Zoom links below! Join us to hear the featured poets and read one of your own in the open mic! Roopa Ramamoorthi is a scientist and poet who lives in Berkeley. Her poetry, essays and short stories have been included in 80 publications including Perspectives on NPR and various anthologies including best of 60 years of Spectrum and the Vona anthology Dismantle. Her writing also appears in India Currents, Ursa Minor, Berkeley Daily Planet and other journals. Most recently she conducted poetry workshops with people living with rare diseases and the collection Rare Sounds was published by the Ipsen Foundation. She enjoys outdoor Zumba and yoga and walking and of course reading and listening to other poets. Vincent Calvarese has been published in poetry, fiction, non-fiction and visual art. A San Francisco native, he now calls Coachella Valley his home as well as his muse. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84350265713?pwd=eE84V3BYdWxiSFBHNHhmdUt1WTUzdz09 Meeting…

The second Sunday of every odd month, we welcome the Seducers to take us to the sweet, beating heart of the country, where everyone suffers the same heartache and joy. Don’t miss a good thing! BYOB and a twenty for the band!

On Sunday, Warm Spell & Ouroboros join forces to help put Bird & Beckett fully back on our feet! Bird & Beckett is safe in the world with friends like you, and these wonderful musicians, poets at heart… please come hear them in your neighborhood bookshop, and bring what you can to donate to the cause of keeping Bird & Beckett afloat and helping it thrive in San Francisco, in California, in the Americas, in the world, in 2023 and beyond… Taken together, these two bands bring us a dozen exploratory improvisers, many of them supporting their music jones working day jobs as poets.  Warm Spell comprises Marina Lazzara, Brian Lucas, J. Lee, Kevin Van Yser Loo, and sometimes Richard Marriott, but this time Tammy Fortin. Ouroboros is the concoction of Clark Coolidge, Sheldon Brown, Joseph Noble and Andrew Joron. Are they poets wielding musical instruments or instruments wielding poets?…

Saturday, July 8th from 7:30 to 9:30, the Dewayne Oakley Blues Ensemble featuring pianist Vincent Khoe and drummer Jon Krosnick plays two sets of blues, calypso and jazz. Dewayne has brought the pleasure and joy of the music to audiences all around the bay for five decades or more. For the better part of the 1980s, he was a fixture on the blues and jazz scene in Nagoya, Japan, and returned with his own record label, Naki-Do, and the Blues Ensemble. Dewayne has been a Bird & Beckett favorite and close collaborator since last March, when vocalist Jazzy Raja first brought his Blues Ensemble to our stage. Tonight’s trio date is his fourth Bird & Beckett engagement in as many months, the last two in duo with guitarist Ralph Nelson. On Sunday, it’s a benefit concert by Warm Spell & Ouroboros to help put Bird & Beckett fully back on…

Don Neely, tenor saxophone Duncan James, guitar Eric Shifrin, piano Jim Kerwin, bass Greg Gotelli, drums $20-$25 suggested donation. pay what you can! byob. Jazz rooted in the early 1900s New Orleans musical traditions. It was a time when guitarist Danny Barker — born in 1909 into the famed Barbarin family and a great chronicler of the early music — grew up amidst the creative ferment of Jelly Roll Morton, Jimmy Noone, Baby Dodds, Kid Ory, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong…  so many giants of the time. Duncan James pays homage and plays for today.  

Poet Michael Warr and poet/translator Chun Yu, co-founders of Two Languages / One Community, present work that has evolved out of the project, which includes contributions from renowned authors from Chinese American and African American communities. The collaboration—which emerged during a period defined by COVID, injustice, violence, and social division—reflects the possibility of unity rooted in creativity. An open mic follows. Michael Koch and Jerry Ferraz host. _________________ Two Languages / One Community (TLOC) is the product of two poets born and raised in profoundly different countries (China and America), who spoke dramatically distinct languages and grew up in cultural and social environments with seemingly little in common. Through poetry, Yu and Warr found powerful connections and built the project to bridge the two cultures and peoples. TLOC’s first public program was a workshop series that used writing, storytelling, and translation to exchange culture and life experiences between Chinese American…

