Live Streaming every show!
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But nothing beats being in the room with the music & the musicians!
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653 Chenery Street in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood
Open to walk-in trade and browsing Tuesday to Sunday noon to six
phone: 1-415-586-3733 email: [email protected]
6/12/26, Friday, 7:30pm, $20. Joshi Marshall Project. Joshi Marshall, saxophone. Sam Heminger, bass. Micah McClain, drums. 6/13/26, Saturday, 7:30pm, $20. Rova Saxophone Quartet. Jon Raskin, bari sax. Bruce Ackley, soprano sax. Steve Adams, alto sax. Larry Ochs, tenor sax. 6/14/26, Sunday, 5pm, $20. The Nick Otis Orchestra. Gail (Li’l Bit) Muldrow, guitar & vocals. Paul Lamb, bass. Nick Otis, drums & vocals. 6/14/26, Sunday, 8pm, $20. Beth Custer, clarinet. Will Bernard, guitar. Ken Emerson, slack key & lap steel guitars.
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Joshi Marshall, tenor saxophone. Sam Heminger, upright bass. Micah McClain, drums. $20 Cover Charge / BYOB. Students $10; kids free. For reservations call (415) 586-3733. The Joshi Marshall Project will be performing music ranging from bebop to Bob Dylan, including selections from Joshi’s 2009 debut album “In the Light.” Joshi had a large role in the Acid Jazz and Hip Hop Jazz scene in the San Francisco club area known as South of Market, culminating perhaps with the locally renowned and internationally famous touring outfit Mingus Amungus. Coming out of the fertile Berkeley High jazz generation of the late 1970s to early 1990s, he played and recorded with seminal groups of the era including Groove Shop, Daddy Goddess, Human Flavor, The Mofessionals, Jungle Biskit, Alphabet Soup and Bop City. By 1995 Joshi had established himself as one of the premier sax players in the Bay Area and became one of…
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Bruce Ackley, soprano saxophone. Steve Adams, alto saxophone. Larry Ochs, tenor saxophone. Jon Raskin, baritone saxophone. $20 Cover Charge / BYOB. Students $10; Kids Free. For Reservations call (415) 586-3733. Rova returns to the bandstand for its first concert in two years, presenting new and recent works. Think of the human voice in music. The most primal of instruments, it can melt you or move you to tears on the spot. Then it’s the saxophone, one-step removed from the human voice, and the next most powerful messenger in music. Johnny Hodges, Albert Ayler, Steve Lacy, Pharoah Sanders, Oliver Lake, King Curtis, Tim Berne, John Butcher – to name only a few of the many singular voices on the instrument who, with one short phrase or even one sound, can take your breath away, or excite and inspire you to great heights. Multiply that power, that capability, times 4, and you…
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Gail (Li’l Bit) Muldrow, guitar and vocals. Paul Lamb, bass. Nick Otis, drums and vocals. $20 suggested donation, but pay just what you can for our Sunday shows. byob. Students, $5-$10 suggested; kids free. Come for a tune, come for the afternoon, it’s all fine. For a seat reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733, but your seat is up for grabs at showtime, so don’t be late! Nick Otis returns to Bird & Beckett tonight with all the Otis family’s funk and soul, driving a mighty blues/rock trio featuring the powerhouse guitarist and vocalist Gail Muldrow. Nick, a hard rockin’ drummer leading the party from behind the kit, is the rightful heir to the Johnny Otis legacy, alongside brothers Shuggie and Jon, Nick’s son Niko and Shuggie’s son Eric. And then there’s Gail, a fierce guitarist who played and sang with Sly & the Family Stone and Graham Central Station, who…
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$20 cover charge; byob. A deal! Students $10; kids free. Mo bettah! Reservations: call the shop at 415-586-3733 Will and Beth interrupt their regular programming to introduce Ken Emerson, a long time friend and collaborator. The evening will include, along with Will and Beth’s compositions, a selection of vintage jazz and blues as well as Hawaiian slack-key, hula and hapa-haole songs with Will on guitar, Beth on clarinet and voice and Ken on lap steel and resonator guitars. This will prove to be an interesting interesting and fun meeting of the spirits. Will and Ken have performed before, notably at Kauai’s Red Clay festival where they teamed up with Ken’s Hawaiian trio to perform 30’s an 40’s Hawaiian music. Beth and Will have collaborated for decades. BETH CUSTER Beth Custer is a member of the ensembles Russian Telegraph, Club Foot Orchestra,Trance Mission, Eighty Mile Beach, Will Bernard/Beth Custer and Beth Custer…
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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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5/29/26, Friday – 7:30pm: The David Parker Sextet plays Mingus, Dolphy, Coltrane, Coleman and more. Henry Hung, trumpet; Charles Hamilton, trombone; Hal Richards, bass clarinet & tenor sax; Karl Evangelista, guitar; Dave Parker, bass; Valentino Peeps, drums. $25-30 sliding scale cover charge; byob. Students $10; kids free. 5/30/26, Saturday – 7:30pm: Klaxon Mutant All-Stars. Henry Hung, trumpet; Kasey Knudsen, saxophone; Colin Hogan, keyboard; Jonathan Herrera, bass; Eric Garland, drums. $25 cover charge; byob. Students $10; kids free. 5/31/26, Sunday – 5pm: Jam Session hosted by the Vince Lateano Trio. 5/31/26, Sunday – 7:30pm: Jairo Vargas, aka Rojai, brings his band Rojai in the Pocket to celebrate the end of the school year! When Rojai isn’t carrying on the work of rocking the hip hop foundations of San Francisco’s soul — along the path trod by Bayonics, Hot Pocket and other outfits through the last couple of decades, Jairo is…
