Bird & Beckett’s Grants Coordinator Jenna Littlejohn hosts Third Parent Family and Youth Services co-founders Daveea Whitmire and Whitney White in a benefit to raise funds for Third Parent, an organization putting its current emphasis on delivering free meals and other support to families during the Covid-19 pandemic, with a broader goal of providing help to individuals and families with some of the little things that can be overwhelming when needs are great — help with accessing readily available resources, ranging from job preparedness to  case management, mentorship, driver license obtainment and much more. Daveea’s goal as Third Parent grows as an organization is to be the resource hub he didn’t have growing up. His passion for community connectedness inspired Daveea to pursue college and become certified in Community Health Work. Now, he and his team are putting that vision into action, and seek your support. Tune in this evening…

Join us for a celebration of this Season of Love, with two wonderful musicians in close collaboration on the bookshop stage. Share an evening with vocalist Kalil Amar Wilson and pianist Javier Santiago, two master musicians joining together to present a Holiday program wrapped up just for lovers. Children of all ages are invited to snuggle by or tune in with your special someones, while Javi and Kalil present the most romantic songs in the American Songbook, with swing, elegance and more than a touch of spice.  

We’re excited tonight to present a blazing and soulful 90-minute preview of the shape of Glen Park jazz to come, as the Simon Rowe Organ Trio, with Dave Mac Nab on guitar and Tony Johnson on drums, holds forth from the bookshop stage! The trio draws on the work of organ legends Melvin Rhyne and Larry Young, while tapping into the more recent sounds of the Larry Goldings trio. Simon Rowe — esteemed Australian jazz immigrant to the great American Midwest, veteran of the St. Louis and Indianapolis jazz scenes, educator, club owner, architect and founding director of the local music conservatory’s trailblazing jazz education program — is a Glen Park resident (lucky us!) and starting December 5th will perform with his trio for you passersby every Saturday afternoon from a Wilder Street patio just above street level a hundred yards up from Diamond Street. That will be a reliable…

Jim Peterson, saxophone Scott Foster, guitar Joe Kyle, Jr., bass Larry Vann, drums The New Squatoolas return to Bird & Beckett with their high spirited survey of the New Orleans jazz & funk scene of the 1970s and 1980s. Catch the show on Bird & Beckett’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. $20 suggested donation / pay what you can at this link You can also simply go to PayPal and send your donation to [email protected] or use the Venmo app on your smartphone and send to @birdandbeckett. Or email us your pledge and drop cash or a check by the store in the coming days. We depend upon your generosity for our ability to guarantee a “fair” wage of $150 per musician for our live stream concerts during this pandemic period of few gigs and sparse gig income!

Tony Johnson — regular drummer for Bird & Beckett’s 4th Friday anchor group the 230 Jones Street Local 6 Literary Jazz Band (aka, the Chuck Peterson In Absentia Band) — leads the Jones Street Irregulars tonight through a tight & swinging 90-minute set of bebop & standards! Bob Kenmotsu, tenor saxophone Jeffrey Burr, guitar Eric Markowitz, bass Tony Johnson, drums   Watch hopefully for the return of the 230 Jones Street band every 4th Friday starting January 22, 2021 — commemorating the Biden/Harris administration’ s third day in office! Take in our shows on Bird & Beckett’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. $20 suggested donation / pay what you can at this link You can also simply go to PayPal and send your donation to [email protected] or use the Venmo app on your smartphone and send to @birdandbeckett. Or email a pledge and drop cash or check by the shop in the coming…

William Blake is a towering and somewhat mystifying figure of the 18th Century Romantic Era in England, well known if scarcely understood for his visionary and unfathomable etchings and poetry. In parallel with his great artistic expression is a political sensibility that is at once timeless and immediate. Walker Brents III, in another of his legendary monthly talks at Bird & Beckett, will explore the arc of Blake’s politics tonight in a high wire feat of extemporaneous exposition. Says Walker, “I want to make an exploration with the theme of William Blake: Man of the Left. Maybe a corny title. Yet I find it suggestive–a visionary mystic nevertheless in intimate dialogue with the trends of his troubled times. How can it be that his point of view is so prescient? Could it be the times then are secretly connected with the times now? Industrialization, urbanization, tyranization, rumors of revolution. Mr.…

Andrew Speight – alto sax Keith Saunders – piano Essiet Essiet – bass Sylvia Cuenca – drums Bebop & Standards                 Catch the show on Bird & Beckett’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. $20 suggested donation / pay what you can at this link you can also simply go to PayPal and send your donation to [email protected] or use the Venmo app on your smartphone and send to @birdandbeckett We guarantee a “fair” wage of $150 each tonight, supplemented as your contributions allow.