  Scott Larson,  trombone Keith Saunders, piano Eric Markowitz, bass Smith Dobson, drums Four swingin’ cats showing how hard bop is done in 2023! $20 cover charge byob

Tomorrow’s jazz tonight! Mario Ramirez, tenor sax Isaiah Harwood, piano Zach Gamble, guitar Jonny Kaminek, bass  Sheldon Alexander, drums New takes on the old standards, tunes that speak to the musicians’ individual sensibilities and originals from four young players well schooled in recent years at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley and now gigging in all the ways you do when you’re a working freelance musician in America. Read drummer/leader Sheldon Alexander’s bio here. $20 cover charge byob

  Powerhouse saxophonist Nancy Wright joins the Fishpeople for an evening of Western-swing, ragtime-blues,and honky-tonk rock+roll JimBo Trout, guitar & vocals Nancy Wright, saxophone Steve Neil, bass Pete Lind, drums Happy hour show; two sets, byob, $20 suggested cover charge

    Wednesday 6/28 at 7pm. A Memorial Reading to Celebrate Nancy Wakeman. Poets gather to celebrate one of their own, a lovely poet and a fine friend of Bird & Beckett.   Thursday 6/29 at 7:30pm. Poets Angie Minkin, Heather Estes Saunders, Robin Michel & Kevin Dublin — plus Magic Dan. Poets read their work. No charge.         Friday 6/30 — two shows – 5:30 & 9:00pm. JimBo Trout & the Fishpeople 5:30 to 8pm – $20 at the door. Western-swing, ragtime-blues, and honky-tonk rock+roll Nancy Wright, sax; JimBo Trout, guitar & vocals; Steve Neil, bass; Pete Lind, drums Sheldon Alexander Quartet 9 to 10:30pm – $20 at the door. Young players show the way to Bay Area Jazz as it’s evolving in mid-2023. check the video on Sheldon’s website at this link Mario Ramirez, tenor sax; Zach Gamble, guitar; Jonny Kaminek, bass;  Sheldon Alexander, drums…

Tony Peebles, saxophone Christian Tumalan, piano Aaron Germain, bass Brian Andres, drums $20 suggested cover. Pay what you can! BYOB. Four giants of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Jazz, Latin & Latin Jazz scenes celebrate the release of their debut cd “Los Gatos Negros.” At this link, you can hear a track and read more:  https://www.brianandres.com/brian-andres-quartet Leader Brian Andres has a deep resume. Long a key Bay Area drummer, composer and bandleader, Brian was raised by professional musicians in Columbus, Ohio. There, he gained early professional credentials from performances with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Little Anthony and the Imperials and Tony Award winner and Broadway star Faith Prince, as well as with such artists as Leroy “Sugar” Bonner from The Ohio Players, blues greats Sam Myers and Lonnie Mack and television and movie star Woody Harrelson. Brian’s growing interest in Latin music and culture brought him to…

Jam Session! All serious jazz musicians welcome! Last Sunday of every month hosted by the Vince Lateano Trio. Vince Lateano, drums. Peter Barshay, bass. and special guest Gaea Schell, piano. No charge to play. Audience donations appreciated, $10-20 suggested, to help us pay the trio.

Paul Hanson has played bassoon all over the world, in jazz clubs and jazz festivals, concert halls and back rooms, and notably for three years with Cirque du Soleil in Tokyo. In 2008, Paul was invited to create his own role as electric improvising bassoonist in Cirque Du Soleil’s ZED – a resident show at Tokyo Disney Resort. This unique creation performed 380 shows a year from 2008-2011. To this day Cirque Du Soleil auditions bassoonists because of the ZED role Paul helped develop and create. Before and since the Cirque run, Paul has traveled the globe, stunning audiences with the flexibility of his conception and execution on a challenging instrument not known for its flexibility. Paul is home in the Bay Area now, and played here at Bird & Beckett recently with his friends in the Berkeley Choro Ensemble. Now he’s bringing a duo project into the store for…

