$20 suggested donation / pay what you can In the tradition of brother vocal duets and the classic bluegrass trio, three veteran bluegrass musicians grace the stage this afternoon.

In conversation with Alice Adams’ son, the San Francisco artist Peter Linenthal — and indulging in a slide show that captures Adams through the years — Adams’ biographer, Carol Sklenicka, brings the towering fiction writer back to life. Alice Adams, born in Virginia in 1926, raised in North Carolina, educated at Radcliffe and a long-time San Franciscan until her death in 1999, is overdue for a rediscovery, reassessment and resurgence; and that she’s getting, with this wonderfully detailed and insightful biography (Alice Adams: Portrait of a Writer, Scribner, 2019) and current reissues by Vintage of a major short story collection (The Stories of Alice Adams, Knopf, 2002) and her novel Superior Women (Knopf, 1984). Although Adams wrote fiction seriously and prolifically from a young age, her first novel, Careless Love, was published in 1966 when she was 40 years old. Soon, however, her short stories and novels were appearing in…

$20 cover charge / sliding scale available A JitN Guaranteed Fair Wage Fund date Without question, Calvin Keys is one of the greats of Bay Area jazz guitar, with a worldwide reputation and a long career under his belt. He’s released at least a dozen albums as a leader since his 1971 debut, appears as a sideman on six Ahmad Jamal albums released between 1971 and 1980, plus numerous others. His most recent, Close Enough for Love, was released by Lifeforce in 2015; Electric Keys was released by Wide Hive Records in 2013. Mr. Keys recently returned from sold out dates in Germany and France celebrating Oakland’s Black Jazz record label, which released his first two albums, Shawn Neeq (1971) and Proceed with Caution (1974). We’re pleased and proud to host Mr. Keys’ return to Bird & Beckett on February 15th, just days after a Los Angeles celebration of Black…

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated Five spectacularly talented players bring the passions of youth to the romance of Valentine’s Day.

Two poets, long-time friends, descend on Bird & Beckett this evening. Timotha, from her home a stone’s throw away and Bob, from elsewhere. Timotha, chodpa, gate player, has pilgrimaged in Tibet, Nepal and India following the footsteps of Machig Lapdron, an 11C female Buddha/saint. She has climbed to 14.8 thousand feet to sit in ancient, sacred, buttery caves with her sangha. She is a life-long torchbearer and priest on Hekate’s path. She practices Vajrayana Buddhism and western magic traditions every day. In the past, she has been a gun carrying revolutionary working in solidarity with the African People’s Socialist Party. She now participates in the movement to abolish prisons and the death penalty. She is queer. These are the myths, identity markers, signposts on the trail of an authentic life. You will not see them. She has published the broadside Taboo and a chapbook, Bahamian Journal. Timotha lives in San…

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated Riley Bandy & James Mahone, saxophones Matt Clark, piano Caroline Chung, bass Ruth Price, drums Citizens Jazz is a revolving collective of some of the Bay Area’s best up-and-coming and veteran musicians led by bassist Caroline Chung, who has been gigging professionally for over a decade playing in bands ranging from jazz and funk to Brazilian and Latin; she has studied under the late great Herbie Lewis, performs regularly in the Bay Area, and has organized several Bay Area Women in Jazz series at Red Poppy Art House. She has opened up for the Buena Vista Social Club’s last U.S. tour at Mountain Winery, as well as for Ozomatli at the New Parish with Afro-Latin funk band Sang Matiz. Each time out, the Citizens Jazz combo brings a different element of magic that happens in the spontaneity of the language of jazz and improvisation. 

$10-20 suggested donation. $5 for students/musicians/fixed income. The Seducers have had a monthly gig at Bird & Beckett for three years, playing classic, outlaw and honky tonk songs by the likes of Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Bobby Bare, plus originals and a few from left field. Look for the Seducers every second Sunday in San Francisco’s premier little bookshop/listening room. Bring a beer if that’s your inclination, but for one outing a month you’ll get a nice break from the barroom clatter that can sometimes obscure the beauty of these fabulous bits of American genius. You won’t regret it for a minute. BYOB and kick back. It all makes for a lovely way to spend a Sunday evening before returning to the working grind. Joe Goldmark, pedal steel guitar Mitch Polzak, lead guitar and vocals Hank Maninger, bass guitar and vocals Kenny Owen, drums

$25 cover charge / $15-40 sliding scale Mark Wright, trumpet Mack Rucks, trumpet Aaron Bennett, alto sax Jim Grantham, tenor sax Muziki Roberson, piano Joe McKinley, bass Alexie Berlin, drums Bay Area composers/arrangers/performers with over 20 years of collaborative experience, the Grassroots Ensemble has been gathering weekly in one configuration or another in pianist Muziki Roberson’s rehearsal studio to develop their stunning arrangements of original and classic jazz compositions. Five of the seven ensemble members coming together tonight have appeared on the Bird & Beckett stage in the past in a variety of small groups, though this is the first performance here by this ensemble of well-traveled, seasoned professionals. Listen to the hour-long interview on Wanda’s Picks at this link to gain insight into their work, then come down to the shop to hear these musicians bring the music to life.

