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…

Most Glen Park denizens know Joseph Tingin from the hardware store at the corner. But a few of you have heard him here at Bird & Beckett and elsewhere as a sweet, soulful and charming singer-songwriter. Drop in and say hi to him on the job, and buy a new pipe wrench or something! While he’s navigating the stock to get you what you need to fix that little plumbing leak you’ve got, or to sell you a wood screw, key fob or picture hanger, ask him what he’s got in store for you up the block at Bird & Beckett on the last afternoon of July, when we’ll be capping off another wonderful month of live music at Glen’s Park’s best little bookshop! After Joseph, we’ll offer the perfect jazz nightcap to leave you sated and satisfied for the evening. Drummer Vince Lateano and his trio — Ben Stolorow…

Live streamed on Facebook and Youtube. Neeli Cherkovski sits comfortably among San Francisco poetry royalty’s best kept secrets — a secret if only because few pay sufficient attention to the riches we have here. He’s hiding in the bright daylight of Bernal, easy to find, easy to love. Migrating from San Bernardino to Los Angeles as a young teen in the 1960s, Neeli Cherry, tight in the orbit of the legendary Charles Bukowski, flowered as a poet under the gruff old man’s influence, bringing as well the influence of his New York uncle Herman Cherry, an expressionist painter of great accomplishment–much like Robert DeNiro’s father, RD Sr–and his own father, Sam, whose photos of San Francisco bohemian life resonate to this day. Neeli’s mom was a teacher and a valued pedagogical theorist, his dad a bookseller with a shop that attracted ol’ Buk out to San Berdoo in the first…

School’s out for summer! Stanford Jazz Workshop faculty hightail it up the highway to San Francisco to Bird & Beckett for a blow out double header tonight! Quartets at 6:30 and 8:30. Come for the early show and stay for the late show at half price ($20 cover charge for each / $30 for the pair – cash at the door, please!) Please bring cash for the cover charge. All of the musicians comprising these two quartets are working professional musicians & must be compensated; it starts with your cover charge! Donations to the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project help as well. Click on the donate button in the navigation bar at the top of this website. As for yourselves, byob if you’re so inclined! Alto saxophonist Caroline Davis headlines tonight at 8:30pm with a stellar group featuring Caroline and Kasey Knudsen on saxophones, Curtis Aikens on bass and…

  Jazz! Two sets Bring a twenty for the band & byob Also viewable on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. Donations appreciated per the information on the screen!   Kai Lyons, guitar Jaimeo Brown, drums Hans Glawischnig, bass   If you don’t know who Kai Lyons is or what a terrific jazz guitarist he is, you should. You should come to the show! No live stream can ever be as good as the real thing. Kai is a homegrown San Francisco talent of epic proportions. No kidding. Jaimeo Brown is news to us. We’ll take it on faith from Kai that he’ll be an asset to the trio. We’ll learn at the show. Always something new when you venture out! Oh, a little research… Jaimeo is the son of bassist Dartanyan Brown and saxophonist Marcia Miget! Two formidable talents giving life to another! In the early years of the…

Soul singer extraordinaire Derek Evans and guitar master Todd Swenson make This Side Up a band whose contents will not settle upon shipment. Come & get stirred up, little darlin’s! You’ve got a deluxe experience in store… $20 cash cover, and an extra fiver if you’ve got it. Five great musicians making you feel like a million bucks. Guaranteed. BYOB. No need to curb your enthusiasm! Todd Swenson, guitar Derek Evans, vocals Ian Ratzer, keyboard Paul Olguin, bass Ken Owen, drums Below, that’s Ken Owen looking a lot like Robin Roth… Anyone recollecting that aggregation’s latest outing gets a prize. Extra points for horizontal stripes on Sunday. You can find the live stream on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate to support the musicians and the stream!

Citta di Vitti Phillip Greenlief, saxophone Lisa Mezzacappa, bass Jason Levis, drums $20 cash cover charge at the door Reservations, call 415-586-3733 byob and a mask Citta di Vitti, 15 years from its inception, revisits the music inspired by the films of Michelangelo Antonioni composed by Phillip Greenlief, and performed by Greenlief, Lisa Mezzacappa and Jason Levis.   Phillip Greenlief writes, “Several years ago (2007, if i am not mistaken), I wrote nearly 40 fragments while watching Michelangelo Antonioni’s trilogy: L’AVVENTURA, LA NOTTE, L’ECLISSE, featuring the great Italian actor Monica Vitti. The music was inspired by the films in a big way, and in particular i was interested in the way Antonioni uses setting as a character, or how the environments might reflect or influence the narrative. “Once I developed the fragments into compositions, I contacted Lisa and Jason … for many years they had worked as DUO B, and…

Sony Holland and her guitarist/husband, Jerry, spent a good part of the pandemic lockdown focusing on a tribute to one of the greatest female rock stars in the music industry, Linda Ronstadt, whose iconic recordings and memorable concert performances include mega-hits like “When Will I Be Loved,” “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,”  “Desperado,” “Blue Bayou” and many more.  Sony will sing these hits, weaving in gems from some of Ronstadt’s subsequent projects and periods — songs in Spanish rooted in her family’s Mexican culture, jazz chestnuts, work “in every style and genre you can imagine… a treasure trove…” Interviewed by Richard May for his piece in the July issue of the Noe Valley Voice, Sony noted that “My show is one of gratitude to one of the finest, strongest and most gracious females in the music industry. Linda Ronstadt is a force. She took on one musical challenge after another, scouted…