Friday, Tony Johnson’s 230 Jones Street Band at 5:30pm – $20 suggested donation ……………….– a quartet: Noel Jewkes, sax; Si Perkoff, piano; Chuck Bennett, bass; Tony Johnson, drums                 Jazz the Glass at 9:00pm – $20 at the door ………………–a trio: Daniel Heffez, saxophone; Adam Shulman, piano; Omar Aran, drums Saturday, Paul Hanson/Dave MacNab Duo at 7:30pm – $15 at the door ………………..–bassoon & guitar Sunday, Jam Session with the Vince Lateano Trio at 5pm – $20 suggested donation ………………–Ben Stolorow, piano; Peter Barshay, bass; Vince Lateano, drums

POSTPONED: The REO Trio brings together three instrumentalists deeply committed to collective improvisation. Larry Ochs and Don Robinson have worked as a duo over the past 10 years, extending to three decades their association in a number of collaborative settings. Ochs says: “Our playing together has evolved to a really special place, I think. We’re definitely coming out of the tradition of horn-drum duos from John Coltrane & Rashied Ali to Wadada Leo Smith & Louis Moholo-Moholo, but we’ve found our own space after a long stretch of shows together.” Their duo sets include original material, with some high-energy playing and things that are more spatial, as well as some homages to more popular music. “In a sparse setting like this,” Ochs continues, “the music hits a listener right away – nothing is obscured, everything is clear.” With the incorporation of Karl Evangelista, the trio structure promises an exponential expansion…

David Murray is considered to be the most influential tenor saxophonist of his generation. He has recorded more than 300 acclaimed projects. He has worked with many of the giants, such as Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor, Jack DeJohnette, Chico Hamilton, Elvin Jones, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Randy Weston, the list goes on. He is cofounder of the World Saxophone Quartet and leads the famed David Murray Quartet, David Murray Octet and David Murray Big Band. Sir Kahil El’Zabar, was Knighted by the Council General of France for his Global contributions to the Arts. He has performed with luminaries including Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderley, Pharoah Sanders, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Archie Shepp, Eddie Harris, Donny Hathaway, Paul Simon, Ntozake Shange, Nona Hendryx, Neneh Cherry, Lester Bowie, Hamiet Bluiett, Malachi Favors and Gene Ammons, to name a few. Sir Kahil El’Zabar has recorded over 100 acclaimed projects and founded and…

Meister Eckhart. The supreme exemplar of a wholly original interpretation of a perennial teaching. From the thirteenth century to the present day, the influence of his thought is totally unique wherever it appears. This is true timelessness. From what ground has this living organism of thought grown? How have his expressions flourished all these centuries? How did he respond to accusations of heresy? His story inspires. Each passing era reveals a different nuance of its richness. Walker Brents III presents a talk on diverse subjects midweek midmonth, except July and August when he’s traveling and December when there are other reasons to be distracted from the task. Tune in to our live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page.

Every third Sunday, enjoy the simple pleasures of the Vince Lateano Trio playing two sets of great music. Vince Lateano, drums Peter Barshay, bass Ben Stolorow, piano byob and a twenty for the trio! Vince Lateano has been an invaluable part of the San Francisco scene since he came to the City in the mid-1960s. He quickly found his place in the local jazz scene, playing, recording and touring with Vince Guaraldi, subbing around town for Johnny Markham when Markham went on the road with Sinatra and other major acts, and working extensively with Cal Tjader, Eddie Duran, Chet Baker, Clare Fisher and a host of others through the years… Later, all through the 1990s ’til it closed as such in 2003, he was the house drummer at Jazz at Pearl’s in North Beach, playing with his own trio several nights a week and backing up any number of musicians…

The Prodigal Son Returns!!!! After 5 years! A night of Reminiscing and Live Cuban music with Sandor y Su Mecanica! Tonight, Sandor’s Mecanica features Ivan Camblor on tres  and vocals, Carlos Caro on congas, Yadier Noa on bass and special guest Nicha on trumpet, plus Sandor his own self on timbales. A favorite son of la jazz familia de la bahia, whose travels have taken him away to Miami, Costa Rica and Cuba these past six years, returns on a visit to reunite in music with friends old and new just in time to help the Bird & Beckett proprietor celebrate his 67th birthday! _____________________________________ Below, the March 2018 edition of Sandor’s Mecanica at Bird & Beckett – Sandor, second from right, with (left to right) Juan Ceballos (flute), Fito Reinoso (tres & vocal), Gabriel Navia (guitar) and Sandy Perez (congas)

