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!

Thursday, February 10 – 7:30pm
NYC saxophonist on tour
Ray Blue Trio

$20 cash cover charge at the door; proof of vax, masks, please.
Reservations (held until showtime only), call 415-586-3733. Audience capacity 20.
Doors open at 7:20 for the 7:30 show.
Need to take it in from home? Find the livestream at showtime
on our YouTube channel or Facebook page.

Born in Portsmouth, Virginia and raised in Peekskill, New York, and now a fixture on the NYC jazz scene, Ray Blue gained early experience there throughout the 1990s as a performer, composer, arranger and teacher while working with all manner of aspiring jazz players in small combos and clubs and building his reputation on major bandstands with master musicians including Houston Person, Barry Harris, Ornette Coleman, Benny Golson, George Coleman, Kenny Barron, Kirk Lightsey, John Gilmore, Dr. Art Davis, John Patton, Benny Powell, Eddie Henderson, Charlie Persip, Wycliff Gordon, Bernard Purdie, Ted Curson, Joe Lee Wilson, the Sun Ra Arkestra and the Cotton Club All Stars.

Ray left NYC for Europe in 2000, spending 12 years based in Germany through 2012, performing and touring as a leader, sideman and featured artist at festivals, concerts and clubs in Europe, Africa and Asia. As a cast member of the Ray Charles Show he toured through Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy from 2008 to 2010.

Since his return to the States in 2012, he’s built his New York audience & reputation anew.

Ray recorded and released his first CD as a leader, “Always With A Purpose” in 2001 and has followed that one with six more: “Live at Liars Theater I” and “Live at Liars Theater 2,” “Transvision,” “Berries,” “Blues” and “Work.”

“The songs on “Work” demonstrate an enthusiasm for old-school jazz and a swinging style. Blue’s approach finds him making his tenor sax sound like a baritone, and creating soundscapes that erase the present day, and transport listeners back in time through sound. Blue’s saxophone takes on the lyrical line, but the effect is smooth not just bleating notes per word…there is an art to the interpretation…Together, the musicians bring to life the approaches to jazz that have not been heard in decades and are a must-hear for new and veteran jazz fans.” — Dodie Miller-Gould, Napcloud Review

​At Bird & Beckett, Ray is working with two of the best — fellow New York player Sylvia Cuenca on drums and the wonderful Brian Ho on organ. Come out to experience a tenor player with a “big warm song that captures you and holds you tight.”

Staying home to take in the show online? You’ll find links above to use at showtime, but you don’t really need them. Use whatever search engine you have at hand to search for “bird & beckett youtube” and you’ll quickly get to our channel there, and at showtime you’ll see the SHOW! Click on it. Get your computer hooked up to some decent speakers, wouldya? You’ll find that pays off big time. If  you’re catching it on line, please donate to help us pay the musicians! With just a 20-person audience on hand, we run in deficit here and don’t have a trust fund or a fat stock portfolio or retirement plan to fund this. What we have is you! Broke? Let your brothers and sisters carry the load. That’s as it should be. Doing ok? Help support the musicians, the music and the venue! Thanks!

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The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project

Our events are put on under the umbrella of the nonprofit 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 501(c)(3) non-profit...
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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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