Destiny Muhammad, the Harpist from the Hood, brings a reverence for her ancestor jazz harp mothers Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane to the creation of a unique sound and a personal approach to jazz standards, reimagining the past and creating original compositions. Since picking up the harp in her thirties, she has devoted untold hours to the development of her music. Performing in manifold collaborations, there’s no one like her in contemporary jazz. Her signature genre, “Celtic to Coltrane,” bears that out — cool and eclectic, with a feel of jazz & storytelling to round out the sonic experience. . “Whether interpreting jazz standards or her original tunes, Muhammad turns every piece into a soulful adventure.” Yerba Buena Gardens Festival “While certainly inspired by Alice Coltrane, Muhammad brings her own unique touch to the strings, as well as a contemporary melodic style that is exacting, whether she is working solo…

Jerry Ferraz and Michael Koch co-host Bird & Beckett’s monthly poetry reading on the first Thursday of each month, with an open mic following the featured readers. Maria Serafin, “The Word-Weave Rumbera,”  is a performance poet and percussionist, widely known for her work as leader of El Grupo Sinigual, with its 35-year history of performances from San Francisco, Los Angeles to Miami. Maria’s voice has been likened to that of salsa queen, Celia Cruz. Francisco Orrego, a poet and painter, was born in San Francisco’s Mission District and raised from ten until eighteen years of age in Medellin, Colombia. A self taught artist, he now spends his time searching for his soul as a conscious objector of human expectations.   Please bring proof of vaccination and a mask, also BYOB. No charge, though small donations help us pay an honorarium to the featured poets. Can’t get to the shop for…

Post-Thanksgiving, on Sunday, November 28, we’ll open the shop and clear the stage at 5pm for a three-hour all-comers jam session — students and old hands alike! Professional musicians, come on out. Live streamed on our facebook page or youtube channel No remuneration, except for the Keith Saunders Trio, with Eric Markowitz on bass and Akira Tana on drums — and what a trio that is, conducting the jam session! We’ll pay them each the JITN leader’s rate of $150 plus a 10% leader’s fee. They’re all leaders. Jazz is a team sport. (And, a profession. Let there by no doubt.) Everybody else? Come on out, if you have a vax card and a mask. We’ll lay in some beer and the finest water one can buy for a few bucks a bottle, and we’ll let you negotiate your way to the stage with your colleagues and the trio. ***********…

Make Bird & Beckett a stop on your holiday whirl. Keep the faith and keep swingin’ — The Cottontails make it easy! Vocalist Karina Denike and pianist Michael McIntosh have been pleasing audiences with this marvelous band at Bird & Beckett at Thanksgiving time for years and are we ever thankful to have them back! Call for reservations at 415-586-3733. BYOB, proof of vax, masks, $25 cash for the cover charge! Can’t make it to the shop, watch on our facebook page or youtube channel and donate per the hints on the screen to support the musicians and the stream!  

A fabulous band with an affinity for New Orleans–just the tonic you want and need in these times! Bounce back from your Thanksgiving indulgence, shake it down & rave it up in the company of good friends and companions! Jim Peterson, saxophone Scott Foster, guitar Joe Kyle, Jr., bass Larry Vann, drums Can’t stir from the couch? We understand! But if you watch the show from there, we hope you’ll donate to sustain the musicians and the stream. Instructions are on the screen once you’ve found the show on our facebook page or youtube channel. If you’re coming to the shop for the show, more’s the better! We’ll be happy to have your company to celebrate living, breathing culture! Jazz & it’s offshoots are the creation of African American musicians, composers, arrangers, dancers… We’re more than thankful that it’s at the base of American culture. If you’ve called for a…

Layers of mythic history teased out by Walker Brents III in his monthly talk on topics mythological, poetical, philosophical and otherwise. A recording of Walker’s 11/24/21 talk on Taoist tales can be found at this link. Bird & Beckett’s livestreams can be heard on our YouTube channel or Facebook page.

Bring a poem to the zoom! Kim Shuck, San Francisco’s 7th Poet Laureate, 2019-2021, MCs and keeps it real! The New Jersey poet William Carlos Williams wrote, It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there. San Francisco’s first poet laureate, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, noted, “Poetry is news from the frontiers of consciousness. Poetry is what we would cry out upon awakening in a dark wood in the middle of the journey of our life. Poetry is white knights and mouths of desire. Poetry is the street talk of angels and devils.” Bird and Beckett Online Open Mic Mon Nov 22, 2021 7pm – 9pm Pacific Time Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84350265713?pwd=eE84V3BYdWxiSFBHNHhmdUt1WTUzdz09 (Passcode 244211) Thanks for your poetry!

An evening of songs from and about movies, sampling silent films, cult classics, Japanese anime, and flicks that don’t yet exist (but should). Oakland-based contralto Amy Kessler has performed in opera, jazz, experimental theater, radio, symphonies, churches, and many backyards. Her love of film music and her hatred of standard recital repertoire have combined to produce REELING, in collaboration with the legendary J. Raoul Brody. The legendary Joshua Raoul Brody is probably best known these days for sitting at home and watching the leaves change. Prior to that, he was best known for his work accompanying improvisational theater (BATS Improv, Robin Williams), non-improvisational theater (literally several “one-man shows so big they take two guys, a gal, and a six-pack of beer to do them” with Merle “Ian Shoales” Kessler, and some of The Residents’ projects), non-theater (Orchestra Nostalgico, Amy Kessler, Tom Waits), and community service (Beatles Thingy). His band, the…

Larry Ochs returns to the Bird & Beckett stage, where he’s been heard with Rova and in his duo with drummer Don Robinson. Tonight, he’s invited Gerald Cleaver, drums; and Tim Perkis, electronics. Close your eyes and open your ears. You’re in for a fine ride. “Ochs’ full-bodied tenor is out of the John Coltrane/Albert Ayler ‘free’ tradition: forceful, passionate… talking-in-tongues.” –East Bay Express Call to reserve seats: (415) 586-3733. $20 cash cover charge; proof of vaccination, masks, please. BYOB. Doors open at 7:20pm; show at 7:30pm. Live streamed on our YouTube channel and Facebook page. If you watch it there, you’re still patronizing the artists & the venue. Donate! Culture ain’t free. Should it be? Search your soul, then look for your debit card. You’ll be better for it. And the artists will eat a bit better.

