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!
The friendliest session in town! No charge to play, but audiences! bring a twenty to help pay the trio, and whatever you want to sip. Always familiar faces and surprises in store for you at Bird & Beckett.
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At last! Neeli gets a book from City Lights, posthumously published on July 1, 2025, the 80th anniversary of Neeli’s birth! Neeli Cherkovski, born Neeli Cherry in San Bernardino California on July 1, 1945, passed away in San Francisco on March 19, 2024 at the age of 78, and is sorely missed. But reading from this wonderful volume is like spending a few hours over a succession of espressos at the Caffe Trieste with the loquacious poet and raconteur. And hearing his writing read by writers who knew and loved him well for decades is not to be missed! The good gay poet, biographer of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Charles Bukowski, chronicler of his literary forebears and colleagues, painter, friend of the common man, observer of wildlife and the wild life, lover of fountain pens, uncommon aesthete of many talents, Neeli was also a good friend of the bookshop, and we’re…
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Steve Carter, piano. Dennis Smith, bass. Billy Johnson, drums. with guest percussionist Marquinho Brasil. $20 cover charge; cash please. byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. In the early 80s, Steve Carter became a first call piano player in the thriving Bay Area Funky-Latin-Jazz scene. He was Pete Escovedo’s piano player for several years and also worked with Pete’s brother Coke’s band, Sheila E., Ray Obiedo’s band, Linda Tillery, Bill Summers and Summers Heat, Benny Rietveld, Bo Freeman, Able Zarate, Andy Narell, Billy Cobham, Vicki Randle, Will Kennedy, Malo and many others. He also lived in Tokyo for eight months and played with Japanese fusion artist Miyaura Kiyoshi. In the late 80s, Steve was a member of The Freaky Executives. The “Freakies” were picked as the best Bay Area band by every bay area publication (SF Chronicle , Oakland Tribune, East Bay Express, SJ Mercury News, etc.) for…
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Here at Bird & Beckett Books, we’ve always relied on the kindness of neighbors and strangers to make it all work; and we’ve always found that strangers don’t stay strangers long! Your tax-deductible donations to our 501(c)3 nonprofit, the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project, FEIN 261906810, are the secret sauce. Book sales and cover charges at the shows are crucial, but only go so far to fill the cornucopia of culture that you’ll find here at Bird & Beckett! You can donate through our website using PayPal. Or if you prefer, you can drop off or mail us a check made out to the “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” — write “tax-deductible donation” in the memo line. Cash is fine if you prefer. You can also donate on a recurring, monthly basis through PayPal — which is quite a wonderful way to support us. Bright moments ahead, thanks…
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The posts that follow show you what’s come and gone. Search the videos on our youtube channel or facebook page to find evidence of what you remember, or what you missed! Then, make sure you catch the next thing that catches your fancy. The live streams are great, but live music in a room with folks you know or ought to get to know, that’s irreplaceable…
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Check out Willie & the Hand Jive and a whole lot more at about the 21:30 mark in the video above… and don’t miss trumpeter Clora Bryant at 14:20!!! Li’l Bit (Gail Muldrow), guitar & vocals. Jason Thraites, guitar & banjo. Paul Lamb, bass. Nick Otis, drums. $20 cover, byob. Reservations, call 415-586-3733. Join bassist Bing Nathan and Kit Robberson–who had the distinct and memorable pleasure of booking the Johnny Otis Show for their wedding on Potrero Hill back in the summer of 1992–for a rockin’ celebration of Bing & Kit’s 33rd anniversary, featuring two sets with the Nick Otis Orchestra! Nick Otis (one of Johnny Otis’s many talented musician offspring) is a versatile drummer with an unerring sense of rhythm and groove no matter the genre. He enjoyed a long tenure behind the drumkit in his dad’s band and alongside Johnny in the family’s organic apple juice business cum…
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The 230 Jones Street Band–a quartet with Charlie McCarthy, sax; Sam Cady, piano; Chuck Bennett, bass and Tony Johnson, drums–plays jazz from swing to bop from 6pm to 8pm on Friday the 25th, and the fourth Friday of every month. __________ The Left Coast Project–Eric Scheide, saxophone; Tom Disher, piano; Tom Donald, bass; Ramiro Cairo, drums–comes in from 8:30pm to 10pm on the 25th to play originals and original takes on jazz classics. _________ $20 cover for either show; $35 for both. byob. Students – $10; kids free. For reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733.
