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!

Sunday, February 28 – 10 a.m.
Death in the Tenderloin
a conversation with editor Geoff Link and writers Marjorie Beggs and Tom Carter

“It’s never over when one person remembers you.” Sunday morning, join us for an hour’s discussion of the book Death in the Tenderloin and the individual residents whose lives are commemorated in this volume. Geoff Link, editor, and writers Marjorie Beggs and Tom Carter explore the motivations behind and circumstances surrounding the publication of this collection of obituaries written by members of the San Francisco Study Center and first published in the Tenderloin neighborhood newspaper, the Central City Extra. In 2013, just as it was losing its offices on the edge of the Tenderloin at Market and Leavenworth Streets, the San Francisco Study Center published a collection of obituaries they had been writing and publishing in the Central City Extra, a newspaper for the City’s most diverse and troubled neighborhood. The obituaries, which were written in large part to counter the anonymity that most of the subjects inhabited, were drawn…

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Saturday, February 27 – 7:30pm
The Adam Shulman Trio

Adam Shulman, organ Jeffrey Burr, guitar Smith Dobson, drums Adam’s trio will draw from the Great American Songbook and the bebop canon. Catch this show on our facebook page or youtube channel Support the musicians your donation by Paypal (to [email protected]), Venmo (@birdandbeckett) or the Cash app ($BirdBeckett). $20 is nice, but pay what you can! $20-200 sliding scale

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Friday, February 26 – 7:30pm
Dedicated to Jerry Logas:
The 230 Jones Street Irregulars
jazz live streamed from the bookshop – every Friday evening

Smith Dobson V, saxophone Keith Saunders, piano Eric Markowitz, bass Tony Johnson, drums Catch this show on our facebook page or youtube channel Support the musicians your donation by Paypal (to [email protected]), Venmo (@birdandbeckett) or the Cash app ($BirdBeckett). $20 is nice, but pay what you can! $20-200 sliding scale This outing of the 230 Jones Street Irregulars  is dedicated to the memory of Jerry Logas, who passed away a few short weeks ago. Jerry had a long and wonderful career in the music and was a frequent performer on the Bird & Beckett stage; for years he was a core member of the 230 Jones Street, Local 6 Literary Jazz Band, which held down the fourth Friday slot until early in 2020, but which is on hiatus while Covid rages. Drummer Tony Johnson keeps the flame burning meanwhile with the Irregulars. As for their colleagues in the long-running Jones…

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Thursday, February 25 – 7:30pm
Walker Brents III
Illuminates the solitary’s half-light
by way of Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy

Concerned about the fate of the sincere reader in the sincere reader’s rigorous solitude, Walker believes it might have to be Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy that will guide his thoughts this time out… a book with breadth to match its depth, not to mention its fourfold humorousness. A patchwork encyclopedia, an epic mosaic. Too grand to be pre or postmodern, it stands alone in timelessness. No matter your personal paranoia, there’s something for you here, along with more than a few good laughs. Walker talks monthly on the last Thursday of the month. Catch this one on our facebook page or youtube channel Show your appreciation for Walker’s work by sending your donation by Paypal (to [email protected]), Venmo (@birdandbeckett) or the Cash app ($BirdBeckett)  

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Sunday, February 21 – 10 a.m.
Chinatown Pretty!
Writer Valerie Luu
Live Streamed from Bird & Beckett

Inaugurating a series of occasional Sunday morning chats, Valerie Luu was at Bird & Beckett on February 21st in conversation with Jeremy Dan Fish via live stream to talk about her book, with Andria Lo, Chinatown Pretty! You can play back the conversation that took place on facebook or youtube From our pre-event post:  They’ll talk about what Valerie and her colleague, the photographer Andria Lo, found when they dove into the most pleasurable pursuit of discovering the dimensions of the fascinating, beguiling and individualized fashion sense so evident in the Bay Area’s Chinese communities once you stop to look. Send your comments and questions in the chat, and we’ll relay them to Valerie. See you Sunday morning! If you can’t catch these Sunday morning chats in real time, you’ll find them on our YouTube channel and Facebook page after the fact, so no worries. But it’ll be a nice…

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Saturday, February 20 – 7:30pm
James Mahone Quartet
live streamed jazz from Bird & Beckett

It’s been a year-plus since James and Grant made the scene at Bird & Beckett — two extraordinary musicians backed by two more extraordinary musicians. A date not to be missed! James Mahone, saxophone Grant Levin, piano Josh Thurston-Milgrom, bass Genius Wesley, drums          

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Friday, February 19 – 7:30pm
Scott Foster Quartet
jazz from the bookshop, live streamed every Friday!

