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!
Come out and join the friends and neighbors of Glen Park’s own Michelle Matz, to hear her read & celebrate her new poetry collection, Acoustic Shadow. A fine Wednesday evening in Glen Park at its own little bookshop is guaranteed. “Michelle Matz’s Acoustic Shadow treads the solitary space between love and grief with remarkable presence. A narrative poet who has mastered the art of restraint, Matz knows how to leap and turn so that clear threads of story become nearly lyrical. Abiding in multiple griefs and much humanity, these poems hold and witness and never look away. Understated, tender, deeply authentic, Acoustic Shadow walks straight through loss and finds its way back home again and again.” –Amanda Moore
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$25 cover charge; byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. https://www.facebook.com/bird.and.beckett/videos/563350992916034 sound starts at the 1:42 mark… fabulous to the end! The towering master of tenor saxophone (and many another instrument), Noel Jewkes brings his fine quartet featuring vocalist Kay Kostopoulos, with Grant Levin on piano, Chris Amberger on bass and Al Marshall on drums. Exceptional jazz beautifully played and sung with sultry passion. We’re always grateful when any of these fine musicians crosses the Bird & Beckett stage and most especially when Noel Jewkes, aka Dr. Legato, is leading the charge. Kay and Noel have a new single coming out of “All or Nothing at All,” the jazz chestnut that was a big hit for Frank Sinatra in 1943. Noel did the arrangement and plays all the horn parts, of which there are many. You’ll hear it live during tonight’s show, though Noel will only be able…
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The first Sunday of each month, with some pauses during school breaks, we present a jazz ensemble from a local school and follow it with a jam session specially tuned to emerging young talent from the region’s many wonderful jazz education programs. This time out, San Francisco’s Urban School once again sends its Bebop Combo, which will play a set then host a jam session for all young players game to rise to the challenge! Check out this combo set and the session that follows, from spring 2022 date: https://www.facebook.com/bird.and.beckett/videos/1761571470848795
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Ian Carey, trumpet. James Mahone, sax. Kasey Knudsen, sax. Adam Shulman, organ. Eric Garland, drums. $25 cover charge; byob. Reservations, call (415) 586-3733 Trumpeter, composer and bandleader Ian Carey is at the core of a fleet-footed, organ-driven new quintet featuring great Bay Area jazz talent. They’ll sprint through some lean & mean arrangements of Ian’s own compositions, plus tunes by Joe Henderson, Kenny Wheeler, and more. Here are some audio samples of the group. Nemuri Kyoshiro Inner Urge New Waltz This show is co-sponsored by Jazz in the Neighborhood – dedicated to making a guaranteed fair wage and good working conditions a reliable expectation for the region’s gigging professional jazz musicians! Bird & Beckett very much appreciates their support and urges you to visit their website to learn how you can support their efforts! https://www.jazzintheneighborhood.org.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Angie Bennett & Sharon Wayne ~~facebook stars of their own minds~~ bring you a full hour of unalloyed dual ukulele & vocal magnificence! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sharon has worked for over thirty years as a solo performer, recording artist, chamber musician and music educator. A founding member of the San Francisco Guitar Quartet, she has also performed regularly around Boston and New York with the crossover group, Back Bay Guitar Trio. Been everywhere, done everything, and here she is with Angie, erstwhile co-founding CEO of the Bad Mommies, decorated soldier of the Ukulele Resistance Brigade, summa cum laude art historian, fierce proponent of fun prep for the post-apocalypse. Two ukes and intertwined voices that’ll have you beaming in unbecoming glee, somewhat terrified at your own capacity for joy. Passionate about new music, Sharon has premiered works by local and internationally recognized composers, including Carlo Domeniconi, Dušan Bogdanoviċ, Steve Mobia, Erik Pearson,…
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Noah Frank, trumpet Greg Jacobs, piano Dexter Williams, bass James Gallagher, drums with guest vocalist Stephanie Woodford $20 cover charge; byob. Join us for a 35th birthday celebration for the trumpeter Noah Frank, hard on the heels of his dad’s 70th birthday/Monk celebration earlier the same evening. Come for at least one set of the early show and enjoy the pair of events for $30! Noah is also a composer, producer, engineer, DJ and educator who has performed at jazz clubs and festivals nationwide, including the PDX Jazz Festival in Portland, Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Jazz Club in LA and Paris Bistro in Philly. Noah’s recording credits include Chance the Rapper, Saba Pivot and Mr. Carmack. He conducts a jazz jam session at the Ocean Ale House and gigs frequently with his band Sueños. Noah picked up the trumpet at age ten, spent five summers on the scene in NYC, busked…
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Richard Leber, piano Richard Saunders, bass Jon Frank, drums $20 suggested donation; byob. Teens and students, $10 Kids free For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. The Jon Frank Trio celebrates Jon’s 70th birthday and the music of Thelonious Monk tonight! The trio will be joined with special guests Noah Frank, trumpet, and Stephanie Woodford, vocals. It’s a family affair! Noah is Jon’s son, while Stephanie is Noah’s wife and Jon’s daughter-in-law. Stick around after the date for Noah’s own birthday celebration — he’s turning 35 — when Noah’s quartet with Greg Jacobs on piano, Dexter Williams on bass and James Gallagher, joined by Stephanie on vocals, will take the stage. Taking in both shows? $30 for the pair will be ok by us! BYOB, and help us celebrate! This show is co-sponsored by Jazz in the Neighborhood – dedicated to making a guaranteed fair wage and good working…
