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!
On the third Sunday of each month, we’re delighted to present the Vince Lateano Trio playing two sets, for the pure pleasure of it. Vince Lateano, drums Peter Barshay, bass Ben Stolorow, piano byob and a twenty for the trio! Vince Lateano has been a marvelous presence on the San Francisco scene since he came to the City in the mid-1960s. He quickly worked his way into the local jazz scene, playing, recording and touring with Vince Guaraldi, subbing around town for Johnny Markham when Markham went on the road with Sinatra and other major acts, and working extensively with Cal Tjader, Eddie Duran, Chet Baker, Clare Fisher and a host of others through the years… Later, all through the 1990s ’til it closed as such in 2003, he was the house drummer at Jazz at Pearl’s in North Beach, playing with his own trio several nights a week and…
Read MoreJane Lenoir, flute Ricardo Peixoto, 7-string guitar Brian Rice, pandeiro with special guest Paul Hanson, bassoon $20 cash cover charge at the door, byob Reservations, call (415) 586-3733 The Berkeley Choro Ensemble (pronounced “shoro”) is a group of world-class musicians from the SF Bay Area that made its debut in January, 2010 at the Berkeley Public Library with founding member Harvey Wainapel, presently on hiatus. The group celebrates the music, culture and history of Brazil, with a special emphasis on choro, a genre and style of music which emerged in the 1800s in Brazil, fusing the music of Brazil’s European immigrants and the native music of Brazil’s indigenous and African-Brazilian population. In particular, the choro sound is somewhat akin to a combination of European classical music, ragtime and blues. Historically, the choro style influenced Brazil’s most famous classical composer, Heitor Villa Lobos, to compose some of the world’s most hauntingly…
Read MoreFilling in for Scott Foster on his traditional third Friday booking at Bird & Beckett, we offer a stellar trio of drummer Sylvia Cuenca, bassist Peter Barshay and pianist Ben Stolorow, performing for you from 5:30 to 8:00pm.  Peter and Ben are stalwart members of Vince Lateano’s trio, which has a third-Sundays residency at Bird & Beckett throughout 2023. And this coming third Sunday (2/19), Peter will pull a double, playing with the Lateano trio at from 5 to 7pm, then anchoring a quartet date at 9pm with traveling (from Estonia) drummer Brian Melvin in the company of guitarist Brad Buethe and saxophonist Wayne De Silva. The Lateano trio, Vince, Peter & Ben, also hosts a jam session at Bird & Beckett on the last Sunday of each month from 5 to 7pm! That’s a scene to be at. Be sure to make it on 2/26! But returning to…
Read MoreBYOB and a twenty for the trio! Doors open at 7:15. Scott Amendola, a drummer, composer and bandleader who’s been a creative force on the Bay Area jazz scene and beyond for four decades, knows all about the power of subtraction. His stripped-down trio SticklerPhonics brings together long-time collaborators Raffi Garabedian on tenor saxophone and trombonist Danny Lubin-Laden, New York-seasoned improvisers who’ve worked together since their formative years in the vaunted Berkeley High Jazz Band, circa 2003, already twenty years ago! The trio has plunged into the unmediated terrain that opens up in the absence of the usual guidelines, “a situation where there’s no bass and no chords,†Amendola has said. He continues, “The sound is ever evolving. We’re really settling in. But there’s also the feeling like there are places to go. We’ve been adding my electronics and Danny bringing in a little looper. We’re just getting started.†With…
Read MoreTony Saunders on Bass & Vocals Marc Daniels Guitar Tina Bryant Keys Don Schiff Bass Larry Vann Drums $25, byob Advance reservations – 415-586-3733 You can leave your hat on! Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Tony Saunders & Co. and celebrate as well the 89th anniversary of Tony’s late father Merl Saunders’ birth. Tony grew up playing music with his father, who put him through the San Francisco Conservatory of Music studying piano, but Tony gravitated to the bass and his father launched him on a career that has included four lps as a leader and countless others as sideman, composer and producer. In the mid-1970s, Merl formed the “Aunt Monk” band with Larry Vann on drums and a young Tony on bass — in a super line up that included guitarist Chris Hayes (of Huey Lewis & the News) and saxophonist Martin Fierro (Zero). Fantasy Records released Merl Saunders…
Read Morehttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/84350265713?pwd=eE84V3BYdWxiSFBHNHhmdUt1WTUzdz09 Meeting ID: 843 5026 5713 Passcode: 244211 Robert Eugene Rubino is a retired newspaper copy editor and sports columnist who has published prose and poetry in various print and online journals. In 2016 he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in creative nonfiction and in 2022 published three collections: “Aficionado,” prose & poetry, hummingwordpress.com “Vanity Unfair,” poetry, cathexisnorthwestpress.com “Douglas Knocks Out Tyson,” poetry, rawartreview.com Born and raised in New York City, for more than 50 years he has lived in California, including Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, the Gold Country, the San Joaquin Valley and  for 30 years in the North Bay. He currently lives in Palo Alto with his wife, Terry. Karen Llagas’s new chapbook, All Of Us Are Cleaved, is recently published by Nomadic Press. Her first collection of poetry, Archipelago Dust, was published by Meritage Press in 2010. A recipient of the 2022 RHINO Founder’s Prize, Filamore Tabios, Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize, an Elizabeth George Award and…
Read MoreVocalist Raja sings jazz and blues with Dewayne Oakley