Guitarist Scott Foster and his colleagues David Boyce on saxophone, Charles Thomas on bass and Cairo McCockran on drums dig deep into just a couple of notable African-American practitioners of the art as a nod to Black History Month. Among other lapidary pursuits, they’ll polish the facets of a few gems by harpist and composer Alice Coltrane and pianist McCoy Tyner, holding them to the light and enjoying their sparkle. Come along for a thoughtful and soulful dive into some beautiful and complex music! View the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page Donate to help us meet our guarantees to the artists.  

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Valentine’s Day Jazz – 3-8pm Live Stream!

Live jazz streamed from the bookshop stage on Valentine’s Day! View it at tinyurl.com/3aegq9L6 Find the schedule and donate at that same link!   Three combos live in the moment on the Bird & Beckett stage: The Simon Rowe Organ Trio The Tammy Lynne Hall Trio tbd – a quartet   Three combos presented in previously-aired streams from venues around the Bay Area: Azure McCall (Oakland Public Conservatory) Third Light (Art Boutiki) Kenny Washington with the Adam Shulman Trio (Healdsburg Jazz Festival) It’s a benefit to put a “guaranteed fair wage” in the pockets of the performers & technicians and to raise operating funds for the Independent Musicians’ Alliance!     View it at tinyurl.com/3aegq9L6 View the schedule and donate at that same link!

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Saturday, February 13 – 7:30 pm
live streamed jazz from the bookshop!
The Kai Lyons Trio

Catch jazz guitarist Kai Lyons with Giulio Xavier Cetto on bass and Genius Wesley on drums. Three musicians, young and younger still, who have been setting jazz audiences buzzing for the past several years. If you haven’t heard any one of them yet, you’ll want to tune in. If you already know their work, then you know you’ll want to tune in. Live at 7:30 on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. Help us pay the band by sending your contribution by Paypal ([email protected]), Venmo app (@birdandbeckett) or Cash app ($BirdBeckett). Or email us with your pledge and drop a check or cash by the bookshop anytime! Jazz thrives in San Francisco, beautiful and unstoppable!

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Friday, February 12 – 7:30 pm
The Rick Brown Quartet
Live streamed jazz from the bookshop

Trombonist Rick Brown’s quartet features pianist Sharman Duran, with terrific colleagues Carl Herder on bass and Pepe Jacobo on drums — a marvelous aggregation of musicians sure to offer up a fascinating 90 minutes of jazz collaboration. We’re on the hook for our traditional $600 quartet guarantee for this one. Step up to the extent you can to help us keep wonderful musicians adequately paid! Ask your rich jazz-loving uncle back east (you know, the one who’s crazy for Teagarden and Melba Liston) to tune in! We’ll give him a good pitch!

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Big doings in jazz next weekend!
Friday, Saturday & Sunday!

Hungry to hear some of Bird & Beckett’s past live streams? Scroll down to read the posts for the shows we’ve mounted in the past seven-plus months, since the pandemic lock-down began. Every time you see the “load more” button, go ahead. It’ll stop offering you that option once you’ve arrived at the first show of the current period, back on March 12th. The March 12th show that signaled the shift was a Thursday evening performance by two New York saxophonists, Jessica and Tony Jones, both alumni of the Berkeley High jazz program, with NYC bassist Stomu Takeishi and local hero Deszon X. Claiborne on drums. Their date at the Backroom across the Bay for the night before had been cancelled. A few hardy individuals showed up as audience. It was great music but few heard it, though the audio recording exists still. The March 12th show has no video; that…

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Saturday, February 6 – 7:30pm
The Dan Neville Quartet
live streamed jazz from Bird & Beckett

