-advertising-industrial complex. She’s the real deal! An open…
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…..6/5 at 7pm, donations appreciated: Poets Jessica Loos and Cara Vida followed by an open mic. ….6/6 at 6pm, $25: San Francisco Quintet w/Joel Behrman, trumpet; Todd Dickow, tenor sax Matt Clark, piano; Jeff Saxton, bass; Greg Gotelli, drums. …..6/6 at 8:30pm, $20: The Sheldon Alexander Quartet w/Sheldon Alexander, drums; additional personnel tba. …..6/7 at 7:30pm, $20: Kurt Ribak Trio w/Lincoln Adler, saxophone; Scott Foster, guitar; Kurt Ribak, bass. …..6/8 at 5pm, $20: The Lowell Ensemble w/Leslie Chin, flute; Vicky Ehrlich, cello; Janet Popesco Archibald, oboe and English horn; Karen Hutchinson, piano.
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Monthly First Sundays Student Combo & Jam Session* This afternoon at 5pm, a quartet from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music kicks off the music with a 45 minute set Don’t be late! Kira Agrell, saxophone; Emmett Van Leer, piano; Alan Jones, bass; and Tania Cosma, drums Following their set, the combo hosts a student-oriented jam session open to all ———————- Sunday, 6/1 at 8pm, $20 Michael Parsons & Danny Brown laissez les bons temps rouler! Michael’s back from a decade-long sojourn in Paris and New Orleans and Danny’s ready to pull out the stops! ________________ * A side note: We need a few folks to step up as philanthropic benefactors to fund these first-Sunday student sessions! None of our shows, including these, happen without payments to musicians and attendant expenses, but on a Sunday afternoon, our audiences like to come and go without being pressed for a cover charge.…
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Saturday, 5/31 at 7:30pm, $20 Double Scorpio takes it out & deep! Darren Johnston peace cannon Marcus Stephens tenor saxophone Sam Bevans, contrabass Michael Mitchell, drums Reserve a seat, 415-202-4870 byob
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The Pepe Jacobo Latin Jazz Quartet Marco Diaz, piano Jason Muscat, bass Mike Ramirez, congas Pepe Jacobo, drums
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Jairo Vargas, aka Rojai, aka Mr. Jairo, is one kool customer for sure. New album — “At Your Service” — on the way! Always a surprise in store! Skool’s out and summer’s coming on fast, so get a jump on it! Kids welcome and free. Teens pay ten bucks. Adults pay twenty and are responsible for their own libations! When Mr. Kool and his gang leave the stage at 8, the taqueria & the pizza joint & win garden will still be serving up good grub and there’ll still be light in the kanyun, so make tracks to chenery street at six! Summer’s upon us now!
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Sunday at 5, catch four goils from the Northern California watershed, poets & buddies from a ways back… Lisbet Bailey, Cathleen Williams, Sarah Menefee and Julie Rogers. A quick blow out! deep, profound, sassy and unfiltered, and then it’s on to the jazz at 7pm–this time, of the Filipino kulintang persuasion… Autonomous Region, a quintet led by Caroline Cabading–house band of the Club Mandalay at the I-Hotel Manilatown Heritage Center. Grab a quesabirria taco or some chow fun twixt the poetry and the jazz, and reclaim your seat in the bookshop for a wondrous good time! Marian Dalere will tell you, this is joyous & righteous. Happy Birthday, Marian! Here’s some music while you mark your calendar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ_NyEVHms8&list=RDAtu2_x_KW80&index=8, unrelated, except insofar as it’s great jazz music! Thanks to Black America for bequeathing this music to the world! To hear Autonomous Region, come to the show!
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Have you heard the one about the ghostwriter who walks into the afterlife? Samantha Rose’s book, Giving up the Ghost: A Daughter’s Memoir (Sybelline Digital First, 2025) is the highly personal work of a professional ghostwriter, stepping forward with her own story to unravel the mystery of her mother’s suicide, wrestling and jousting with the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship. “Raw, resilient, and with surprising humor, Giving Up the Ghost explores the layered complexity of mental health, the love between mothers and daughters and how, in the aftermath of inconceivable loss, we can release our inner ghosts and write a new story for ourselves.” May 29th at Bird & Beckett, Samantha will engage in conversation on our stage with her colleague, the writer Susannah Kennedy (Reading Jane: A Daughter’s Memoir. Sybelline Press, 2023) to map the path she’s taken in telling her own, and her mother’s, tale. Call the shop…
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Isaiah Javier came out of Heritage High School in Brentwood, burning to play jazz at a high level–which he’s been doing handily. At 17, he spent a week at the Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony and two weeks at Lincoln Center’s Summer Jazz Academy. Now, he’s been studying at Berklee School of Music back east and has brought top-flight combos into Bird & Beckett twice in the past year and a half. On his summer break, he’s returning for a third booking, this time with Daveed Behroozi, piano; Giulio Xavier Cetto, bass; Louis Sweatt, drums. Modern jazz and originals. $20 cover charge; byob. Below is video of Isaiah’s last Bird & Beckett show.
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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
