Larry Vann has long been the Groove Merchant! He brings it again with his long-time working trio, with Michael Warren on bass and Tim Landis on guitar, for two sets of jazz, soul, blues and funk. Larry has performed with Curtis Mayfield, Elvis Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite, among a raft of superstars, and he’s played the Bird & Beckett stage many times, with this trio and with the New Squatoolas and Todd Swenson’s This Side Up. He’s a cornerstone of the Bay Area music scene and has been for decades! Catch his New Squatoolas turn just this past Thanksgiving weekend at this link! Take in our shows on the Bird & Beckett Facebook page or YouTube channel. $20 cash cover charge at the door or $20 suggested donation at this link in the stream. Pay what you can. Masks and full boosted vaccination please. Do take a rain check if you have any…

Three New York-based jazz masters take the stage at Bird & Beckett Tuesday, January 11 at 7:30pm for two sets of jazz! $20 cash cover charge. BYOB. Vax. Masks. Audience capacity is just 20 seats. For a reservation, call 415-586-3733! Also streamed on the Bird & Beckett Facebook page and YouTube channel. Oakland-born tenor saxophonist Craig Handy will share the bandstand with Omaha-born bassist Essiet Okon Essiet and San Jose-born drummer Sylvia Cuenca. Handy and Essiet are both alumni of the last iteration of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in years leading up to Blakey’s passing in 1990. Sylvia’s credits include four years with Joe Henderson and seventeen with trumpeter Clark Terry. Handy and Essiet both put in time with Joe Henderson as well, along with a raft of other major talents. Handy’s memorable performance as tenor sax giant Coleman Hawkins in the 1996 Robert Altman film “Kansas City” made that…

Want a taste right now of their fine elixer? Check out the December 12 show on our YouTube channel or Facebook page! We’d suggest you pick it up at the 14:48 mark, when the mix has settled in and the band is tooled up for pure honky tonk magic. Click through to the full post, and click here!

4tet Apocalyptique Filling a need for comfort music since 2020 R&B, jazz, samba, pop Sharman Duran (piano) Salvador Aguilera (saxophone) Rick Brown (trombone) Pepe Jacobo (drums) Reservations encouraged (call 415-586-3733), as audience capacity is limited to 20 during the present phase of our little apocalypse. Doors open at 7:20 for the 7:30 1st set and reservations will be held only until 7:30 Seats often open up for the second set at about 8:30 $20-30 cash cover charge at the door, please! Pay only what you can, but do what you can. Proof of vaccination and a mask are required. BYOB, and please leave your mask in place except when taking a sip. Thanks! Your cover charges and online donations help us pay the band’s guarantee and are very much appreciated. Bird & Beckett proudly adheres to a guaranteed fair wage standard for the musicians without regard to audience size or…

The Jon Frank Trio, with Sam Cady on piano and Chris Amberger on bass, has been honing its repertoire, including a number of  tunes penned by the pianist, in anticipation of a recording session soon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKBjiDQqs88[/embedyt The leader of the trio, drummer Jon Frank, sends this biographical sketch: I started playing drums in garage bands at age 12 in the East Bay, playing mostly blues and Jimi Hendrix as well as the usual SF Psychedelic groups.  Jazz hit me hard in high school, when I would travel to Moe’s Books in Berkeley and get amazing records like “Miles Smiles”, featuring Tony Williams on drums. An advanced musical friend introduced me to John Coltrane on “My Favorite Things” featuring either Roy Haynes or Elvin Jones on drums.  We would have jazz listening parties all the time. My first live concert was in 1970 at the Fillmore West on Van Ness, featuring…

On the first Thursday of each month, Jerry Ferraz and Michael Koch host a poetry reading with a couple of headliners and an open mic. Thursday, January 6, 2022, at 7pm Judith Ayn Bernhard and Silvi Alcivar are the featured poets Reservations are encouraged, as audience capacity is limited to 20 during the current uncertainty. To reserve, call 415-586-3733. Proof of vaccination and a mask are required. BYOB, and please leave your mask in place except when taking a sip. Thanks! Can’t make it to the shop for the reading? Catch the live stream on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donations to help us pay a small honorarium to the posts and hosts are very much appreciated. You’ll see information on how to donate on the video screen. Thanks so much for supporting the culture, the poets and Bird & Beckett. Judith Ayn Bernhard is a poet, prose writer…

Celebrate 2022 with our annual first Sunday booking of Avotcja with her supergroup Modúpue featuring Sandy Poindexter, violin; Francis Wong, saxophone; Heshima Mark Williams, bass; Val Serrant, steel pan drum & percussion. _____________________________________ Live stream only for this show, to preserve the continued good health of Avotcja, a Bay Area cultural treasure! Avotcja is a recipient of the JaZzLine Institute’s Bay Area Jazz and Blues Artist (BAJABA) Lifetime Achievement Award and her five- to ten-piece ensemble Modúpue was named Jazz Group of the Year in both 2005 and 2010 by the Bay Area Blues Society Hall of Fame ________________ To help us pay Avotcja and her musicians a guaranteed fair wage for their work, please donate online or drop off a check! $10 to $30 suggested donation Paypal – send to [email protected] Venmo app – @birdandbeckett Cash app – $BirdBeckett Check/Cash – Bird & Beckett, 653 Chenery Street, San Francisco…

