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!

Saturday, October 1st – 7:30pm
Trio Paz
Phillip Greenlief, saxophones
Adriana Camacho Torres, bass
Scott Amendola, drums

Phillip Greenlief saxophones Adriana Camacho Torres, bass Scott Amendola, drums $20 cash cover charge at the door BYOB The live stream can be found on our Facebook page or YouTube channel Mexico City born, raised and based bassist Adriana Camacho Torres takes improvised music wherever it wants to go in the company of local heroes Phillip Greenlief and Scott Amendola on saxophones and drums, respectively. Phillip Greenlief was born in Los Angeles in 1959. Scott Amendola was born in New Jersey in 1963. Each has been in the Bay Area for three to four decades. Two Bay Area musicians with global reputations. Such are the musicians we can boast of here, and such are the international connections they provide. Read an interview with Adriana here. Visit her website here.

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Friday, September 30th – 7:30pm
Erik von Buchau Vibes Quartet

Dig the vibes! Erik von Buchau, vibraphone Matt Clark, piano Giulio Cetto, bass Jeff Marrs, drums BYOB and a twenty for the band! For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733 Also live streamed on our Facebook page and YouTube channel Your donations help us pay the musicians a guaranteed fair wage. Here’s a taste! Catch Erik at the 11:30 mark!  

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Wednesday, September 28th – 8pm
Thoreau, the Teacher
Walker Talks! – live stream only

You’ll find Walker’s Talk on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. Please donate to help us pay Walker for his heroic & eloquent locution. Tonight, Walker Brents III delves into the thought of Henry David Thoreau, whose genius lay in seeing nature for itself, with no need to be any other thing. We grow spontaneously in our understanding as we read him, which is why the cosmos arising from his pages strangely resonates with our own, in all we see and do not see. His gift to us is an awareness of the value of education as it relates to the needs of the living mind. The world before us is inexhaustible in what it can teach us, and in the ways we can learn to protect it.

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Tuesday, September 27 – 7:30pm
Frank Muschalle, Boogie Woogie Solo Piano, from Germany on Tour

  Free blues & boogie woogie tonight! No cover charge! The German Consulate of San Francisco has offered to sponsor a free performance by renowned boogie woogie and blues pianist Frank Muschalle for your listening pleasure! Mr. Muschalle has been touring worldwide for three decades to all points of the compass, spreading boogie woogie pleasure wherever he finds a good piano, and Bird & Beckett has one for him! Come sample his wares, courtesy of our friends at the Consulate! Doors open at 7:15 for the 7:30pm show. Get a taste of Frank’s boogie woogie from the video below. Visit his website here (in English) or here (auf Deutsch).  

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Sunday, September 25 – 7pm
Vince Lateano’s Doggone Jazz Jam Session

No cover charge. Donations help us maintain the tradition and pay the trio! Come prepared if you want to play!

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Sunday, September 25 – 5pm
Rudi Mwongozi solo piano

Piano jazz by the deep, soulful and wonderful Rudi Mwongozi is one of our favorite things! Click on the youtube link below for a blazing and wonderful trio rendition of “My Favorite Things” from an outdoor performance at a lovely & festive NYC Eid-Al-Fatir celebration in 2017. A master musician thriving on the vibe. Rudi will play a solo set at Bird & Beckett Sunday the 25th at 5pm. Don’t miss it! $5 to $25 sliding scale cover charge requested. All ages welcome. Call ahead to reserve a seat at 415-586-3733.

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Saturday, September 24
to the end of the month
reggae, jazz, boogie woogie, Henry David Thoreau!

most events start at 7:30, doors at 7:20. byob. for reservations/information, call the shop at 415-586-3733. cover charge is typically $20 to $25 — cash, please! Saturday, Sept. 24 – 7:30pm jazz club goes roots reggae for one glorious night! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlW23PtWLB0 The Baytals Safaa Modir, guitar Connor Sablan, keyboards Russell Vazquez, bass Hafez Modirzadeh, tenor sax Keshav Batish, drums Sunday, Sept. 25 at 5pm – Rudi Mwongozi solo piano home on a visit to family, from NYC at 7pm – Vince Lateano’s Doggone Jazz Jam Session with Ben Stolorow & Peter Barshay _________________________ can’t make it down to the shop? you’re missing out on a good thing! but you can usually catch the livestream on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. Please donate to help us pay the musicians! A recurring monthly donation can give you unlimited guilt-free consumption of the stream and our sincere gratitude. Bird & Beckett guarantees…

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Saturday, September 24 – 7:30pm
Classic Reggae with the Baytals featuring Hafez Modirzadeh

Can’t call it jazz, but tonight we’ll more than willingly let Hafez take us into deep roots reggae for a Saturday night! Not to worry, jazz will look away briefly to allow us this liberty!