Scott Foster, guitar David Boyce, saxophones Cairo McCockran, drums   Guitarist Scott Foster has been a keystone of the Bird & Beckett jazz scene since it started in 2002. Every third Friday he puts together a fresh aggregation to explore and celebrate another rich vein in the jazz gold mine.   Tonight, the trio promises a boiling cauldron of jazz! People get ready!   Catch the show on Bird & Beckett’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. $20 suggested donation / pay what you can at this link you can also simply go to PayPal and send your donation to [email protected] or use the Venmo app on your smartphone and send to @birdandbeckett your generosity allows us to guarantee a “fair” wage of $150 per musician for our live stream concerts during this pandemic period of few gigs and sparse gig income

Two sets of standards and originals from four premier Bay Area jazz talents Erik Jekabson, trumpet Dave Mac Nab, guitar John Wiitala, bass Hamir Atwal, drums Catch the show on Bird & Beckett’s  Facebook page or YouTube channel. $20 suggested donation ~~pay what you can ~~ at this link you can also simply go to PayPal and send your donation to [email protected] or use the Venmo app  and send to @birdandbeckett your generosity allows us to guarantee a “fair” wage of $150 per musician with revenue sharing of excess funds This pandemic period is a time of few gigs and sparse gig income. Thanks for supporting the musicians!

Lucky us! Catch the show on Bird & Beckett’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. $20 suggested donation / pay what you can at this link you can also simply go to PayPal and send your donation to [email protected] or use the Venmo app on your smartphone and send to @birdandbeckett your generosity allows us to guarantee a “fair” wage of $150 per musician for our live stream concerts during this pandemic period of few gigs and sparse gig income

The Americano Social Club reminds you to wear your mask, and minimize your riskier impulses… they do the same… but remind you also that you’re free in your hearts and souls, and for the very lucky ones, in the company of your very significant others… they’re pleased to offer up their music for the present occasion. You know the one we mean. Michael Zisman, ringleader of this private club with a generous membership policy, has had a long and distinguished career as a jazz bassist; for all that, this project on mandolin may be closest to his heart. At the core of the Americanos are Michael, guitarist/vocalist Jason Vanderfort and bassist Joe Kyle, Jr., with guitarist Scott Foster and the extraordinary vocalist Emily Z on board with great regularity, particularly when it comes time for the long-running monthly “Family Ruckus” at Club Deluxe, a raucous affair that prominently features two…

Drummer Sylvia Cuenca brings pianist Peter Zak and bassist Essiet Okon Essiet to Bird & Beckett Saturday evening for two sets of jazz trio work. Sylvia’s career has included four years in the Joe Henderson Quartet and eleven years in trumpeter Clark Terry’s band. All three musicians are New York-based, in the midst of major careers in the music. Family connections bring them all to the west coast on occasion and we’re the lucky musical beneficiaries of that situation. Our first encounter with Sylvia and Essiet was six years ago when they came to Bird & Beckett to play in the late, great guitarist Eddie Duran’s sextet, celebrating Eddie’s 90th birthday. In a number of configurations, Sylvia has brought groups into Bird & Beckett well over a dozen times in the past six years; and under Peter’s leadership, this trio played Bird & Beckett in the late summer of 2018.…

A throwback to the great small jazz groups of the early 1960’s, the Sanders/Larson Jazz Quintet is a mainstay of the San Francisco jazz community, honed in countless nights on the bandstand of Club Deluxe and other great Northern California venues. The quintet’s sound and style is rooted in the 60’s Blue Note era, the heyday of small group jazz. Original compositions by quintet members fit snugly with tunes by jazz legends like Hank Mobley, Miles Davis, Horace Silver and Donald Byrd. You can get a taste of the quintet’s sound at this link: https://www.clubdeluxe.co/sanderslarson-jazz-quintet Jay Standards – trumpet Scott Larson – trombone Keith Saunders – piano Eric Markowitz – bass Evan Hughes – drums Catch the show on Bird & Beckett’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. $25 suggested donation / pay what you can at this link