653 Chenery Street
in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood

1-415-586-3733
[email protected]

Open to walk-in trade and browsing
Tuesday to Sunday
noon to six

 

Live Streams every weekend!

Refresh your browser to catch a show in progress!
Visit our Facebook page or YouTube channel!
But nothing beats being in the room with the music & the musicians!

Monday, February 4th – 7-9 pm
Aileen Cassinetto & Connie Post read their work
POETS! every 1st & 3rd Monday
Featured readers, followed by an open mic

Hosted by Jerry Ferraz and San Francisco Poet Laureate Kim Shuck, Bird ^ Beckett’s “POETS!” series occurs on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month at 7 pm. Typically, two featured poets, always followed by an open mic. Tonight, the featured readers are the new Poet Laureate of San Mateo County, Aileen Cassinetto, and the former Poet Laureate of Livermore (2005-2009), Connie Post. Aileen Cassinetto has just begun her term as the Poet Laureate of San Mateo County. She is the author of  two poetry collections, The Pink House of Purple Yam Preserves and Other Poems (2018) and Traje de Boda (2010) as well as three chapbooks, B&O Blues (2018), The Art of Salamat (2017)  and Tweet (2017). Her work is on permanent display at the San Francisco Public Library as part of the Hay(na)ku Poetry Exhibit. She is also the publisher of Paloma Press, an independent literary press established in 2016,…

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Sunday, February 3rd – 7:30-9:30 pm
Twin Talk
Avant Garde Jazz from Chicago on Tour!

Twin Talk is on tour supporting their new, acclaimed record release “Weaver.” Read about it in Downbeat Magazine here! Since forming in 2012 Chicago’s Twin Talk has steadily drifted from the conventions of the saxophone trio. While reedist Dustin Laurenzi, bassist-singer Katie Ernst, and drummer Andrew Green are deeply rooted in jazz tradition, they’ve spent their time on the bandstand together making their music more elastic, spontaneous, and open, embracing new inspirations without stifling the improvisational heart of their work. All three musicians are active members in Chicago’s bustling jazz community, each playing in numerous working bands, but they’ve found a true collective voice as Twin Talk. They’ve used live performances as opportunities to stretch—expanding on composed material and ditching set lists in favor of calling tunes on the fly—but on their upcoming album “Weaver” they’ve pushed themselves further than ever, using the recording studio as a place for experimentation,…

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Sunday, February 3rd – 4:30-6:30 pm
Dan Neville Latin Quartet
which way west? Sunday concert series
$10-20 suggested donation

Dan Neville- vibes; Adrian Areas- Moperc tumbadoras; Brian Andres- drums;Jordan Brysk- bass.

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Saturday, February 2nd – 7:30–10:00 pm
The Hard Bop Collective

The Jazz Philanthropists Union presents… The Hard Bop Collective Daniel Casares, tenor sax; Jordan Samuels, guitar; Tomoko Funaki, bass Austin Lee Harris, drums Swingin’ and boppin’ since 2011 for San Francisco’s party set! Come for a preview of their brand new recording, “Too True to Be True.” $20 cover charge; $10 for students, musicians and limited income. $20 cover charge; $10 for students, musicians, limited income <em>jazz club! </em>when lights are low… every Saturday night</strong>

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Friday, February 1st – 9:00-11:00 pm,
our late show returns, for one night only, to present
Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
~ ~ ~ The “Be Known” Tour ~ ~ ~
Welcome to Black History Month!

Bird & Beckett is pleased to welcome Kahil and the Ensemble back for its third annual appearance on our stage! And that’s not counting the date when Kahil brought saxophone titan David Murray in for a duo date back in 2017! The EHE is on tour in support of the documentary film “Be Known.” View a clip from the film here! https://vimeopro.com/user1790076/be-known The story of life on the road for El’Zabar and the EHE is vividly depicted in the film. Their tours are rigorous and Kahil’s personal life is complicated, yet his unique genius shines through. Narrated by the filmmaker Dwayne Johnson-Cochran, “Be Known” is a raw look at music at its creation. Executive Producers Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance.

