$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…

San Francisco Poet Laureate Kim Shuck in association with the Academy of American Poets and Bird & Beckett Books presents Fire Thieves 7 Fire Thieves Board the Peace Train Bird and Beckett Books, 653 Chenery Street in San Francisco Wednesday, January 29th at 7pm (doors at 6:30pm) Joyce Jenkins, Gary Gach, Judy Bernhard, Val Ibarra, Milena Garrone and others share their meditations on the subject of Peace. The Fire Thieves is a monthly intergenerational poetry series that will culminate with The Fire Thieves Anthology in 2020. Each reading features 2 Elders, 2 Middle Age and 2 Youth poets performing featured sets of work at a different landmark in San Francisco each month. Bird & Beckett is a 20-year old institution in the Glen Park neighborhood of San Francisco highly regarded for both its rich stock of new and used books and for its vibrant poetry and music series (programmed by…

Jun Jun Li invites you to Bird & Beckett this evening with this promise! “Tonight, you are going to a one of the kind life experience! Storytelling by Jun Jun, Dance performance by Jun Ting, Live music, Live painting, Living souls… Looking forward to see your beautiful faces at 7pm.” Jun Li’s Deep Sea in the Seed lavishly displays her abstract expressive oil paintings and poetry. Please join us at Bird & Beckett Tuesday evening, January 28th, to hear Jun Jun read a few of her poems and discuss the paintings these poems accompany in this stunning bilingual book of her work. About the Artist/Author: I paint as I live, with an intention to show that life is about realizing possibilities. My work is a dynamic encounter with nature, perception, and challenges that lead us towards a place of insight and learning. Born and educated in China, my paintings and poetry…

$20 suggested donation; pay what you can. Pianist Grant Levin has gained great acclaim on the San Francisco jazz scene since his move here in 2001; since that time, Bird & Beckett has been pleased and honored to present him hundreds of times — and we look forward with great anticipation to his last-Sunday-of-the-month bookings through June. He will field a variety of ensembles, drawing on the wealth of fantastic jazz talent the City proudly boasts, exploring a wide range of material. We will accept a limited number of reservations for each date by phone beginning the Monday before the engagement. Should you make a reservation, you’ll need to claim your seat 15 minutes before the show. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

A rich gathering of poets will celebrate the work of Bob Kaufman, collected in a new volume from City Lights Books, edited by Neeli Cherkovski, Raymond Foye and Tate Swindell, with a forward by devorah major. Lawrence Ferlinghetti said of Kaufman, “He was an original voice. No one else talked like him. No one else wrote poetry like him.” Readers will include: devorah major Jack Hirschman Tate Swindell Gail Mitchell Neeli Cherkovski Michael Warr Agneta Falk Jessica Loos Jerry Ferraz   Kaufman’s importance as a key Beat Generation poet cannot be understated. His understanding of the post war world expressed through a surrealist and profoundly moral critical lens was unrivaled among  his peers. Read a recent New York Times review linked here of this important collection, drawn from Kaufman’s published books Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness, The Golden Sardine (now out of print), The Ancient Rain and the posthumous Cranial Guitar, and…

$20 cover charge; sliding scale available James Mahone Quartet James Mahone, saxophone Eddie Mendenhall, piano Giulio Xavier Cetto, bass Hamir Atwal, drums Two sets of jazz standards by four of the Bay Area’s very best! James Mahone got his start as a founding member of the legendary Los Angeles jazz combo called Black Note, alongside bassist Marcus Shelby. Black Note launched into the jazz stratosphere in 1991 and recorded four albums — for Billy Higgins’ World Stage Records, Red Records, Columbia and Impulse — between 1991 and 1996.

$20 suggested donation/sliding scale available. Talk about your San Francisco jazz… On the fourth Friday of each month, our weekly jazz in the bookshop series features The 230 Jones Street, Local 6 Literary Jazz Band — in direct line of descent from the Chuck Peterson Trio, which started the whole “jazz in the bookshop” thing 17 years ago. These five musicians  — Ray Loeckle, tenor sax; Jerry Logas, bari sax, clarinet, flute, vocals; Glen Deardorff, guitar; Dean Reilly, bass; Tony Johnson, drums — have all put in decades of work on the local jazz scene, dating back to the early 1950s. The band was originally formed by multi-instrumentalist Chuck Peterson (tenor sax, baritone sax, flute), who was a union activist particularly in his prime years (the 1950s and 1960s) and throughout his career, hence his nod to the address of Local 6 of the American Federation of Musicians, where he…