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George Rogers – saxophone. Isaiah Harwood – piano. Graeham Guerin – upright bass. Max Simas – drums & cymbals. $20 cover charge, byob. Students, $10. For a reservation, call the bookshop at 415-586-3733. Rogers/Harwood/Guerin/Simas is a collective of contemporary jazz composers and instrumentalists with roots in both the Bay Area and Northeast Ohio. They debuted in January 2024 to a sold-out audience in Berkeley—a musical hub for three of the band members who grew up playing together. As a collective, these musicians have performed at the Back Room, Libretto, the Stowaway, and packed house concerts. As individuals, they have performed at SFJAZZ, Dizzy’s Club, Bird & Beckett, Nublu, Sam First, Lollapalooza Festival, and many more, alongside a variety of musicians including Wynton Marsalis, the Yellowjackets, members of the SFJAZZ Collective, Nicole McCabe, and Walter the Producer. The ensemble’s style synthesizes elements of traditional, modern and avant-garde jazz, while also embracing…
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“What the hell kind of church service is this?” — STEVE KOTLER, LA WEEKLY At the ungodly hour of 11 a.m. on July 20th, The Evangenitals return to Bird & Beckett with a reprise of their Moby Dick album and much, much more. Bird & Beckett’s favorite band delivers the sacrament at a National Caviar Day booking south of the slot on Saturday, and preaches to the choir at Bird & Beckett Sunday morning before loading the van to return to the Southland and their workaday world of wonder. But first… Wednesday 7/16 – 7:30-9pm. Laborfest Writers Group. no charge, but donations can’t hurt, so honor labor, and bring some cash for the writers to share! Poetry, memoir, fiction and nonfiction by rabble-rousers, activists, leftist radicals, union members, immigrants, native-born and plain old trouble-makers. The group, formed in 2005, includes Alice Elizabeth Rogoff, Barbara Saunders, Jerry Path, Keith David…
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Ben Stolorow, piano. Peter Barshay, bass. Vince Lateano, drums. featuring guest Brad Buethe, guitar. $20 cover charge, byob. Teens & undergrads & grad students $5-$10 sliding scale. kids free. Vince Lateano, a Sacramento kid, has been a mainstay of the San Francisco jazz scene since he rousted out of the U.S. Army in 1965. The drummer Johnny Markham subbed out jobs to him when Markham went out on the road with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, so Vince worked a lot right from the beginning at spots like El Matador, the Jazz Workshop, Sugar Hill, the Black Hawk, you name it, and soon was subbing out gigs himself while he went out on the road with the likes of Woody Herman and Earl “Fatha” Hines. For years, Vince led the house band at Pearl’s, on Columbus Avenue in the heart of North Beach, and has led a…
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Hot off their appearance at a National Caviar Day event last night south of the slot at St. Joseph’s Hall of Hedonism, the Juli Crockett’s Evangenitals roll into Bird & Beckett sober as a judge Sunday morning for a hot minute to raise spirits and raise the roof with their trademark alt-folk genius! You’ve heard this band many years running at El Rio’s Shit-Kicking Memorial Day Fest with regular stops at Bird & Beckett, but it’s been a few since the last one, and we’re way excited to have them back. At 1pm, they load up their van and roll back to the Southland, so catch them while you can. Get religion, Evangenitals style! This ain’t no static, this is Turbulent Flow! The Sermon: Shipmates, ya gotta tell the story, get to glory. Shipmates, ya gotta stop! There are many ways to salvation, children. Why should we choose? Try…
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Ben Ball, saxophone. Greg Jacobs, piano. Charles Thomas, bass. Michael Spencer, drums. $20 cover charge, byob. Students $10; kids free. Charles Thomas became a fixture at Bird & Beckett fifteen years ago in drummer Jimmy Ryan’s Bebop Band, alongside the fiery bop pianist Don Alberts. His history reveals much more. Charles was born in San Francisco, grew up in the Fillmore and began on cello in junior high, soon switching to bass and picking up guitar, piano and drums. He studied a wide variety of musical styles formally and informally, from Fillmore blues and San Francisco acid rock/funk, to classical and jazz, graduating with degrees in music, first from City College of San Francisco and then San Francisco State University. Over the decades, he’s been a key player in the Bay Area in the pop, reggae, jazz, and classical idioms. While completing his degrees, Charles toured the Pacific Northwest with…