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Friday, February 1st – 5:30-8:00 pm
Rob Reich Swings Left
Album Release!
jazz in the bookshop
every Friday since 2002

Rob Reich – piano; Andrew Stephens – trumpet; Ben Goldberg – clarinet; Ollie Dudek – bass; Eric Garland – drums. Brand new cd! This is a fabulous band that plays for swing dancers from its own unique bag… well worth listening to in Bird & Beckett’s cozy concert setting to catch the extraordinary talent that makes it work so well. But you’re welcome to claim a few square feet between the bookcases to dance if you’re determined to do so. We’d be delighted. Regardless, you’ll be delighted with what you hear! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6-kTKPWYrQ The music is rooted in the classic swing era of the late 1930s. Featuring classic arrangements of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Artie Shaw, “Swings Left” branches off from there and also features Reich’s original music in the style, combining a hot rhythm with a cool sensibility. $10-20 suggested donation; $5-10 suggested for students, musicians, limited…

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Sunday, January 27th – 4:30-6:30 pm
The Grant Levin Trio, featuring
Chris Amberger and Jeff Minnieweather
$10-15 suggested donation; students $5

Grant Levin, piano; Chris Amberger, bass; Jeff Minnieweather, drums. Like a fine Teddy Wilson trio record, this afternoon will delight you. Guaranteed!

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Sunday, January 27th – 2:30-4:00 pm
Walker Talks!
The 12th century Persian poet, Attar

Attar, “the perfumer,” allegorist of the heart in its many voices and guises as it wanders its way toward the deep truth. The inspirational abundance of this timeless poet transvalues all notions of genre, imparting strength and grace to contemporary free verse as well as encompassing the spiritual quest-theme with a thousand intuitive patterns! Walker Brents III delves into topics poetic, philosophical and mythological once a month at Bird & Beckett, save the summer months, on the last Sunday of each month.

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Saturday, January 26th – 7:30-10:00 pm
Ritmojito
jazz club! when lights are low… every Saturday night

$20 cover charge; $10 for students, musicians, limited income Ritmojito features vocalist Sandra Aran, with Richard Nelson Hall on piano, Dean Muench on bass and Dan Foltz, drums. Superbly crafted songs with deep latin jazz grooves, salsa to ska to samba. This date is subsidized by Jazz in the Neighborhood’s Guaranteed Fair Wage Fund, augmenting your donations and our commitment, so that the musicians can earn $150 each for the gig! Please come with cash for the cover charge.

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Friday, January 25th – 5:30-8:00 pm
230 Jones Street
jazz in the bookshop
every Friday since 2002
$10-20 suggested donation per solvent adult

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 — aka The Chuck Peterson Quintet — five musicians whose history on the local jazz scene dates back 60 years, to the very early 1950s. Read more here.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!
store opens at 6pm for our 7pm reading

POETS! & LAUREATES!
Monday, January 21st – 7-9 pm
Camincha Benvenutto & Jacki Rigoni
followed by an open mic

Camincha Benvenutto is Poet Laureate of Pacifica Jacki Rigoni is Poet Laureate of Belmont A reading we anticipate with great pleasure… as we do your participation in the open mic, or simply your ears & minds! Camincha Benvenutto has been writing poetry since age 13, though she found little time to write while raising her children. She is a published author of one book of poetry and four novels, all of a little different genre, some short stories, one historic fiction. She’s currently working on another book — a pictorial memoir. She has more than 300 poems written, most have never been published. Her published work, however, is available through the San Mateo County and San Francisco County library systems. She’s is listed in the directory of American poets and fiction writers and is a member of PEN International. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting Camincha in readings several times…

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Sunday, January 20th – 4:30pm
Two Car Funeral

$10-20 suggested donation; $5-10 for students, musicians, limited income Two Car Funeral is an Americana band showcasing the solo voice, acoustic guitar and harmonica of West-Virginia-born baritone Stephen Yerkey. Yerkey writes and sings of railroad workers, robber barons, short pants, love and despair, Algiers and lighthouse keeping. Two Car Funeral fuses country, jazz, folk and blues, and rich storytelling. Yerkey, who writes most of the band’s material, and Lance Campbell, the band’s drummer, both came to San Francisco from Kentucky and played in the same band, Nonfiction, in California from 1977 to 1987. After talking for the last several years about having another band, they formed Two Car Funeral, with Joe Gore on guitar and Scott Leftridge on bass. Yerkey has been on NPR, has toured a bit in the States and Europe, and has issued three albums since his days in Nonfiction, which issued an albumin 1986. Joe Gore…