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Kai Lyons of San Francisco, versatile guitarist and devoted musicologist, travels extensively to learn from the musical traditions of cultures beyond the borders of the U.S., particularly to various African countries as well as Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Over the years, he has often visited Cuba, and most often recently the city of Guantánamo, capital of the southeastern province of Guantánamo, from whence hails the gran maestro reginero, freestyle poet/lyricist José Andrés Rodríguez Ramírez of the Latin Grammy nominated Grupo Changüí de Guantánamo. In 2023, at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Kai encountered José Andrés, recently retired from Changüí de Guantánamo and living in Tampa, Florida. This is the third visit to San Francisco of José Andrés that Kai has facilitated. Grupo Changüí de Guantánamo, historically the foremost proponent of its genre, was formed in 1945 by the Veranes brothers, “Chito” Latamblé Veranes, renowned…
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Big Lou, accordion Kit Robberson, viola da gamba David Golia, guitar Bing Nathan, bass $20 adults / $10 students / kids free Playing such old French music hall tunes as “The Poor People of Paris”, aka “La Goualante de Pauvre Jean,” and “El Choclo,” Innuendo invites you to listen and savor the romance of yesteryear in Paris.
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Carlos Oliveira, guitar and compositions Chloe Scott, Rebecca Kleinmann, and Sonia Caltvedt, flutes Brian Rice, percussion $25-30 sliding scale cover charge / students $10 For a reservation, call the bookshop at 415-586-3733 Original tunes inspired by northeastern Brazil.
Read MoreSmith Dobson, saxophone Sam Cady, piano Chuck Bennett, bass Tony Johnson, drums $20 cover charge; students $10; kids free For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-373 The 230 Jones Street Band is Bird & Beckett’s legacy combo. Its roots are in the Chuck Peterson Trio’s weekly Friday happy hour that kicked off jazz in the bookshop 24 years ago. Drummer Tony Johnson arrived on the North Beach jazz scene in 1959, a member of a generation of players that came up when bebop was America’s hottest commodity! The players from those days never cease to swing, and love navigating the changes that Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charlie Christian and confreres innovated in mid-20th century America. They’ve also evolved with the times. Bebop Lives at Bird & Beckett! After this Friday evening booking, Tony’s ongoing residency at Bird & Beckett is moving to a new schedule starting in…
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Walker Talks: On Bob Dylan. (Free, but your donations help us pay Walker for his work). Says Walker, “Bob Dylan, our beneficial preceptor, beckoning to us through the smoke and mirrors of his fame, kindly teaching us by his living example, of what our common language can do, woven deftly into song, performance, stagecraft, literature, philosophy and, of course, mystique. His birthday is coming up, let us celebrate it in the unity of our common thought! He reassures us that everything he is saying, well, we can say it just as good. Let’s work on it.” An almost-monthly series of talks by Walker Brents III (9 or 10 talks a year for more than two decades) on various topics in poetry, mythology, folklore, philosophy, etc. Although primarily a live stream viewable on our YouTube channel and Facebook page, it’s also fine if you slip into the darkened shop to listen in person.…
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5/17/26, Sunday, 5pm: The Vince Lateano Trio with guest vocalist Ernest East. ($20 suggested donation, students $10 suggested; pay what you can). Singer Ernest East has been on the scene off and on for five decades and never fails to charm; we’re always glad to invite him back. Come discover a hidden treasure! As for Vince Lateano, he’s been a genial force here in San Francisco since he rousted out of the army in 1965 and moved into town in 1966; he’s been featured at Bird & Beckett since we got rolling in 1999.
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Jim Peterson, saxophones Scott Foster, guitar Dan Seamans, bass Tom Hassett, drums What began several years ago, in 2022, as the “Tom Hassett Experiment” has become a solid quartet with a repertoire and approach of its own. Guitarist Scott Foster helms the group, bringing a career’s worth of immersion in jazz beyond the genres. Drummer Tom Hassett suggested this formation, and it’s been a fruitful association for four years now. Tonight took the music to new heights.
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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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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
