Guitarist Scott Foster brings Bruce Ackley back to the stage with David Brandt on drums, and with the addition of Pete Schmitt on bass. They’ll be expanding on a trio foray into Ackley’s original compositions that began here in January 17th, in the winter of the year… a deep dive into Ackley’s fascinating musical mind. Scott has been a cornerstone of the B&B jazz edifice from the start, 20 years and counting! BYOB, a mask and $20 cash for the cover charge. Live in the shop, of course, and also streamed on YouTube and Facebook. If you view a substantial part of the evening online, please donate if you’re able. Your donations help us pay the musicians a fair wage, and also help to make the stream viable. Many thanks to our many supporters who donate habitually and generously! New donors fill our sails as we forge on and are…

The late great poet Al Young said of Avotcja, “Introducing herself as storyteller, ‘wild woman,’ a ‘bonafide sound junkie,’ nothing slows or dampens Avotcja’s passion for the power and wonder of music. Guided by ancient, ancestral wisdom, she refuses to separate poetry and storytelling from song or dance. In ‘Blue to the Bone,’ her rhapsodic tribute to Oakland’s uncrowned poet laureate, Reginald Lockett (1947-2008), musician-poet-broadcaster Avotcja could just as well be describing her own esthetic. ‘Reggie was the real deal,’ she croons. Melodically keyed to what she calls ‘la palabra musical,’ Avotcja’s rhythmic testament–decades in the making–celebrates the world-changing spirit of human creativity while condemning its cold-blooded, tone-deaf assassins.” Avotcja’s poems through 2013, along with prose fiction and other writings, are collected in her book With Every Step I Take (Taurean Horn Press). Kelliane Parker’s collection of poems Down the Foggy Streets of My Mind: Portal to Dissociation, was recently…

Pianist Art Lande is a legendary and unique figure on the jazz landscape, has been so for five decades or more, and we’re pleased & honored to present him again at Bird & Beckett tonight, this time in the context of a trio that has been coming together to create some beautiful music for the past ten years. The centerpiece of tonight’s performance is a project of the saxophonist Carl Schultz, with Art and guitarist Tim Wendel, evidenced by the newly released cd “ACT reAct”, recorded in Denver, Colorado on July 30/31, 2020. The trio is presenting their music in three dates this weekend around the Bay Area, of which the Bird & Beckett date is the last before they return to their respective bases. Catch them before they’re gone! _______ BYOB, a mask and $20 cash for the cover charge. Doors open at 7:20pm for the 7:30 show. For…

Kelley Cutler has worked with the unhoused population in San Francisco for the last 20 years. She accompanied Lelani Farha, United Nations special rapporteur on adequate housing, on Farha’s 2018 visit to San Francisco to observe and assess the human rights emergencies on our streets. From that visit, Farha found the City to be in violation of the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Read journalist Denise Sullivan’s January 2022 SF Examiner piece on the recent Tenderloin Emergency Plan, drawing on insights from Cutler and other activists, at this link. In a live stream from Bird & Beckett Sunday, 4/10/22, at 10 a.m., Cutler and Sullivan will discuss the current situation. The live stream can be found on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. The conversation will stay up on both platforms for viewing after the fact as well. Denise Sullivan presents a live-streamed series of morning discussions…

The Late Show: Darren Johnston’s Double Detour doubles down tonight… a return engagement after their March 12 debut! If you caught that one, you’ll want to catch this one. And if you didn’t, then you will! Darren Johnston – trumpet Ben Goldberg – clarinet Jeff Denson – bass Gerald Cleaver – drums What’s the music like? It’s an avant garde foray into the fabulous. Serious fun! Here’s a link to the video of the first outing: March 12 Double Detour Date BYOB, a mask and $20 cash for the cover charge. Doors open at 8:50pm for the 9:00 show. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Reservations will be held only until showtime at 9:00pm, then we’ll make the seats available to those waiting on line. Can’t make it to the show? Check it out in the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page.

EAST MEETS WEST! ROBERTA DONNAY & KEITH SAUNDERS (WEST!) with HARVIE S & RONI BEN-HUR (EAST!) plus guest artist Noel Jewkes BYOB, a mask and $20 cash for the cover charge. Doors open at 6:50pm for the 7:00 show. NOTE THE EARLY START – 7PM! Tonight there’s a 9PM band as well (separate admission) For a reservation, call us at the shop at 415-586-3733. We’ll hold  your seat until the 7:00 start, but then will give it up if someone’s at the door who needs a seat! Can’t make it to the show? Check it out in the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. *************************************************************** ROBERTA DONNAY  singer / recording artist / producer / composer Award-winning singer and composer, Donnay is considered one of the top 521 Jazz Singers in “The Jazz Singer”. “Roberta is a consummate performer and producer. Her passion for the roots of jazz music…

Don Beck, trumpet Tammy Lynne Hall, piano Ravi Abcarian, bass Jack Dorsey, drums BYOB, a mask and $20 cash for the cover charge. Doors open at 7:20pm for the 7:30 show. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. We’ll hold your seat ’til showtime. Can’t make it to the show? Check it out in the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. San Francisco Bay Area based composer and jazz bassist Ravi Abcarian started learning guitar at the age of seven and began playing bass when his high school jazz band director challenged him to switch from electric guitar to upright bass. Ravi went on to join the house band for a weekly jam session at the famed jazz venue Yoshi’s Oakland. There, he met and began working with many of the Bay Area’s great musicians, including Faye Carol, Edwin Kelly and Smiley Winters. By his mid-twenties he was…