Poets Francisco Orrego and Maria Serafin on December 2nd December 3rd, Destiny Muhammad, harp; Chico Lopez, bass; Tarika Lewis, violin December 4th, the quartet of guitarist George Cotsirilos, with Keith Saunders on piano, Robb Fisher on bass and Ron Marabuto on drums December 5th, student combo followed by a jam session hosted by the Terrence Brewer Trio, with Eric Markowitz, bass and Mark Lee, drums ___ December 10th, 7:30pm – $25 – the John Calloway Quartet , with Ken Cook, piano; Marcus Shelby, bass; Brian Andres, drums; and guest vocalist Angie Doctor December 11th, 7:30pm – $25 – the Sam Cady Quintet, with Noel Jewkes & Charlie McCarthy, saxophones; Sam Cady, piano; Joe McKinley, bass; Akira Tana, drums; Jeffrey Gaeto, arranger.     December 12th – 10am – Tiny Gray-Garcia in conversation with Denise Sullivan (live stream only) December 12th – 2pm – It’s SUPER GREAT while  you browse! December…

Click on the links here to view our recording of this show on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. Drummer/percussionist/composer/bandleader/educator Annette A. Aguilar, born and raised in San Francisco, has been a force on the New York scene for decades, notably with her band StringBeans. Here in San Francisco, you can often catch her performing at Bird & Beckett and around town with her Beans on the Left! She returns home to San Francisco several times a year to be with family and play with favorite local associates including, tonight, pianist Murray Low and bassist Mike Arnold. Annette’s current association in NYC with BronXBandA, led by pianist/composer Arturo O’Farrill, has produced a rich array of concerts and recordings. O’Farrill’s own associations in Latin jazz start with his father Chico O’Farrill, his work with the Fort Apache Band (whose co-founder Jerry Gonzalez is a key mentor to Annette), and as music…

Kim Shuck invites you to the twice-monthly Poets!Zoom. Every 2nd and 4th Monday evening. The 4th Monday is always All Open Mic. Kim reminds you that you don’t have to get rained on to participate. Use the Zoom link below, or the Facebook Live link following that. Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/84350265713?pwd=eE84V3BYdWxiSFBHNHhmdUt1WTUzdz09Meeting ID: 843 5026 5713Passcode: 244211One tap mobile+16699006833,,84350265713#,,,,*244211# US (San Jose)+13462487799,,84350265713#,,,,*244211# US (Houston)Dial by your location        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)        +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)        +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)Meeting ID: 843 5026 5713Passcode: 244211Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/keiLsfdeVg   Facebook Link: B&B Online Open Mic! 12/27/21 @ 7pm Contact Brett Benson for technical details if they arise: [email protected]

Duncan James, guitar Larry Chinn, piano Jim Kerwin, bass Bob Blankenship, drums Swing straight ahead into 2022… no time like the present, and no time like swing time! Sign up for our emails Doors open ten minutes before showtime. Reservations encouraged, as the room does fill up for many shows. To reserve, call 415-586-3733 prior to the day of the show if possible. Reservations must be claimed by showtime. Once the show starts, we allow anyone waiting for a seat to take what’s available. Please bring proof of vaccination and a mask, plus cash for the $20 cover charge; BYOB. Can’t get to the shop for the show? Or just can’t get in due to the throng? Catch the live streams on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page.

Ben Stolorow, piano; Al Obidinski, bass; and Vince Lateano, drums pay tribute to a long-time friend, colleague and jazz legend, the late Dottie Dodgion, with a cameo by Dot’s good friend Sonny Buxton sharing some thoughts on Dot, her swing & her legacy. Vince, Al and Sonny are all contemporaries of Dottie’s and knew her well from the 1950s/early 1960s onward, and Ben was a regular member of her trio on a weekly date in Pebble Beach over the past several years. Their fondness for Dottie will be on full display in this nod to one of the great, swingin’ drummers of jazz. Sonny Buxton, a long-time friend of Dottie’s, would have been on hand for this date, but wisely decided to heed his doctor’s advice to stay away from the shop in light of possibility vulnerability to the Covid virus. We wish him well! Fortunately, he was able to…

Dan’s back, and we’re pleased to have him. Dan Neville Trio, with Ayla Davila, bass & Brian Andres, drums. $20 cash cover charge. byob. proof of vax, masks required. Reservations, call 586-3733 during store hours (12-6 Tues-Sun). Doors open 7:20. Show at 7:30. Click here or on the picture above to hear Dan’s quartet date here in February 2021.

Trombonist Mara Fox has amazed audiences all over the world for more than two decades, working in jazz, R&B, Latin and classical contexts. She’s recorded and toured internationally with Conjunto Cespedes, and with the Klezmorim. Locally, she plays with the Pacific Mambo Orchestra (2013 Grammy Award Winner for “Tropical Island” as Best Latin Album), the Montclair Women’s Big Band, The Purple Ones, Paula Harris and the Beasts of Blues. She’s also played with the Berkeley Symphony, the San Francisco Sinfonietta, the Mike Vax Big Band and countless other ensembles. Tonight, she brings the fire to the Bird & Beckett bandstand with a quartet assembled by Scott Foster, Bird & Beckett’s favorite guitarist bar none since he first crossed our stage right after the turn of the century. Scott has been a regular feature of our programming from the start. Says Scott, “It will be a fun trip down memory lane…