Saturday evening, March 28, 2020, jazz flautist Gerald Beckett led a trio to celebrate the release of his new album, “MOOD,” replete with beautiful originals from Gerald’s pen and solid gems from Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Harold Mabern, Wynton Marsalis and Cyrus Chestnut. Gerald leads a pantheon of great Bay Area jazz talent on “MOOD,” including his sidemen for the evening’s concert, Ari Caprow on guitar and Carl Herder on upright bass. It was a beautiful night. You can listen to it by going to our facebook page and choosing “videos” and browsing through… but for your convenience, here’s the link. It was such an exquisite show, as we’re sure you’ll agree!

Sadly, we had to then pause for a minute and reassess, causing us to postpone the promised Todd Swenson/Derek Evans date planned for 3/29. Too much doubt existed at that crucial moment about how easily spread this covid19 is, and we suddenly feel it was wrong to subject our much loved musicians to the risk of contracting it from casual contact during the few hours they would be here performing.  By Friday, April 3rd, we were ready to proceed, only presenting solo and cohabitating performers with only the bookshop proprietor present as technical staff, and so the jazz flame will burn on!

Bird & Beckett’s live streams during this pandemic period are providing some sorely needed income for Bay Area professional musicians whose livelihoods are slammed by the current circumstances. Click here to DONATE if you possibly can! $20 is a nice amount, and more is more than welcome — but if your own economic circumstances are dire, then listen free and take heart. Music is something we can’t live without. And live we must! To find the videos recently streamed, use this link.