Store Anniversary Celebration!

Founded in May 1999 at 2788 Diamond,
Bird & Beckett is 16 years old this month!

Tonight, May 22nd, it’s a special “Founders’ Reunion”
of the Friday evening “jazz in the bookshop” series leaders:

Chuck Peterson, reeds
Scott Foster, guitar
Don Prell, bass
Jimmy Ryan, drums

with special guests
Dorothy Lefkovits, vocals
Rick Elmore, trombone
Howie Dudune, reeds

Chuck Peterson started our Friday evening “jazz in the bookshop” series back in late 2002, and the series has never faltered.

In all these years, we’ve never missed a Friday! Never!

Tonight we’re celebrating the store’s 16th anniversary by bringing the original players in our cornerstone “jazz in the bookshop” series together for this special anniversary date, 

In the fall of 2002, Chuck proposed we host a jazz trio every Friday– he’d bring in the musicians if I would guarantee them a place to play. No question in my mind. We had had several live jazz dates scattered over the preceding couple of years, but doing a weekly show sounded like just the thing. Chuck said not to worry about the money, but we always did. It ain’t right to ask artists to work for free, is it? So we started leaning on the patrons to pony up, and pony up they have. So thanks to you all it keeps going.

Back at the start, Chuck first enlisted bassist Don Prell for the date, and then guitarist Scott Foster — who had been playing regularly with Don and Chuck down at the Bayview Boat Club. Drummer Jimmy Ryan, an associate of Chuck’s from times gone by, quickly expanded the trio to a quartet after passing through the store on another gig and noticing the sign about Chuck’s trio. So that was the basic unit.

Chuck’s close friend Bill Perkins, a lovely tenor sax player and an accomplished arranger, was soon added, sharing front line duties with Chuck. Bill doesn’t play anymore, but Howie Dudune will fill his shoes for the occasion.

Singer Dorothy Lefkovits was holding down her own once-a-month date at the shop, and now she’s a regular on Fridays. Trombonist Rick Elmore became a key regular in the band somewhere along the way and will come in to join the fun.

Each of the four core guys leads his own date now on Fridays — Don on the first Friday, Jimmy on the second, Scott on the third and Chuck on the fourth.  We’re looking forward with great eagerness to hearing the four of them share the bandstand once again!

First set:
The core “founders” quintet (with Howie in Bill Perkins’ place).

Second set:
The quintet joined by Dorothy Lefkovits
and Rick Elmore for a few tunes.

Help us celebrate! Glen Park has been very good to Bird & Beckett all these years, and we try to do what we can to give back to the neighborhood!