Bob Kenmotsu subbed for Charlie McCarthy this time out, joining Tony, Al and Glen on the bandstand. Both Bob and Charlie are stellar tenor players, so no net loss there! Click here to find a recording of the show on our YouTube channel. You’ll can also find past shows on our Facebook page under the “video” or “live” tabs. Plenty to sample! Tony Johnson’s monthly booking at Bird & Beckett is a week early in November, for mildly complicated calendar reasons… So amend your appointment book this month, and whatever you do don’t miss Tony in November — His December booking is bumped to January by Christmas… Ho Ho Humph! Anyway, we’re giving thanks to Tony on the 21st for his music and this fine band. Call for reservations! ~~415.586.3733~~ The place has been filling up a lot lately! Used to finding Scott Foster fielding a band on the third…

Don’t miss this one — the only San Francisco date for this quartet and the final date in a regional tour in support of their brand new album, The Silver Fox. The Arterik Quartet Erik Jekabson, trumpet Art Lande, piano Peter Barshay,  bass Alan Hall, drums Call the bookshop to reserve a seat! 415-586-3733 Doors open ten minutes before showtime. Reservations are highly recommended. Please bring proof of vaccination and a mask, plus $20 cash for the cover charge. BYOB No room in the room, or can’t make it to the show? View the concert in the real time on the bookshop’s youtube channel or facebook page Click here to donate to support the musicians and the live stream Erik Jekabson, Peter Barshay and Alan Hall have all been major figures on the contemporary San Francisco jazz scene for decades; and Art Lande, a Grammy nominee and one of the…

America’s favorite country band, or a hybrid thereof, in America’s favorite bookshop & honky tonk, every second Sunday from now through 2022! Tonight the Seducers and Nashville Honeymoon merge in the moonlight. It’s a Seducers Honeymoon show! Lynne Maes and Hank Maninger bring a satchel of songs & a cauldron of chemistry to the show, while pedal steel guitar master Joe Goldmark, bassist Paul Olguin and the haiku cowboy Ken Owen on drums make it all seem second nature. Tunes from the Nashville Honeymoon songbook and more. From Hank & Lynne’s songs to Joe’s instrumental gems to classics by the Merles Haggard & Travis, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, George Jones and more, this show is sure to please. If you glimpsed something about a different start time this out, ignore it. We’re solid for a 5pm start tonight. BYOB, and bring a twenty for the band…

Focus on Abortion: Americans Share Their Stories introduces the often-missing and most important voices in the abortion conversation: the voices of those who have experienced abortion, and shows us the faces of the individuals whose stories we hear. “Some doctors who didn’t even know me, didn’t speak to me, didn’t know what I looked like, got to choose my fate.” Roslyn Banish will discuss her book with an in-store audience on Sunday afternoon, November 14, beginning at 3pm sharp. Please call the store at (415) 586-3733 to reserve a seat, as audience size is limited. Proof of vaccination and masks will be required of all in attendance. The event will also be streamed live on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel and Facebook page, and archived for later viewing. In Roslyn’s book, sixty-two individuals, each of whom has had an abortion or is close to the abortion experience — including partners,…

Join San Francisco columnist Denise Sullivan for a series of morning discussions with The City’s activists, educators, arts and cultural leaders, as well as lesser-known workers, the everyday people who help make this place we call home, every second Sunday at 10 am, live streamed from Bird & Beckett Books in Glen Park. Find the stream on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. This morning, Denise’s guest is Gail Meadows, co-founder and principal of Meadows-Livingstone School. Meadows-Livingstone School was founded in San Francisco in 1979. In addition to science and math, reading and writing, the curriculum includes African civilization, percussion, dance and singing, genealogy and politics. For over 40 years, over 90 percent of her K-6 students go on to attend and graduate from universities. Read more on the Meadows-Livingstone story in SFLives https://www.sfexaminer.com/news-columnists/a-san-francisco-school-where-black-studies-start-young/ Catch Denise’s conversation with Gail in our live stream at 10am this Sunday on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page.

Karl Evangelista – guitar Rei Scampavia – keys Robert Lopez – drums Guitarist Karl Evangelista and experimental trio Grex perform “For Milford Graves,” an original composition commemorating legendary percussionist, educator and multidisciplinary researcher Milford Graves. The program will also feature pieces from Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry and Evangelista’s repertoire of Filipino American music. Evangelista ranks among a new wave of musicians pushing the traditions of jazz and experimental music. Synthesizing the heavy legacy of contemporary improvised music with popular song and 20th century composition, he explores multicultural concepts with sonic intensity and political fervor. To reserve a seat, call the bookshop at 415-586-3733 during store hours, noon to 6pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Doors open ten minutes before showtime. If you have a reservation, you must claim it by 7:30. Once the shows start, we allow anyone waiting for a seat to pay the cover and take what’s available. Please bring proof of…