Guitar madness is in store when John Schott joins Scott Foster for the late show at Bird & Beckett this Friday. Guitarist Scott Foster has been holding down our third Friday happy hour booking for many years, and tonight he’s doubling down with a second show in our late slot. He’s invited a fellow pluctrum-wielding genius, the inimitable John Schott, to share the stage. They promise a madcap quartet date for your pleasure, with two more wonderful musicians joining the fun: bassist Carla Kaufman and drummer Jason Levis. You don’t want to miss it! Two sets starting at 9pm $20 cover charge (cash please, sliding scale available if need be) byob Don’t miss Scott’s 5:30-8:00pm trio with bassist Dan Fabricant and drummer Brandon Etzler, either! You can grab a little dinner at Tekka House or another of our fine Glen Park gustatoriums from 8 to 9, then get back to…

Daniel Fabricant and Brandon Etzler, two fine jazz musicians, join Scott in a nice little guitar trio, on bass and drums respectively. You’ll enjoy a rich and relaxed ride through two ample sets of jazz standards and classics, bebop and the inimitable territory of Thelonious Monk. Scott Foster has been Bird & Beckett’s favorite San Francisco guitarist for more than two decades for good reason. Come and find out why! Our Friday happy hour shows (2-1/2 hours worth) are open to all, we just ask that you donate what you can to help us pay the trio. A twenty works best, but if that’s a real strain on your purse, then just donate what you can. We want everyone to enjoy the music no matter their economic circumstance. All the more reason for you to err on the side of generosity if it doesn’t wreck your budget. What you put…

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84350265713?pwd=eE84V3BYdWxiSFBHNHhmdUt1WTUzdz09 Meeting ID: 843 5026 5713 Passcode: 244211 Valois J. Vera, aka “Crip Lyrical”, is a Disabled Revolutionary, Poet/Spoken Word Artist and Activist based out of Denton, TX. His experience in and knowledge of Disability Justice, Culture and Identity is well noted. He has served on several social justice boards and commissions and has garnered many speaking opportunities including the University of North Texas, Fordham University and Azusa Pacific University. His journalism work can be found in New Mobility Magazine, Latino Rebels, and Rooted in Rights, while their poetry has been published by Spoonie Press, Mollyhouse, and in the anthology American Graveyard: Calls to end Gun Violence, Volume I (Read or Green Books). Their debut collection Crip Lyrics: the Unapologetic Poetry of Disability (POOR Press) is an illustrated collection of liberation verses guided by lived experiences and self-reflection. His second collection, I, The Revolution will be released…

San Francisco pickers, Trouble Town boil a hot pot of folk, bluegrass, swing, jazz and rock into a rebel blend of music with a big acoustic sound. The band’s musical chemistry and diverse influences have allowed them to pull from a deep musical well and make it a special stew all their own. The band was formed in 2019 from a more traditional 5-piece that included a banjoist and fiddler. When both players moved out of state the remaining members found that the resulting trio format of the core band opened a plethora of musical possibilities. Led by Western Swing Hall of Famer, Pam Brandon (AKA Belle of Belle Monroe and Her Brewglass Boys) on bass, with Forrest Allen (Dusty Green Bones Band) on mandolin, and Mark Ignatius (Burl Haggard, Boots and The Katz, Das Tapes) on guitar, the band worked through the pandemic by performing outdoors in parks and…