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Friday, September 23 – 7:30pm
Tony Johnson Quartet

Bob Kenmotsu, tenor sax Keith Saunders, piano Eric Markowitz, bass Tony Johnson, drums Catch the show here:

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Thursday, September 22 – 8-10pm
Art Hirahara Trio

Art Hirahara, piano John Wiitala, bass Tim Bulkley, drums $20 cover charge (cash at the door, please) Doors open at 7:45pm BYOB Reservations: 415-586-3733 Livestream on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. Please donate to help us pay the musicians! Art Hirahara is a jazz keyboardist and composer based in New York City. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Art moved to New York in 2002 to be challenged by its pool of world-class musicians. There he has honed his craft, performing in a wide range of musical situations ranging from straight ahead standards to time cycle-based progressive jazz to working with singer/songwriters. Art has had the privilege to perform with Don Braden, Stacey Kent, Freddy Cole, Akira Tana, Rufus Reid, royal hartigan and many others. He has performed around the world in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East and extensively around the United States. As a bandleader, he has released seven recordings…

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Wednesday, September 21 – 7pm
Gregory Corso’s
The Golden Dot: Last Poems, 1997-2000

Poets converge at Bird & Beckett tonight, 9/21, to honor Gregory Corso, reading from The Golden Dot: Last Poems, 1997-2000, edited by Raymond Foye and George Scrivani, is newly published by Lithic Press. Co-editor Scrivani will join Scott Bird, Neeli Cherkovski, Agneta Falk, Sarah Menefee and Tate Swindell to read from the book, and to contribute poems of their own in tribute to this key figure in modern American poetry. Nothing can rival the experience of being at the reading with poets that knew Corso as a friend and colleague. But if you simply can’t, we encourage you to take in tonight’s reading in the live stream that’s to be found at 7pm on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. If you like what you hear in the stream, and value what Bird & Beckett puts on offer there, please donate to help us pay an honorarium to the participating…

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Sunday, September 18 – 7:30pm
Masaru Koga Quartet

intimate conversations in jazz Mas Koga, saxophones & flutes Frank Martin, piano Peter Barshay, bass Bryan Bowman, drums $20 cover charge (cash at the door, please) Doors open at 7:20pm for the 7:30pm show BYOB reservations, call 415-586-3733 Tonight’s show can also be found on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. If you like what you hear in the stream, and stick around for more, donate to help us pay the musicians!

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Sunday, October 2nd – 5-8pm
Tomorrow’s Jazz Now!
Young Players Test the Traditions
no cover charge; donations appreciated

No charge. Donations appreciated! Live in the shop! The live stream can be found on our Facebook page or YouTube channel The Oaktown Jazz Workshops at Jack London Square have been cultivating and training young talent for three decades now. Recent alumni of the program come to Bird & Beckett on Sunday, October 2nd at 5pm to perform as the Oaktown Jazz Workshops’ Youth Mentors. At right, OJW Youth Mentors Jordon Dabney – tenor saxophone Maximilian Ehrhardt – trumpet Anthony Mills-Branch – bass Pepe Tekpa – drums This quartet shows how early training, talent, intense study and a strong community-based environment like the OJW can combine to produce the next generation of jazz giants. Oaktown Jazz Workshops employs a cascading mentorship model, where “near-peers” comprised of OJW alumni serve as inspiring Youth Mentors for the incoming, younger musicians.  Visit the Oaktown Jazz Workshops website at this link.      …

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Saturday, September 17 – 7:30pm
Levitator – Shokrai/Johnston/Nordeson

LEVITATOR textured & ferocious music Safa Shokrai, bass Kjell Nordeson, drums Darren Johnston, trumpet $20 cover charge (cash at the door, please) Doors open at 7:20pm for the 7:30pm show BYOB reservations, call 415-586-3733 Tonight’s show can also be found on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. If you like what you hear in the stream, and stick around for more, donate to help us pay the musicians!

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Friday, September 16 – 7:30pm
Scott Foster Combo
featuring Sam Reider
on accordion

After Thursday evening’s blowout, we sweep up, and it’s back to jazz as usual! jazz in the bookshop every Friday since 2002, twenty years and counting… Scott’s been holding on the gig ever since we started. THE SCOTT FOSTER TRIO a cool vibe Scott Foster, guitar Sam Reider, accordion Daniel Fabricant, bass Scott has been on the job since jazz in the bookshop became a weekly thing at Bird & Beckett, way back in late 2002… next month we’ll mark twenty years of Friday shows! In all those years, we’ve only been without jazz on Friday evening twice. Come out tonight for a unique and very special trio date. And mark your calendar now to join us for Scott’s next date, October 21st, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of jazz in the bookshop. You can count on Scott to bring a whole new band and a whole new concept, at…

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Fair Play Initiative

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.

Due to lapses in tax filings during and post-pandemic, the BBCLP's status as a registered nonprofit was suspended at the beginning of April 2024 while we reapply, which is expected to take about six months. Donations made after April 1st will not be tax-deductible until nonprofit status is restored.

However, we continue to present a full slate of programming live music and poetry, and producing literary chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support in the interim. If a tax-deduction is not a major reason for your support to date, we hope you'll continue to ride with us while we navigate these next several months.

Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above, drop off a check at the bookshop, or drop one in the mail 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

To take our SURVEY, click here, and help the BBCLP get to know you better! As Duke Ellington always said, we love you madly...

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

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