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!
Mutual Aid Literary Reading In Solidarity with a Palestinian Family in Gaza featuring writing by Munira El Najar and Dr. Hassan Al Qatrawy. Bay Area writers and educators will read works that have been shared with us by Munira El Najar, one of Palestine’s most highly acclaimed teachers, and Dr. Hassan Al Qatrawy, celebrated author and university lecturer. All funds raised at the event will directly support Munira, Dr. Hassan, and their four children. Donations can be made at our event and also at this link. Doors for the event will open at 7pm for the reading, which will begin at 7:30pm. Reservations are available for those with mobility considerations. Masking is welcome if desired, and masks will be available at the event. Munira El Najar has written the following paragraphs for an online fundraiser that has been established to help her and her family: My name is Munira El Najar, an…
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Chiara Izzi, vocals. Michael Potter, piano. Alan Jones, bass. $20 cover charge; byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Chiara Izzi arrived in New York City from Italy in 2014, three years after Quincy Jones awarded her first prize in the 2011 Montreux Jazz Festival Vocal Competition. Chiara has said of Quincy Jones, “Having him as the judge…was the luckiest moment of my life. As a young singer, his whispered words, ‘Sister, you are very, very talented,’ made me feel like I belonged. His invitation to move to the U.S. to refine my craft opened my mind to bigger possibilities, encouraging me to take that leap; a leap that was anything but easy, coming from a small town where it’s hard to even think of making a living through music or art. Her career has blossomed in America, and she’s well regarded as a refined interpreter of jazz traditions and contemporary styles,…
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Caroline Julia Cabading, vocals. Raymond Bambao, bass. Harold Ohashi, drums. Chris Planas, guitar. Roy Brown, piano. $25 cover charge, cash or venmo / byob. Students and teens $10. Kids free. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. The Autonomous Region was founded in the spring of 2015 as the house band for the International Hotel Manilatown Center’s Club Mandalay, a community-driven pop-up jazz club in San Francisco’s Chinatown/North Beach district built on the footprint of the historic I-Hotel. Established to provide family-friendly and affordable live music, spoken word, and dance performances, the ensemble quickly became a cornerstone of the Center’s cultural programming. Led by vocalist/composer Caroline Julia Cabading, Autonomous is “thrilled to be returning to Bird & Beckett to provide an evening of vocal-driven jazz standard favorites,” and we’re thrilled and honored to host their return! For more information about The Autonomous Region please visit www.theautonomousregion.com and for information about the…
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Music is a universal language, and guitarist Jinx Jones is one of its great polyglots. His rockabilly guitar genius is widely acclaimed and well-ingrained in the West Coast & North Beach San Francisco consciousness, but it’s his abiding affection for jazz that we at Bird & Beckett love most. Audiences far and wide can now find him in either mode these days, with his jazz trio and jazz duo popping up in his regional touring schedule with ever increasing regularity. Check his website at jinxjones.com to find him at a venue near you. With Ken Owen on drums and Kenan O’Brien on bass, Jinx offers gorgeous and spunky glosses on the work of jazz masters including Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, Barney Kessell, Freddie Green, you name ’em. He’s soaked up the jazz canon. And channeling it through his nimble fingers, he’s offered it up time and…
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Art Goodtimes, American poet, farmer and Colorado politician, celebrates his 80th birthday with a reading. No charge; just good will and high spirits.
Read More…..Saturday, June 21st, 5-6pm: Art Goodtimes, American poet, farmer and Colorado politician, celebrates his 80th birthday with a reading. No charge; just good will and high spirits. …..Saturday, June 21st, 7:30-9:30pm: The Jinx Jones Trio. Jinx plays a lot of guitar! He’s a rockabilly guy, Colorado born, and a keen aficionado of soulful jazz virtuosos from Charlie Christian to Wes Montgomery, Barney Kessel to Grant Green, whose solid trio relies on the double KO talents of Kenan O’Brien and Ken Owen. You’ll be charmed and mesmerized and more than a little delighted. $20, byob. …..Sunday, June 22nd, 5-6pm: Julie Rogers, Sarah Menefee, Lisbet Bailey, Cathleen Williams – four revolutionary-sassy-sage-activist-service-blessed poets, goils who’ve been around the block and back, who meet to write on a regular basis and will finally meet to read, rant, chant, weep & laugh with you. No charge, donations welcome. Books will be available. …..and…
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The Fred Randolph Quintet! Bassist Fred Randolph summons the troops to occupy your jazz head: Ian Carey, trumpet; Sheldon Brown, saxes/flute; Murray Low, piano; Brian Fishler, drums. 90 high octane minutes of jazz from a clever & nimble composer & first-call bassist cum bandleader, fronting a first-class quintet for the first night of summer! Adults: $25, byob. Teens & undergrads, $10. Kids who aren’t already in bed, free! Reservations, 415-586-3733, as always.
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Henry Hung, trumpet & flugelhorn. Scott Foster, guitar. John Wiitala, bass. Dan Foltz, drums. Adults – $20 / byob. Teens/undergrads – $10. Cash, please! Kids free. For a reservation and information, please call the shop at 415-586-3733. Tonight, the Scott Foster Quartet channels the Jim Hall/Art Farmer collaborations, with Scott on guitar joined by Henry Hung on trumpet and flugelhorn, John Wiitala on bass and Dan Foltz on drums. When not entranced by John Scofield, Scott is helpless before the mastery of Jim Hall, and just as a few dates back he explored the Jim Hall/Sonny Rollins collaborations with the same bass/drums rhythm section and Bob Kenmotsu on tenor, this month he turns his attention to another intuitively perfect and perfectly worked out pairing of Jim Hall with a master of the flugelhorn and trumpet, Art Farmer. Henry Hung digs in to the art of Art, manor born to the…
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Thursday, June 19th, 7:30-9pm: Walker Talks! In his monthly live stream, Walker Brents III plumbs a sliver of Jaime de Angulo’s storied career—cowpoke, daemonic scholar, gatherer of mystic word-lore among the Achumawi around Alturas, he-who-rolled-in-ditches-with-shamans. Legendary bohemian bay area presence, Big Sur hermit and socialite. Aged Chinatown cross dresser, Robert Duncan his amanuensis. Inspirer of free-thinkers, anthropologists and poets across generations. Gary Snyder commends de Angulo as “a lavengro, a language-spirit-master.” His linguistic writings are primary sources of a great deal of material that would otherwise be long lost. He is also one of the greatest storytellers, so far, who has ever lived. His recitations of spoken tales, on KPFA radio in the late 1940s, are classics of their kind, gifting the American vernacular with mythic figures of archaic vitality. No audience in the shop for these talks, though if you tap on the window we’ll likely let you in…
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Noel Jewkes, reeds & flute. Ben Stolorow, piano. Peter Barshay, bass. Vince Lateano, drums. $20 cover (adults) / byob. ~~cash please!~~ teens/undergrads – $10. kids free. To reserve seats, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Noel Jewkes is celebrating his 85th birthday this week, and we’re celebrating his six and a half decades as a force on the Bay Area jazz scene. Vince Lateano, who has a solid six decades in, leads his trio with Noel as special guest today at 5pm. You can catch Vince’s trio at Bird & Beckett on the third Sunday of each month, and they’re also here the last Sunday of each month hosting one of the Bay Area’s most enjoyable jam sessions. Read jazz journalist Andy Gilbert’s recent piece on Noel here: This Richmond barber shop turns into a jazz club after hours
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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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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.
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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