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Come to our table at the Night Market on Kern Alley, just steps away from the Glen Park BART station, and buy a totebag or a t-shirt while supplies last! Or a vintage poster from one of our thousands of shows in the years gone by… Talk to some of our neighbors who have volunteered to be on hand to tell folks what Bird & Beckett is all about and to press a schedule on you… Share your own stories of Bird & Beckett with them and jot down a testimonial we can quote in the fundraising drive we’re about to launch! Even if you want to hang at the Night Market ’til the lights go out, you’ll still have time to scoot over to the store to catch the second set of our Saturday night jazz concert!
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Aaron Bennett, tenor sax. Mark Clifford, vibraphone. Kyle Bruckmann, modular synth. Brett Carson, keyboard. Jordan Glenn, drums. Lisa Mezzacappa, bass. $20-$40 sliding scale; byob. $10 for students; kids free. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Inspired by Italo Calvino’s nerdy, hilarious, lewd, poignant collection of short stories, the Cosmicomics, Lisa Mezzacappa ‘s suite of music takes its cues from Calvino’s stories that humanize and personify far-out and beautiful phenomena that defy human perception—the expansion of the universe, the origins of the planet, the mysterious relationsihp of the earth to its moon, the evolution of humans and creatures. Mezzacappa’s Cosmicomics was developed over the course of 2018, in a series of work-in-progress salons at the “spectacular Glen Park mainstay,” Bird & Beckett Books & Records, premiered in a pair of performances at Bird & Beckett and the California Jazz Conservatory, and then traveled on to the SFJAZZ Center and…
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Scott Foster, guitar. Ollie Dudek, bass. $15/adults; $5/students; kids/free. Bird & Beckett’s favorite jazz guitarist brings in a fresh aggregation of local jazz greats on the third Friday of every month. Scott has been the cornerstone of the Bird & Beckett jazz scene for nearly a quarter century, ever since the Friday happy hour show was inaugurated in 2002! Tonight, bassist Ollie Dudek joins Scott for two sets of duo interplay — musical conversations about summer and other inspiring themes, promising a low key and intimate yet lively evening of jazz.
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SUPPORT BIRD & BECKETT - DONATE TODAY!
Your donation to the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project helps us pay for a multitude of operating expenses necessary to present, promote and preserve local music, poetry, and more.
Help us keep the arts alive and thriving!
The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project was created in 2007 "to present, document and archive the creative work of significant living writers and musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, for a neighborhood audience and future generations," continuing the work we began when the store was established in 1999.
We continue to present a full slate of programming of live music and poetry readings, and produce a literary journal and poetry chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support by way of donations.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above. Better yet, make a check out to the “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” and drop it off or mail it to:
Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
Call us at (415) 586-3733 to find out how else you might lend your support.
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We're immensely appreciative of Jazz in the Neighborhood for having stepped in as our temporary fiscal sponsor for a few months, while we straightened out some paperwork to get nonprofit status restored to the BBCLP. We're happy to say that's been done, and all past, present, and future donations made directly to the BBCLP are fully tax-deductible!
TAKE OUR SURVEY
To take our SURVEY, click here, and help the BBCLP get to know you better! As Duke Ellington always said, we love you madly...
The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
Our events are put on under the umbrella of the 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 [Read More ]
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