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Saturday, January 19th – 7:30–10:00 pm
Scott Amendola Trio
jazz club! when lights are low… every Saturday night

The Jazz Philanthropists Union presents… Karl Evangelista, guitar Jason Hoopes, bass Scott Amendola, drums $20 cover charge; $10 for students, musicians, low income “If Scott Amendola didn’t exist, the San Francisco music scene would have to invent him.” – Derk Richardson, San Francisco Bay Guardian Scott Amendola is a gleefully funny guy, and a brilliant musician to boot. He engages everyone he meets, musically and in yr average neighborhood bookstore. We’re glad he’s coming, in such company! Do come! In some circles, Amendola is best known for his intermittent two-decade collaborationwith seven-string guitar wizard Charlie Hunter, with whom he connected shortly aftermoving to the Bay Area in 1992. They went on to play together with John Schott and Will Bernard in the three-guitar-and-drums combo T.J. Kirk, which earned a Grammynomination for its eponymous 1996 debut album. After years of occasional gigs, theyteamed up again in 2011 in a tough and…

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Friday, January 18th – 5:30-8:00 pm
Scott Foster Quintet plays bebop!
jazz in the bookshop, every Friday since October 2002
$10-20 suggested donation
 

Scott Foster leads a quintet featuring the handsome Henry Hung on trumpet, mighty Joe Cohen on tenor sax, thumpin’ Aaron Cohn, a player of filigree & facility, on bass, and slammin’ Mike Quigg on drums. This is an homage to Jimmy Ryan’s Bird & Beckett Bebop Band! Some bebop, some Monk, some jazz standards! With Mike sitting in Jimmy’s chair, the band is made up of players that put in fertile years with Jimmy here at the bookshop!

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Sunday, January 13th – 7:30-10:00 pm
Take a walk in the warm rain
It’s the Seducers Honeymoon Edition!
Classic, Outlaw & Honky Tonk Country Music

$10-20 suggested donation; $5 suggested for students / musicians / modest means The Nashville Honeymoon Edition Lynne Maes, vocalsHank Maninger, vocals & guitarJoe Goldmark, pedal steelTim Wagar, bassKenny Owen, drums From Highway 99 down through Bakersfield , to the turnpikes of Pennsylvania, to the streets of Baltimore — this country music is at home in the jukebox of any honky tonk you call home.

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SUPPORT BIRD & BECKETT - DONATE TODAY!

Your donation to the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project helps us pay for a multitude of operating expenses necessary to present, promote and preserve local music, poetry, and more.

Help us keep the arts alive and thriving!

The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project was created in 2007 "to present, document and archive the creative work of significant living writers and musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, for a neighborhood audience and future generations." We've been doing that very thing for more than a decade and a half, continuing the work we began when the store was established in 1999.

Due to lapses in tax filings during and post-pandemic, the BBCLP's status as a registered nonprofit was suspended at the beginning of April 2024 while we reapply, which is expected to take about six months. Donations made after April 1st will not be tax-deductible until nonprofit status is restored.

However, we continue to present a full slate of programming live music and poetry, and producing literary chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support in the interim. If a tax-deduction is not a major reason for your support to date, we hope you'll continue to ride with us while we navigate these next several months.

Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above, drop off a check at the bookshop, or drop one in the mail to:

Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131

Call us at (415) 586-3733 to find out how else you might lend your support.

TAKE OUR SURVEY

To take our SURVEY, click here, and help the BBCLP get to know you better! As Duke Ellington always said, we love you madly...

The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project

Our events are put on under the umbrella of the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (the "BBCLP"). That's how we fund our ambitious schedule of 300 or so concerts and literary events every year.

The BBCLP is a [Read More ]

 


The Independent Musicians Alliance

Gigging musicians! You have nothing to lose but your lack of a collective voice to achieve fair wages for your work!
The IMA can be a conduit for you, if you join in to make it work.

https://www.independentmusiciansalliance.org/

Read more here - Andy Gilbert's Feb 25 article about the IMA from KQED's site

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