Gaea Schell, piano, flute & vocal Dan Neville, vibes David Pinto, bass Carlos Ramirez, congas   As drummer Albert ‘Tootie’ Heath has said, Gaea “plays the heck out of the piano with them small hands.” Read more at http://www.gaeaschell.com/

Josiah Luis Aldrete, a founding member of the Molotov Mouths Outspoken Word Troupe, joins forces with fellow poet Tongo Eisen-Martin, to call the troupe to assembly at Bird & Beckett for an evening of incendiary expression! The Molotov Mouths — 3 women and 4 men from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds: Chilean-born Ananda Esteva, queer activist Dani Montgomery, performance poet Raw Knowledge, housing rights organizer James Tracy (editor of The Civil Disobedience Handbook), African-American essayist and disabled rights activist Leroy Moore, the late & sorely missed Chicano poet George Tirado and Spanglish storyteller Josiah Luis Aldrete — made their presence well known in Mission District and other venues early this decade, and published an anthology of their work in 2013. Free event; donations to the poets encouraged, accepted and appreciated!

The Cottontails jump, jive & wail through two sets of rollicking jazz, blues and R&B drawing on music from the 1920s through the 1940s. Karina Denike, vocals Michael McIntosh, piano Tom Griesser, tenor saxophone & clarinet Joe Kyle, Jr., bass Randy Lee Odell, drums

The thought of Norman O. Brown.  A gifted teacher, the arc of whose work goes all the way from the crypto-freudian utopianism of the 1960s to the offering of a crucial alternative to the divisive “clash of civilizations” interpretation of contemporary cultural conflict.  A visionary symbolic thinker, and a staunchly compassionate humanist as well.

The Jazz Philanthropists Union presents… at jazz club! when lights are low… The New Squatoolas play good-time jazz drenched in the traditions of New Orleans! Jim Peterson, sax Scott Foster, guitar Joe Kyle, Jr., bass Larry Vann, drums

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 — a swinging, bop-oriented quintet that bears a direct line of descent from the trio led by tenor player Chuck Peterson that launched our tradition of weekly Friday evening jazz parties back in October 2002. Since that first date, we’ve never skipped a single Friday, and so it goes! Chuck established and named the 230 Jones Street quintet around 2010, and though he retired up to Santa Rosa a couple of years ago, the quintet continues as a cornerstone of Bird & Beckett’s jazz programming. Chuck’s colleagues who make up the 230 Jones Street band today share a history on the local jazz scene that dates back 60 years or more, to early 1950s and 1960s. Ray Loeckle, tenor sax;…

Jack Hirschman, San Francisco’s 4th poet laureate, between devorah major and Diane di Prima, and one of the most productive poets to have held that position, is one of our favorite people in the world and a magnificent and prolific poet. He’s also unwaveringly committed to and the champion of the masses of individual humans who live, breath, celebrate life and fight for justice, and bear with admirable grace, courage and fierceness, the brunt of society’s economic oppression and societal indifference. Kitty Costello’s immigrant, working-class heritage and upbringing, her thirty years’ work for the San Francisco Public Library, Shaolin kung fu practice and experience as a social justice organizer and healer has brought her far. She is literary trustee for native Alaskan writer Mary TallMountain, created a library archive for the 70-year-old San Francisco Writers Workshop and is writing a history of that group. The publisher Freedom Voices, with whom she has…

November 18th is the birthday of the trumpeter Don Cherry, well known as one of the pioneers in the “Free Jazz” movement alongside Ornette Coleman.  To celebrate, there will be a special performance of Don Cherry’s album “Complete Communion” featuring John Wiitala on bass, Hamir Atwal on drums, Matt Zebley on alto sax, and Henry Hung on trumpet.  There will be a pre-show talk at 7:00pm about Don Cherry and his artistic career. Please join us on this special celebration of Don Cherry’s music on his birthday.    