Paul Harding, whose brilliant and absorbing novel Tinkers took the world by surprise on its publication in 2009 by Bellevue Literary Press and won him the Pulitzer Prize in 2010, will read at Bird & Beckett this coming Sunday from his recently published third novel, This Other Eden (W.W. Norton, 2023). Ten years in the writing, This Other Eden is richly imagined from the true story of Malaga Island off the coast of Maine, settled in 1793 by a former slave and his Galway wife. From that beginning, the multiracial community tended apple orchards, fished, did mainlanders’ laundry and found other ways to scrape by and flourish in many ways despite a severe and unforgiving environment, mostly isolated from the prejudices and violence of the mainland society. All that changed in 1911/12 when the mainland blue bloods, prosecutors of christian morality, officialdom and eugenicists decided in their wisdom and racist…

San Francisco journalist Denise Sullivan conducts a monthly series of conversations (the second Sunday of each month from 10-11 a.m.) with The City’s activists, educators, arts and cultural leaders and community workers, the everyday people who help make this place we call home, live streamed from Bird & Beckett Books. Find the live stream 1t 10a.m. on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. Use the “refresh” button at 10 a.m. if the stream isn’t not live when you first link to it! This month’s guest is designer, educator, musician and founder of Demonstration Gardens, Kasey Rios. As a public gardener, Rios has a vision for a greener city. But beyond gardening and fair use of public space, Rios is an advocate of  resilience work, community engagement and fair wages for all. From the Bright Sounds Apprenticeship Program, training future sound and recording engineers at Hyde Street Studios to the annual…

Pianist Ken Cook returns with his quartet for two sets of jazz. Rob Sudduth, saxophone Ken Cook, piano Doug Miller, bass Kendrick Freeman, drums Here’s evidence of his last Bird & Beckett quartet date, on January 13, 2023:

Born, raised and based in Los Angeles, electric 6-string bassist and composer Steuart Liebig has been a pillar of the new music scene there for decades, prolific in his explorations of modern creative jazz and free improvisation, as well as third stream and classical music. As a young player in the late 1970s, he played rhythm guitar in Les McCann’s soul jazz band, contributing to four McCann albums, and in the mid- to late 1980s he could be found working with Nels Cline in their fusion band BLOC and in Julius Hemphill’s band alongside Alex Cline and Bill Frisell. Countless associations and projects have followed. Here’s an enlightening article from JazzTimes magazine delving into his work ca. 2001. Liebig’s trio at Bird & Beckett tonight, with Bay Area improvisers Garth Powell on drums and Phillip Greenlief on saxophone, builds on past encounters among the three to forge something original and…

Always a good time when Eric attracts the In Crowd to Bird & Beckett! He’s here with a fresh band on the second Friday of every month. This time out, this is the fabulous band: Eric Shifrin, piano Willie Perez, guitar Joe Kyle Jr. bass Jason Hanson drums BYOB and a twenty for the band if you can manage it! Donations are voluntary, though necessary to support our determination to pay a decent guarantee regardless of audience turnout or financial enthusiasm. Be as enthusiastic as your pocketbook can manage, and as the music excites & pleases. Thanks for supporting live jazz in San Francisco in 2023! Mark your calendar now for the 2nd Friday in July, when he’ll be back with Nancy Wright on saxophone, Bing Nathan on bass and Mark Lee on drums. Here’s Eric’s last outing, the second Friday of April:

Three long-time friends and colleagues converge to share their work. Art Beck will be reading from his latest book, Angel Rain, Poems 1977-2020 (Shanti Arts Publishing, 2022). He received the Northern California Book Award for poetry in translation for his book Opera Omnia Luxorius, a Duet for Sitar and Trombone (Otis Books/Seismicity 2012). His Mea Roma (Shearsman Books, 2018) a “meditative sampling” of Martial epigrams, was a runner up in the American Literary Translators Association’s 2018 Cliff Becker Book Prize. His Etudes, a Rilke Recital (Shanti Arts 2020) was a finalist in the 2021 NCBA. Denise Low, Ph.D., is a former Kansas Poet Laureate. Her essays about surviving COVID-19 are in Jigsaw Puzzling (Meadowlark Press, 2022). She won the a Red Mountain Press award for Shadow Light: Poems. Other publications are the memoir, The Turtle’s Beating Heart: One Family’s Story of Lenape Survival (Univ. of Nebraska Press); Wing: Poems (Red Mountain, Hefner…