Read MoreEdward Mycue pursued graduate studies at North Texas State and Boston University, then joined the Peace Corps., training at UC Berkeley, University College in Legon, Ghana, the US Department of Agriculture graduate school in Washington, D.C. and the International Peoples College Denmark. He has led writing groups in San Francisco since the 1970s. His books include: Damage in the Community, 1973 San Francisco, CA, Panjandrum Press Root Route & Range Song Returns, 1979 Melbourne, Australia, Paper Castle Press The Singing Man My Father Gave Me, 1980 London, England, Menard Press Torn Star, 1985 Indianapolis, IN, Oberc PressEdward, 1986 Cambridge, MA, Primal Press Mindwalking, 2008 Seattle, WA, Philos Press Song of San Francisco, 2012 Peterborough, Cambs. England, Spectacular Diseases Press I Am a Fact Not a Fiction, print edition 29 Oct 2023, Wordrunner Press Antoinette Vella Payne, a San Francisco native, hosts 1428 Poets, a monthly open mic reading at 1428 Haight…
Read MoreSan Francisco journalist Denise Sullivan conducts a monthly series of conversations (the second Sunday of each month from 10-11 a.m.) with The City’s activists, educators, arts and cultural leaders and workers, the everyday people who help make this place we call home, live streamed from Bird & Beckett Books and viewable on the Bird & Beckett Facebook page and YouTube channel. This month Denise is in conversation with Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, one of San Francisco’s leading experts in environmental toxins and a persistent advocate for environmental justice for residents of the Bayview-Hunters Point community. Sumchai is the founder and principal investigator for the Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program, founding chair of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Restoration Advisory Board’s Radiological Subcommittee and contributor to the 2005 Draft Historical Radiological Assessment and medical director of Golden State MD Health & Wellness, a UCSF and Stanford trained author and researcher, and…
Read Moreoriginal latin jazz rock fusion explosion! Adrian Areas proudly carries a tradition that encompasses all the San Francisco jazz rock fusion history that constellates around the Azteca/Malo/Santana years. His uncle Chepito was right in the midst of that wonderful maelstrom. Thomas Molina, trumpet Josh Icban, guitar Jeff Patterson, bass Jimmy Toor, drums Adrian Areas, Moperc tumbadoras $25 cash cover charge. Doors open at 7:20 for the 7:30 show BYOB and a mask. Live in the shop! You can also take it in live streamed on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate if you can!
Read MoreEric Shifrin has brought the In Crowd to Bird & Beckett countless times in the past twenty years, but it’s never been enough! He’s been the favorite of the swells & the swindlers in the finest saloons and boites of this town for decades, and when he brings the In Crowd in here, we’re all in. So now, we’ve invited him to come into Bird & Beckett every second Friday, for the happiest 2.5-hour happy hour you’ll find. This Friday, he’s featuring the wonderful Lara Louise on guitar and vocals, and the marvelous Simon Planting on bass. You may arrive in a mood shaped by the travails of the working week, but when you leave at 8 you’ll be singing a different, snappier tune– we can assure you of that! BYOB and a twenty for the musicians! On the skids or the dole? Bring what you can afford and sip…
Read MorePieces to be read this evening from the anthology will include: Janet Alvarado’s Introduction to Claming Our Stories – read by the author/editor Albert A. Acena’s “Where Have the Nurses Gone? – read by Laarni San Juan Rhys Alvarado’s “1946” – read by Alohi Alvarado Emil Guillermo’s “Centennial Club Members Ricardo and Willie: Filipinos in the Heart of San Francisco” – read by Janet Alvarado Baylan Megino’s “Dancing My Filipino Roots” – read by the author Oscar Peñaranda’s “Babaylan in Playland by the Sea” – read by Edwin Lozada Giulio Sorro’s “My Dad Is a Flower” – read by the author _________________________________________________ Bios of the writers and readers: Alohi Vega Alvarado is native born of Maui, Hawaii. She is an artist, freelance model and designer. In high school, Alohi pursued live theater performance and art. In 2021, Alohi was featured in underwater fashions by Justin Drew, Fashion Le Cour. Alohi,…
Read MoreTen musicians on the Bird & Beckett stage tonight! Ten musicians to pay! Sliding scale $10-40 cover charge requested. No reservations. No comps. Only 30 seats! Doors open at 7:15. BYOB.GRUPO OKÃN TOYÉ is an Afro Cuban folkloric troupe dedicated to learning, performing and preserving the musical traditions specifically from Matanzas, Cuba! The group is co-directed and managed by Ahkeel Mestayer and Toribio Villamil, most recently the director of Grupo AfroCuba de Matanzas in Cuba. Personnel: Yaimel Villamil Ahkeel Mestayer Christelle Durandy Julio Areas Orlando Torriente Toby Gaster Emilio Davalos Jacki Corona Genesie Reinoso Ceferino Vergara-Tucker
Read MoreThis latest historic match-up between kaleidoscopic pianist Ira Kamin and drummer PC Muñoz is a celebration of their new album, “St. Anne’s Bandâ€, available exclusively on bandcamp. Come experience the battle in person! $10-20 sliding scale cover charge, to help us pay the musicians a guaranteed fair wage! byob
Read MoreJohn Calloway, flute & percussion Tony Stead, piano Ollie Dudek, bass Brian Andres, drums  $20 cash cover charge at the door, please! BYOB. For a reservation, call 415-586-3733. Reservations are held until showtime. San Francisco native flautist, composer and arranger Dr. John Calloway has spent the last four decades in the Bay Area as one of the vanguard flute players known nationally in Latin jazz, jazz and Afro-Latino music. Since returning to the Bay Area in the mid 1980s after a stint in New York, John has performed with Omar Sosa, Israel “Cachao” Lopez, Rebeca Mauleon, Marcus Shelby, Jesus Diaz, Wayne Wallace, Kularts and Quijerema, and has had an almost 50-year working collaborative relationship with Bay Area legend John Santos. He has performed internationally in Cuba, Chile, Venezuela, Europe, Singapore and the Philippines; he has composed and arranged music for GRAMMY nominated projects and for films, including “Hemingway &…
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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." 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