Jim Peterson, sax Scott Foster, guitar Aaron Germain, bass Bryan Bowman, drums Jim Peterson has been playing and teaching saxophone and woodwinds in the Bay Area for more than 25 years. He started playing saxophone in his teens and went on to study with Ed Tomasi, Randy Feltz and Joe Viola at Berklee School of Music in Boston, and locally, with Bill Bell and Bill Trimble. Since settling in San Francisco, Jim has been a freelance musician and side man with variety of bands and ensembles, including Beaufunk, Mitch Woods and His Rocket 88’s, Steve Lucky and the Rumba Bums and President’s Breakfast. Jim is a founding member and composer for MoFone, Giant Trio, Mumbo Gumbo, and The New Squatoolas. He toured with both Steve Lucky and Mitch Woods, performing at various jazz festivals and venues in Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland, as well as locally…

Come browse the books! 20% off used books today only! Jerry Ferraz, majordomo of our regular twice-monthly open mic poetry series, plays guitar and sings a few songs while you browse, like he does every Sunday morning until about 1.   After Jerry wraps it up, we’ll set out the chairs for a reading by contributors to CoEditoria’s online San Francisco literary journal, “The Affinities” hosted by editors Anna Sears and Leslie Fiddler. Readers will include James Warner, Judy Viertel, Sam Gong and others. Aspiring writers, take note! Visit The Affinities website at this link. Learn more about CoEditoria at this link.  Then, grab a sandwich from the Cheese Boutique across the street and settle in for a fantastic jazz quartet led by saxophonist Jim Peterson, a long-time ace on the local scene and a favorite at Bird & Beckett as well as at Blue Bear School of Music, where he’s…

About us Consensual Bop is a Bay Area jazz quartet focusing on Early 40’s music and beyond.  Consensual Bop (CBop) is comprised of top-shelf musicians, a positive attitude, and a sincere love for the tunes. The quartet will be focusing on tunes they personally love in addition to a big chunk of their usual repertoire which is centered in the Great American Songbook.André Custodio – DrumsMark Secosh – SaxophoneBob Johns – PianoDan Keller – Bass

Geechi Taylor, trumpet and vocals Marco Casasola, piano Yafeu Tyhimba, bass Sam Gonzalez, drums Geechi Taylor is a top-flight jazz trumpet player, entertainer and educator born in Chicago and raised in the Bay Area. Immersed in music from age 13, he was educated in the area’s fine schools and music camps, receiving his most extensive early training when he was admitted to the University of California Berkeley’s Young Musicians Program. He went on to the New England Conservatory of Music on a full scholarship and returned after earning his degree to the Bay Area’s more temperate climate and rich cultural environment.  Besides gigging assiduously in any number of contexts, he’s very active as an educator, particularly in the Oaktown Jazz Workshop and the UC Berkeley Young Musicians Program from whence he came! We’re more than pleased to host his return to the Bird & Beckett bandstand! Read up on Geechi…

The droll, charming and talented Joshua Raoul Brody brings to us a singer beyond category. And we quote, “Jazz, country, standards, rock, blues, originals — Maryann Price is a stranger to none of them. “Probably best known for her tenure with the classic line-up of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, Maryann can drop names with the best of them: the Kinks (featured on Preservation Act II and the ensuing tour), Asleep At The Wheel, Dave Frishberg, and her various own ensembles.” Joshua continues, “I first met her shortly after the Hot Licks broke up, and sat in with her band the Millionaires for a little while before she moved back to Austin, where she now lives. But she’s coming back to her old stomping grounds for a whirlwind tour of intimate venues, where she will intermingle songs of all the above-mentioned genres and more with stories of her extremely…

Songs of the silk road… a reading by Mahnaz Badihian and Youssef Alaoui, with music on tambur by Raman Osman, followed by an open mic. Doors at 6:30, poets at 7:00. “Life took me through many different experiences, but art and poetry never left my side. “ Mahnaz Badihian is a poet, translator and artist whose work has been published in multiple languages worldwide and presented in several exhibits. Her publications include several books of poetry in Persian and English, and a Persian translation of Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions, which became an underground hit within Iran. Her most recent publication is a bilingual CD of poems by Rumi with Jack Hirschman called Like This!. “My brush and pen explain and explore life as it happens,” says Badihian. Currently, she resides in San Francisco, California where she runs an online multilingual literary magazine, MahMag.org and is a member of the…

Supercalifornigraphic songslinger Maurice Tani plays a variety of venues up to large rooms like Freight & Salvage in Berkeley and outdoor festivals, but once a year he stops in at the diminutive jewel in his hometown that is Bird & Beckett with his pal American bassist Mike Anderson. The room is tiny, the vibe is intimate and the interplay is engaging. $10-20 suggested contribution.