A folk duo that plays with all the love in the heart, and all the plain ol’ joy and mischieviousness that the genre allows! Bird & Beckett presents this date in the fond memory of Marlene Aron!

Just a few years ago, Stephany Wilkes walked away from tech into the legs of critters like this, shears in hand! She had wondered just why she couldn’t buy locally sourced wool yarn to knit with, and next thing she knew she was diving deep into all things sheep. Shearing was (to her) just the logical next step. She took that step and quite a few more, and has this excellent book to hip you to a constellation of sheep thoughts. She lives in your neighborhood, right here in Glen Park, but travels the west shearing these critters. There’s much more to be gleaned about Stephany’s sheep & wool immersion – check the bio page at her site! stephanywilkes.com Read about Stephany in the current issue of the Glen Park News at this link: http://www.glenparkassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/GPN-Fall-2018.pdf And read more here: https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2018/10/q-with-stephany-wilkes.html

The Jazz Philanthropists Union presents… at Bird & Beckett’s Saturday night jazz club! when lights are low… November 17, 2018 – 7:30-10pm Three young cats and a grizzled jazz veteran: The Kai Lyons Quartet Kai Lyons, guitar Parker Grant, piano Robb Fisher, bass Brandon Etzler, drums This quartet has been working together weekly for the past three years at the Mystic Room, formerly called the Burritt Room, in San Francisco’s Union Square district. Kai Lyons is a 24-year old jazz guitarist with characteristics not heard since Bruce Forman made the scene, so they say… he swings, he’s bluesy in the extreme and he’s open to many genres of music — Afro Cuban, for sure.  Growing up in the Excelsior District to the soundtrack of his dad wailing on blues harp, he was surrounded by music and community from an early age. The first graduate of Scott Cmiel’s acclaimed classical guitar program at SOTA, up…

Ambient music while you browse the books… in the weekly series featuring and curated by Andre Custodio. The Audible Method series concludes today with solo sets and a collaboration by LX Rudis and Andre.   LX Rudis solo set and collaboration with series curator Andre Custodio on 11/17. More info and a sound clip here: http://www.edgetonerecords.com/rudis.html Note that the 11/17 will be the final show in the series (11/24 canceled due to the holiday weekend).  

A very special show tonight, as John Calloway — jazz flautist and composer, latin jazz specialist, former SF Arts Commissioner and a deeply respected educator — will front an ensemble featuring several former members of the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco (LJYE) who are now playing professionally in the Bay Area. Formed in 2001 by Arturo Riera, Sylvia Ramirez and John, the LJYE is a community grassroots organization that offers free scholarships to learn how to perform Afro-Latin jazz music. It’s been a spawning ground for some of the Bay Area’s most exciting new talent, many of whom have gone onto to play both nationally and internationally. Tonight at Bird & Beckett, they’ll be performing Latin jazz and jazz music to enrich & enliven your soul! John Calloway & Daniel Rivera, flutes Ruben Sandoval, trombone Nora Stanley – alto sax Omree Gal-Oz – piano Alex Farrell – bass Eric Mendez –…

Saxophonist David Boyce and guitarist Scott Foster have developed a knack for fantastic musical interaction when it’s just the two of them on the bandstand. Tonight, they’ll carry their dialog further and deeper. $10-15 suggested donation. $5-10 for students / musicians / low income.

2nd year! The new kids in town meet the founding crew! Students in the SF Conservatory of Music’s “Roots, Jazz & American Music” BMUS degree program host their peers from Bay Area colleges and high schools. The program was founded just last year, and the first crop of brilliant musicians, who arrived on the scene in September of 2017, have become the wise elders, welcoming a new contingent of jazz whiz kids just last month… Now there are too many to fit on one stage, so they’re mixing and matching each month, and brilliant music is made fresh each time out! Jazz is the sound of surprise, and of unalloyed pleasure! Come hear for yourself! No cover charge. Donations to support the bookshop that supports the students are very much appreciated.