Another amazing aggregation graces the Bird & Beckett stage, this one led by vibraphonist Dan Neville and featuring Grammy award winning Christian Tumalan (piano), Brian Andres (drums), and Yadier Noa Chamble (bass). View the evidence here. The quartet promises throwbacks, world premieres, and original tunes/ arrangements. Don’t miss this special collaboration! This is the second date in a three-month/three-date residency for Dan during his brief time in the Bay Area. He was in Cali, Colombia for virtually all of 2020, and returns there in early April. Catch him now at Bird & Beckett. Pay what you can by Paypal ([email protected]) Venmo (@birdandbeckett) Cash app ($BirdBeckett) Cash/check also good! Email us your pledge and drop something by the shop. $20 is ideal. $2-$200 sliding scale! The musicians must be paid and its up to all of us who have the capacity to step up to the plate and get it done!…

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This weekend’s live streams…
Ollie Dudek Trio on Friday, 2/5
Dan Neville Quartet on Saturday, 2/6

Big fun ahead. Tune in on your phone, but if you’re set up for it, it’ll sound & look that much better at home with a nice screen and some good speakers. First up, this evening, The Ollie Dudek Trio — Ollie on bass and leading the charge, with a fantastic pair of musicians — Javier Santiago on piano and Geechi Taylor on drums. This will be a fabulous, classic piano trio date directed from the bass! That’s tonight, Friday, 2/5/21, at 7:30, live streamed on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. Pay what you can by Paypal, Venmo or the Cash app. See the bottom of the video screen for info on that. Or email us with your pledge and drop by with cash or a check. $20 is ideal. $2-$200 sliding scale! Support our local musicians and the venues that present them! Your psychic rewards will be huge,…

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Saturday, January 30 – 7:30pm
The Noah Frank Quartet
jazz club, live streamed every Saturday
when lights are low

A 31st birthday blowout for an exceptional young trumpeter, composer & producer. Isaac Schwartz on drums Curtis Aikens on bass Greg Jacobs on piano Noah Frank on trumpet Noah picked up the trumpet at age ten, spent five summers on the scene in NYC, busked for six months in Central Park in Manhattan and for seven months, as many as five days a week, in Golden Gate Park during the pandemic. And still he plays on. He’s barely getting started! Come to our live stream prepared to donate to his cause! Consider it your cover charge for this Saturday night jazz club date, when lights are low! $20 is nice, but $2 to $200, it’s all good. When musicians’ work is consumed for free, their ability to stay in the profession is challenged. From each according to your ability… Click on the photo below for Noah’s last outing at Bird…

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Friday, January 29 – 7:30pm
Walter Earl Trio
jazz from the bookshop, live streamed every Friday!

Walter Earl, piano Arlington Houston, bass J Paul the Drummer, drums One of San Francisco’s finest working trios, led by an extraordinary pianist. Walter Earl, 6/19/20 solo concert Catch tonight’s trio show on YouTube or Facebook, or from the screen at the top of this webpage! But be aware the stream from here (the website) is a new thing and still a bit glitchy. If you run into any trouble at all (and you might!), you’ll find the stream going just fine on our YouTube channel or Facebook page right up to 9pm. Do contribute to help us pay the band, if you’re not flat broke yourself! They have rent to pay and not nearly enough paying gigs these days. Donate generously here. $20 is nice. Two dollars or two hundred, it’s all good. We’re guaranteeing $150 per musician in our live streams during this pandemic period and rely significantly…

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Fair Play Initiative

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." We've been doing that very thing for more than a decade and a half, continuing the work we began when the store was established in 1999.

Due to lapses in tax filings during and post-pandemic, the BBCLP's status as a registered nonprofit was suspended at the beginning of April 2024 while we reapply, which is expected to take about six months. Donations made after April 1st will not be tax-deductible until nonprofit status is restored.

However, we continue to present a full slate of programming live music and poetry, and producing literary chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support in the interim. If a tax-deduction is not a major reason for your support to date, we hope you'll continue to ride with us while we navigate these next several months.

Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above, drop off a check at the bookshop, or drop one in the mail 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.

TAKE OUR SURVEY

To take our SURVEY, click here, and help the BBCLP get to know you better! As Duke Ellington always said, we love you madly...

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

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