Urban School Band director & Performing Arts Department Chair Scott Foster — a cornerstone of Bird & Beckett’s Friday jazz programming for two decades — brings in an 11-piece student ensemble. Come hear what the youth can do! A jam session led by drummer Akira Tana follows. With Michael Zisman on bass and Keith Saunders, this trio comprises three musicians with decades of high level professional experience and respect on both coasts. The jam session is open to student & aspiring jazz musicians from throughout the region. Bird & Beckett and Jazz in the Neighborhood present a student combo + jam session with a professional trio on the first Sunday of each month, to help develop a new generation of jazz musicians that will keep San Francisco in the forefront of the music. Your patronage and financial support are a major part of the equation! The students in the combo…

The Sun’s Not Broken A Cloud’s Just In the Way – 2nd Edition. Early childhood educator & long-time social justice advocate Sydney Gurwitz Clemens — a Glen Park neighbor for many decades — brings a lifetime of progressive philosophy and experience to bear when encountering the youngest children, meeting them on their own turf, offering them respect for their wisdom, curiosity, reasoning power and goodwill, and aiding in their learning and development. Sydney’s book, The Sun’s Not Broken, A Cloud’s Just in the Way is a valuable tool for parents, teachers and friends in relating to young children and clearing the way for them to flower and grow. Come out this Sunday afternoon to join Sydney & her friends, celebrating her book and her life working with, and listening to, little kids! No reservations required; no charge. Beverages & snacks on us.  

Noel Jewkes is a legend among Bay Area jazz cognoscenti for his 6+ decades on the scene as a master of the tenor saxophone and a number of allied instrument, a disciple of the great Lester Young, an expert in swing. Come hear him with a rhythm section comprising long-time associates, among the best in the business — pianist Grant Levin, bassist Chris Amberger and drummer Mark Lee. Jazz the way we like it! $20 cash cover charge;  byob, proof of vax; mask. For a reservations, call the bookshop at 415-586-3733. Doors open at 7:20 for the 7:30 show, and reservations are forfeited at showtime. Can’t make it to the show? Check it out in the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page.      

Henry Miller, the great novelist and essayist of mid-century (20th) American letters, Brooklyn-Paris-Big Sur, wrote prolifically on poets, particularly D.H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound (Henry’s crazy brilliant essay on Money and How It Got That Way is a reply to Pound) and of Arthur Rimbaud. Walker will ponder Miller’s thoughts, working Dante into the equation in the process, noting a certain commonality in their individual infernos and idealizations. Live stream only, on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel and Facebook page. Donate per the info on the screen to help us pay Walker for his thoughts and to keep the live streams coming.

Jazz musicians, this one’s for you. Drummer Vince Lateano leads the session with Peter Barshay on bass and Ben Stolorow on piano. No fee to play. Audience, bring a $20 to help us pay the rhythm section. BYOB Find the live stream on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel and Facebook page. Donate per the info on the screen to help us pay the trio and to keep the live streams coming.

Jessy Spino has toured through a couple of times in the past five years from Los Angeles with the band Girl Fry, playing  music she characterizes as melodic punk, centered on the guitar and charango, an Andean lute, plus bass guitar. Jessy is coming through solo this time to play with artist and musician Tasya Abbot. Come out and pay what you can. $10-20 preferably. We need your help to round up funds for the musicians. https://underneaththis.com/?s=spino https://girlfry.tumblr.com/ $10-20 cash cover charge; BYOB; proof of vaccination, a mask. Seating at 5:50pm. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Can’t make it to the show? Check it out in the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page.  

This afternoon at Bird & Beckett, Patrick James Dunagan calls to assembly a beatific crew to celebrate a legendary and ’til now unpublished work by poet David Meltzer.  Julie Rogers, Marina Lazzara,  Micah Ballard, Garrett Caples, Neeli Cherkovski, Gene Berson, Agneta Falk Hirschman, Sarah Menefee and Genny Lim read on the occasion of the publication of the storied poet’s Rock Tao, just released by Danny Rosen’s invaluable Lithic Press, of Colorado, & beautifully rendered by Lithic’s Kyle Harvey. The publication of Rock Tao brings to light a work that the Hawleys’ much fabled Oyez Press midwifed but left unpublished, save for some segments found in B&B’s own Amerarcana / Shuffleboil a few short years back, shaped by Nicholas James Whittington under the gaze of the grand master himself & his shrewd & wise sidekick Steve Dickison.   Rock Tao is David’s 1965 assemblage taking exuberant measure of a distressing time, the…

Always a good time when the In Crowd gathers at Bird & Beckett. Eric Shifrin, piano Rick Brown, trombone Chuck Bennett, bass Mark Lee, drums $20 cash cover charge; BYOB; proof of vaccination, a mask. Doors open at 7:20pm. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Can’t make it to the show? Check it out in the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page.