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated Nora Stanley, saxophone Omree Gal-Oz, piano Luis Salcedo, guitar Owen Clapp, bass Matthew Buckner, drums Saxophonist, bandleader and composer Nora Stanley was born in San Francisco and raised in Berkeley. Growing up in a musical family, she attended Berkeley High and participated in the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars and Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco and any number of other such aggregations before moving to Ohio to study at Oberlin College and Conservatory with Gary Bartz, Eddie Henderson, Billy Hart and other fine teachers, earning a B.Mus. in Jazz Studies and a B.A. in Latin American Studies. She currently plays and teaches around the Bay Area, leading her own bands and playing on others’ projects. Active bands include the Nora Stanley quintet and quartet, the East of Eden Trio (with Owen Clapp and Matt Buckner), Bankshot (with Kasey Knudsen, Ben Goldberg and Andrew…

$20 cover charge; sliding scale available DjangoSphere returns to Bird & Beckett! Howard Alden, a formidable guitarist with an international reputation, is in the midst of a second West Coast tour with violinist Kit Eakle,  well known as an historian of the violin in jazz, in Kit’s project called DjangoSphere — exploring the music of Django Reinhardt and Thelonious Sphere Monk. Their DjangoSphere duo outing at Bird & Beckett two Februaries ago packed the house and brought thunderous applause and a standing ovation. In Jazz Times Magazine, writer Owen Cordie said Howard Alden “may be the best of his generation.” George Kanzler of the Newark Star Ledger proclaimed that he’s “the most impressive and creative member of a new generation of jazz guitarists.” Chip Deffaa of the New York Post observed early in Alden’s career that he’s “…one of the very finest young guitarists working today.” And the London Observer had…

Bird & Beckett is proud to present a San Francisco poet of exquisite talents and profound dedication to humanity. Beau Beausoleil’s long history as a bookseller and his many years leading the Al-Mutanabbi Street Project speak to his dedication to to the word, to the world and to the heart. Tonight, Beau will read from his recent volume of poems, Harness of Bone, and from his just-released book of new and selected poems from 1976 to present, A Glyphic House. Learn more about Beau at this link: www.narratively.com/resurrecting-the-book-market-of-baghdad    

$20 cover charge; sliding scale available Tammy Lynn Hall, piano Andrew Higgins, bass Leon Joyce, Jr., drums Tammy Lynne Hall is among the premier pianists in the Bay Area, with a richly deserved international reputation and audience. Her playing is steeped in jazz, gospel and classical influences. She is one of our most treasured artists in this music! “A musician who has much to offer in the way of originality, fine technique and a rich, emotional quality that is evident on everything she does. Her playing is warm and persuasive and a listener’s delight.” – Marian McPartland, Piano Jazz

Get the jump on Black History Month! Every February, the brilliant Chicago percussionist Kahil El’Zabar, a renowned leader in avant garde African-American music for five decades, takes his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble on the road, criss-crossing the continent with a brilliant program of music — “advanced frequencies” deeply rooted in America’s true classical music, the music we most frequently call “jazz,”  a music itself deeply rooted in four centuries of African-American experience, and rooted more deeply still in the cultures and histories of a range of African cultures from which hundreds of thousands of people were abducted, brought in chains and held in slavery. A devastating history from which a rich, beautiful and indomitable culture has flowered time and again. For the last four years, Bird & Beckett has been the first stop on the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble’s Black History Month tour. From here, Kahil, with Corey Wilkes on trumpet and…

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated It’s Macy Blackman’s Mighty Fine Trio! Macy is a piano professor of the first water. Says jazz writer Andrew Gilbert in Berkeleyside, “Macy is as comfortable rockin’ Ellington and Gershwin as he is swingin’ Joe Turner and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson.” But it’s New Orleans’ music that’s at the heart of so much of Macy Blackman’s music, ever since the mid 70’s when he began to specialize in New Orleans R&B after forming a tight bond of friendship with one of its masters, drummer Charles “Hungry” Williams. As for his trio, Nancy Wright is a hard swinging tenor player and a dynamite singer with a reputation, cds and performance history that just doesn’t quit. And bassist Bing Nathan has been the coolest cat and the hippest rhythm player on the San Francisco scene for decades.

Please join us for an evening dubbed “Writers Painting Their Voices” as author John Curl reads from his powerful novel of McCarthy era resistance, The Outlaws of Maroon, joined by poet and literary critic Jack Foley performing some of this poems in tandem with his partner Sangye Land. These writers will use their voices to paint pictures, celebrate life, and remind us of the importance of love, community, and friendship. A deeply felt critique of our times is implicit and explicit in John’s work. The recent publication of John’s novel, The Outlaws of Maroon, was spurred by a near-death experience which caused John to recognize the importance of its message for our times, and to realize that his book had to be published now. The Outlaws of Maroon is an adult novel about the world of children. In McCarthy-era New York City, fourth graders find a forgotten room in the…