Eric Walker was a comet on the North Beach poetry scene in the late 1980s, embraced by the legends of the time. Selected poems have been freshly published in a new volume from Raymond Foye Editions. Raymond Foye Sarah Menefee George Scrivani Tate Swindell Richard Rawles Rosemary Manno Neeli Cherkovski Rudy John Tanner

A classic piano trio, led by the most remarkable pianist we know. And that’s saying a lot in a region boasting dozens of fantastic jazz pianists.  The volcanic creativity and technique of Grant Levin has been thrilling San Francisco jazz fans for the past decade and shows no signs of abating!  Grant Levin, piano Aaron Cohn, bass Rick Rivera, drums $20 cover charge; sliding scale available  

Lee Vilensky, guitar Carroll Ashby, trombone Ed Ivey, bass & brass Randy Lee Odell, drums An evening of spy/soul instrumentals with your host Randy Odell on drums and his special guests: Lee Vilensky-guitar; Ed Ivey-bass and brass; and Carroll Ashby-trombone. Culling songs and influences from ’60s spy soundtrack and Stax-era soul mixed with surf, jazz and blues, this side project is a rare opportunity not to be missed!

Natalie John – voice Emily Kuhn – trumpet Lewis Patzner – cello Giulio Cetto – bass Beau Cadigan – drums Trumpet player, composer and arranger Emily Kuhn is based in Chicago, where she is active as a bandleader, sidewoman, and educator. Her chamber jazz ensemble, Helios, which comprises nine players in its full configuration, plays original music influenced by jazz, classical music, and a variety of folk and popular music genres, arranged for a jazz rhythm section, horns, voice, and string quartet. Helios features musicians active in many music scenes across Chicago, including Mercedes Inez Martinez (vocals), Max Bessesen (woodwinds), Lucia Thomas (violin), Erendira Izguerra (violin), Christine Fliginger (viola), Danny Hoppe (cello), Evan Levine (bass), and Gustavo Cortiñas (drums). With a string quartet in lieu of a single chordal instrument, the band plays original music and arrangements that are rooted in jazz and weave between sounds from folk, popular, and…

Come celebrate the release of the eighth issue of AMERARCANA: A Bird & Beckett Review, with two readings by contributors. Robert Glück, Camille Roy, Jocelyn Saidenberg, Aaron Shurin, Kirstin Wagner, and Jamie Townsend (reading for Steve Abbott), hosted by guest editor Eric Sneathen and founding editor Nicholas James Whittington, read Wednesday, July 31, 7pm, at Bird & Beckett.      A second reading, with Bahaar Ahsan, 최 Lindsay, Angel Dominguez, Evan Kennedy, Lauren Levin, and Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta, will be held August 10, 7pm, at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley. buy a copy here, or at Bird & Beckett, Moe’s and other fine brick and mortar bookshops.   READER NOTES STEVE ABBOTT (1943-1992), whose work will be read by Jamie Townsend at the Bird & Beckett reading on July 31, was a poet, critic, editor, novelist and artist based in San Francisco. One of the original New Narrative writers, Steve was a frequent…

The New York-based quartet Elder Ones — Amirtha Kidambi (compositions, voice, harmonium and synth); Matt Nelson (saxophone), Nick Dunston (bass), and Max Jaffe (drums) — drops in to Bird & Beckett on Sunday July 28, 4:30-6:30 pm, between stops at Santa Cruz’s Kuumbwa Jazz and Oakland’s Studio Grand. $20 cover charge; sliding scale available. Bassist Lisa Mezzacappa opens with a short solo set. Elder Ones scored this assessment in the New York Times from staff writer Ben Ratliff in the New York Times, who put their debut album on his list of Top Ten Jazz & Pop records of 2016 and wrote, “The aggressive and sublime first album by the band Elder Ones, Holy Science, is a kind of gauge for how strong and flexible the scene of young musicians in New York’s improvised and experimental music world can be. At the center of it are drones and phonemes. Elder…

Kenneth E. Hartman’s sentence to life without parole was recently commuted by Governor Jerry Brown after he had spent 35 years in prison. He continues as an activist for prison and sentencing reform, as well as a writer.  This afternoon, Mr.  Hartman will read from his book, Mother California: A Story of Redemption Behind Bars, the fierce and affecting memoir of a convicted murderer, whose growing self-awareness enables him to understand his crime and achieve redemption. In 1980, Kenneth E. Hartman murdered a homeless man in a Los Angeles area park after a drug-fueled binge. Sentenced to life without the possibility of parole by the state of California, Hartman was soon considered a potent force by the system’s most brutal convicts. To the hellish chaos of a maximum-security prison he brought his own limitless propensity for violence—he often spent months at a time in solitary confinement, “the Hole.” After years in…

Harvey Wainapel, reeds Matt Clark, piano Peter Barshay, bass Bryan Bowman, drums Originals, standards, “ought to be standards” and a bit of Brazilian spice from Harvey Wainapel and friends. Two sets of top flight jazz from top drawer musicians. Saxophonist/clarinetist Harvey Wainapel has been a Bay Area mainstay since 1982. His jazz experience has led to performances and/or recordings with the likes of McCoy Tyner, Kenny Barron, Joe Henderson, Johnny Coles and the Metropole Orchestra. He has toured internationally with Ray Charles, Joe Lovano, and Airto Moreira & Flora Purim. Japan’s JAZZ LIFE called Wainapel “A musician with his own unique and deep sound.” Sax master Joe Lovano states “It’s a pleasure to listen to Harvey’s soulful interpretations.” www.harvjazz.com Pianist Matt Clark’s performance credits include saxophonists Eric Alexander, Vincent Herring, Teddy Edwards, Mark Turner, Frank Morgan, Sheldon Brown and Andrew Speight; vibraphonists Bobby Hutcherson and Stefon Harris; vocalists Madeline Eastman,…