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Elena Pinnen’s book-length poem, On a Breaking Wave and Other Natural Catastrophes (The Los Angeles Press, 2024) speaks of waves and surfing, and engages the truths of colonialism in the Pacific. Composed in three days, all in one breath as if it were a short story or a long phone conversation, On a Breaking Wave expresses her perception that “in the water, all patterns are canceled, many spatial coordinates are lost, and you encounter another specific weight. In short, you enter another world. A world that is very often silent and very energetic.” Elena states, “I am in love with water in all its forms. Entering the water is a form of prayer for me.” There is no difference between blue and green waves when you lose your sight. It’s just a rush forward and back. Pieces of wood and branches. I hope your arms will embrace my words. * *…
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Seven shows in four days… Thursday the 13th, at 7pm, we’ll present writer Charlie Haas reading from his new and wonderful novel, The Current Fantasy… That same evening at 8:30pm, the legendary guitarist Jim Campilongo performs with Andrew Higgins on bass and David Rokeach on drums. On Valentine’s Day, Friday the 14th, Eric Shifrin on piano & Raul Ramirez on drums/percussion play for the romantics at 6pm… At 8:30pm, the powerhouse blues vocalist & guitarist Pat Wilder, who lives just up the way and has a street named for her right behind the shop, blows her top with her band, The Shakers! Saturday the 15th, singer Marina Crouse and her trio bring el amor, performing sublime Latin, blues and jazz classics and originals. 7:30-9:30pm. Sunday the 16th, the Vince Lateano, with Peter Barshay, Ben Stolorow and invited guests, play jazz from 5pm to 7pm. And later that same evening, the…
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You never know who might drop in. Maybe you! The Vince Lateano Trio will make you feel right at home! BYOB and a twenty for the trio.
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Daniel Heffez, saxophone. Adam Shulman, keyboards. Omar Aran, drums. Original wave action from three jazaquanuts, breaking out their new album! Read more & hear the music at jazztheglasstrio.com $20 cover charge; byob. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733.
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Gustavo Lorenzatti is an Argentinian double bass player and cellist, a composer and a long-standing member of the Symphony Orchestra of Córdoba. He has a background in classical music, jazz, tango and Brazilian music, as well as Argentinian folklore. He studied formally at the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music with the soloist of the Netherlands Philharmonic, Hans Roelofsen. Gustavo often performs solo and in other intimate configurations, and is known for his original way of approaching the bass and cello, exploring all the possible elements–bow, pizzicato, percussion, different tunings, etc., adding voice for a uniquely layered sound. He has played on tour in Mexico, Japan and Australia, as well as in many European and South American countries. He has collaborated with artists including Egberto Gismonti, Osbaldo Pugliese, Martha Argerich, Michael Moore, and Lalo Schifrin. We last heard Gustavo from our stage a year ago, we’re pleased and excited to welcome him…
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Charlie McCarthy, saxophone Sam Cady, piano Chuck Bennett, bass Tony Johnson, drums byob and a twenty for the band. Call the shop at 415-586-3733 to reserve seats. Four veteran players parlaying six to seven decades in the jazz business into musical gold. Originals and bebop and more. The 230 Jones Street, Local Six, Literary Jazz band is our legacy outfit, linking up to the very start of jazz in the bookshop as it emerged way back in 2002. Come enjoy a relaxed, swinging romp of an evening in Glen Park.
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Robert Cherny taught American political history at San Francisco State University for decades, focusing on the Progressive Era and preceding periods. His book American Politics in the Gilded Age: 1868-1900 (Wiley-Blackwell, 1997) and other writings have informed the thought of generations of college students and academics with regard to the dimensions of a period depressingly foreshadowing our own in terms of a vast wealth and influence gap that also yielded major shifts in popular response and political innovation at state and local levels to over-weaning, monolithic economic power and arrogance. Along the way, however, his 30-year dive into the story of waterfront labor leader Harry Bridges in preparation of the major biography he brought out in early 2023 inevitably led him to consider the history that unfolded through the post-World War I years. While the Bridges book was in preparation, other material led to his publication of a book on…
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Three poets share new work, highlighting their latest published collections — Kathleen McClung with her 2024 book, Questions of Buoyancy; Jeanne Wagner with One Needful Song; and Barbara Crooker, with Slow Wreckage. No charge, but you may want to donate a few dollars to buy the poets a drink or gas to get home! And do buy a book to reward their efforts; one of the three is sure to work well as a gift to someone you love, or may find a sweet spot on your bookshelf at home. We’ll provide wine & bubbly water. Kathleen McClung is the author of five poetry collections including her latest, Questions of Buoyancy (Longship Press, 2024). Others include the 2020 Rattle Chapbook Prize winner A Juror Must Fold in on Herself, Temporary Kin, The Typists Play Monopoly and Almost the Rowboat. Winner of the Morton Marr, Maria W. Faust, and Rita Dove…
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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
