Trumpeter Mario Guarneri enlists some of the best jazz minds of our place and time — Erik Jekabson (also on trumpet), Randy Vincent (guitar), John Wiitala (bass) and Akira Tana (drums) — to test the boundaries and depths of some of his compositions. Catch it in the live stream if you can’t make it to the shop, on the Bird & Beckett YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate to help us pay the musicians!  

Eric Shifrin on piano and Paul Mehling on guitar co-lead a trio with bassist Dexter Williams grounding the whole affair, taking jazz on a spin through the French countryside with a generous number of  mischievous sidetracks. 5:30-7:00pm $20 cover charge; byob catch it in the live stream if you can’t make it to the shop, on the Bird & Beckett YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate to help us pay the musicians!

Chicago percussionist and composer Tim Daisy has assembled a new quartet made up of some of the Bay Area’s finest musicians: Phillip Greenleaf on tenor saxophone,Kyle Bruckmann on electronics and double reeds;  and Lisa Mezzacappa on bass. The music consists of original compositions composed by both Tim and Kyle (who collaborated frequently when Kyle lived in Chicago in the early 2000s) and is inspired by many areas of experimental sound making including but not limited to free jazz, contemporary classical and noise. The new quartet will make its performance debut on Saturday August 20th at Bird & Beckett Books, on the eve of a recording session which is slated for release on Tim’s label Relay Recordings in 2023. $20 cover charge (cash please). Doors open at 7:20 for the 7:30 show. BYOB. You can find the live stream on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate to support…

Guitarist Scott Foster holds down the 3rd Friday slot at Bird & Beckett, bringing in a fresh project every time out, drawing from the stellar pool of jazz players that the San Francisco Bay Area can claim. Tonight, trumpeter Henry Hung steps up to pull a phat batch of pop hits into the jazz cauldron and discover what alchemical magic can be made. Bass & drums, tba. Audience? You, your neighbors and friends, current and prospective! $20 cover charge (cash please). Doors open at 7:20 for the 7:30 show. BYOB. You can find the live stream on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate to support the musicians and the stream! Come down to the shop for the best experience, or get a great taste of it in the live stream — to be found on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel and Facebook page. Don’t fail to donate…

Guitar legend John Stowell and master saxophonist Michael Zilber have enjoyed a fertile musical relationship stretching back two decades, including three critically-acclaimed cds on Origin Records. 2015’s “Basement Blues” was a Downbeat “Top CD of the Year.” Zilber and Stowell have performed numerous times together through the years at leading venues on both coasts, but the pandemic hit pause on this ongoing and fruitful collaboration. Their duo show at Bird & Beckett is the first opportunity to hear the two of them together in two and a half years. Zilber was declared “one of the true masters of modern jazz saxophone” by All About Jazz.  Stowell “plays his amplified guitar as if he were surrounded by fine crystal… (a) slow burning, sustained energy,” said Downbeat. More about both on  www.johnstowell.com and www.michaelzilber,com. $15 cover charge (cash, please); byob and a mask. Doors open 7:20 pm for the 7:30 first set.…

Anthony Blea, violin Bob Crawford, piano Mike Arnold, bass Annette A. Aguilar, drums $20 cover charge (cash please). Doors open at 7:20 for the 7:30 show. BYOB. You can find the live stream on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate to support the musicians and the stream! Hi-Octane Latin Jazz from some of the great practitioners of the art! Annette left San Francisco for New York at a young age thirty years ago, well grounded in the music since childhood — from family traditions and Mission District experience in an era when Santana, Azteca and Malo were shaping a sound that shook up the nation. Thirty years on, she’s a major force in the Latin music scene back East, hyper-active with her StringBeans, her annual festivals of women in Latin Jazz, her spontaneous street corner sets outside Bronx bodegas, her tireless work in the schools, her central…

San Francisco journalist Denise Sullivan’s invaluable SF Lives project lives on in a monthly second-Sunday-mornings series of live-streamed conversations from Bird & Beckett. She’s out today, but Jenna Littlejohn, who’s assisted in our livestream production of this series since its inception, will step up to take Denise’s place at the microphone. SF Lives began and continues as a print media column, casting a thoughtful and inspiring light on many dozens of individuals — activists, educators, arts and cultural leaders, and lesser-known workers, the everyday people who help make the City a place we can still call home. This Sunday, August 14th, at 10 a.m., Jenna converses with Daveea Whitmire, co-founder of Third Parent Family, a community resource hub established in late 2019, on the value and utility of their very human connection with individuals all over the city. Jenna has been active with Third Parent for several years, granting her…

Stephanie Woodford, piano & vocals Curtis Aikens, bass Brandon Farmer, drums Noah Frank, trumpet Originals plus jazz and soul classics from a brilliant young musician. $20 cash cover charge at the door. Doors open at 7:20pm. BYOB. If you can’t come to the show, you can find a live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page — no paywall, but do please donate if you take in a full set! Your donations help us pay the performers a guaranteed fair wage.  

