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!

Saturday, November 16th – 7:30-9:30pm
Citta di Vitti, a trio!

Phillip Greenlief, saxophone.
Lisa Mezzacappa, bass.
Jason Levis, drums.

$20 cover charge. byob.
Teens and students $10.
Kids free.

Three titans of the Bay Area’s avant garde jazz world reunite in a project seventeen years on.

Phillip Greenlief writes, “Several years ago (2007, if i am not mistaken), I wrote nearly 40 fragments while watching Michelangelo Antonioni’s trilogy: L’AVVENTURA, LA NOTTE, L’ECLISSE, featuring the great Italian actor Monica Vitti. The music was inspired by the films in a big way, and in particular i was interested in the way Antonioni uses setting as a character, or how the environments might reflect or influence the narrative.

“Once I developed the fragments into compositions, I contacted Lisa and Jason … for many years they had worked as DUO B, and so it was irresistible to chose a bass and drum unit that had already established a deep rapport and a creative approach to composition.

“A few years went by, and Jason moved to Berlin. a few more years went by and he returned to the bay area, and now (2022) we have once again set out to make this music come alive. The compositions are as wildly divergent as Antonioni’s themes, settings, and moods. the connective tissue is Vitti herself, and again, the way environment influences action. the trilogy explores the difficulty of maintaining lasting relationships, and – I hope – this ephemeral quality is embedded into the music.”

Well, here it is late 2024 and Phillip now operates out of his new home in Maine, traveling the world and returning to the Bay Area on occasion. For instance, this occasion, as Citta di Vitti reunites once again to plumb the conflicted emotions of Antonioni with their abstracted musical response, continuing a long running conversation without words about the human condition.

 

Nothing beats an encounter live in our bookshop with the musicians, but if you’re far afield or laid up, you can view it on our on our Facebook page and YouTube, live and also after the fact.

Donate to support the stream if you can possibly afford it. Cables need to be replaced, a camera needs repair and the computers need updating. Plus, we ask: who will help fund the musicians and the stream if not you? Send your contribution via Venmo (@birdandbeckett) or Paypal ([email protected]). Thanks to the many who have already embraced their role in keeping the culture flowing! And, of course, thanks to the artists who are the workers at the core of our culture.

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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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