A duo performance by a master of the Paraguayan harp together with a revered poet/musician, reprising their encounter at Bird & Beckett a year ago. No in-store audience for this one. View it on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. Your voluntary donation makes it possible for us to reward the artists for their efforts.

Mia Pixley, cello/voice, plays solo followed by a duo set by Nora Stanley, saxophone, with Noah Gershwin, guitar. $20 cash cover charge at the door. Doors open at 7:20. BYOB. Can’t make it to the show? What!!??? Ok, you can watch it in the stream on the Bird & Beckett YouTube channel or Facebook page! Donate to the cause! Consider it your cover charge! Nora Stanley is a New York-based, San Francisco-native saxophonist and composer whose interests and work live at the intersection of composed and improvised music. Nora holds a B.A. and B.M. from Oberlin College and Conservatory where she studied with Gary Bartz, Eddie Henderson and Billy Hart. With strong roots in the jazz, afro-cuban and improvised music traditions, Nora’s music emphasizes interaction and collaboration. Her sound is melody-driven and reaches to expand the possibilities of the harmonic realm. Nora leads a quartet featuring her original compositions and…

Tenia Nelson, keys Brendan O’Donoghue, bass Alex Tripp, drums  As a LifeForce Jazz Records artist, pianist, percussionist, composer and arranger, and educator, Tenia Renee Nelson has 20 years-plus teaching experience in ALL levels of education (Early Childhood through University). At the present time, Tenia teaches music at Denver Language School, teaches privately in her music studio and  also teaches classes at Neighborhood Music at Stanley Marketplace. Tenia received her Bachelors of Music Education Degree from Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2004, and her Masters of Music Degree (Jazz Studies) from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2010. Tenia is a board member of The Gift of Jazz organization, a non-profit based in Denver, which actively supports jazz performance in the Rocky Mountain region in particular, to ensure that jazz remains a creative force in Colorado. In addition to teaching, she plays jazz regularly at venues in the Denver…

The first Sunday of each month, Bird & Beckett is proud and pleased to host a jazz combo comprising students from a local music school, college or high school opening the program, followed by a student-oriented jam session led by the Akira Tana Trio. At 5pm we present another ensemble of musicians from San Francisco’s wonderful Community Music Center, this one coached by trumpeter Max Miller-Loran and developed at the CMC’s Richmond District campus. Drummer Jeff Pera is on board for the date.  The jam session that follows from 6-8pm is open to student players from any direction! Community Music Center Jazz Ensemble Max Miller-Loran, trumpet Robert Goodwin, alto sax Elizabeth DeCarli, tenor sax Louis Ahtty, piano Fumio Wada, guitar Ellen Rosenthal, bass with special guest Jeff Pera, drums A stellar trio under the direction of drummer Akira Tana, with Keith Saunders on piano and Eric Markowitz on bass, hosts…

Pamela Rose & Wayne De La Cruz - Hammond Organ Party! Hammond Organ Party! brings a soul-drenched singer and a prodigious B-3 practitioner into a loose and limber, movin’ and groovin’ Saturday night celebration. Pamela and Wayne, with top-shelf sidemen, are ready to romp through two sets of rare jazz standards, blues and R&B classics. Co-led by jazz organist Wayne De La Cruz and vocalist Pamela Rose, with guitarist Danny Caron and drummer Mark Lee signed on for the fun, this band is ready to Party! “Outstanding vocals…Rose hits that jazz & soul sweet spot with Wayne De La Cruz and Hammond Organ Party!”  Frank-John Hadley, DownBeat You can take it in on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, but there’s nothing like being in the room! Still, if it’s impossible to come out, you’ll enjoy the stream. Donations appreciated per the information on the screen — consider it your cover…

Tony Saunders’ smooth contemporary jazz and R&B are infused with soul… doors open at 7:20pm reservations, call 415-586-3733 $20 cash cover charge byob Nothing beats live jazz in the shop, but if you can’t make it… Find the live stream on our Facebook page or YouTube channel Two-time Emmy Award winning bassist, composer, producer, a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, son of legendary Bay Area keyboardist Merl Saunders– Tony Saunders’ life has been infused with one musical adventure after another. Newly signed to Baja/TSR records, he’s recently released his 5th cd as a leader, “All About Love.” As an arranger, producer, composer and performer, Saunders has conquered the worlds of jazz, gospel, R&B, pop, rock and world music. He earned the first of his two Emmys at age 14 for collaborating with his dad on the PBS documentary Soul Is and by 17 was playing on Merl Saunders/Jerry…