8 & 9:30pm

Jazz

Pianist McCoy Tyner broke into jazz visibility via his work in the ‘60s with the pioneering John Coltrane Quartet. Never content to be pigeonholed in any single category, he has moved easily from avant-garde to Latin jazz to mainstream to recordings of Burt Bacharach tunes with a large orchestra. The most illuminating way to hear him, however, is in solo performances, when the essence of his rich musical imagination is most fully revealed.

* McCoy Tyner Solo!, the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Blvd., Culver City, 8 and 9:30 p.m. $22 tonight; $25 Friday through Sunday. (310) 271-9039.

8pm

Theater

Charles Nelson Reilly heads the cast in Reprise! Broadway’s Best production of “Strike Up the Band,” David Ives’ concert adaptation of the 1927 George and Ira Gershwin and George S. Kaufman musical.

* “Strike Up the Band,” UCLA’s Freud Playhouse (Parking Lot 3; enter Hilgard Avenue at Sunset Boulevard), Westwood, 8 p.m. Regular schedule Tuesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m., except this Sunday, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends March 4. $55. (310) 825-2101.

8pm

Theater

Felton Perry heads the cast in the premiere of “Driving While Black in Beverly Hills,” Frank S. Jenkins’ drama about the shattering of a man’s hard-won American dream, directed by Lynn Hamilton.

* “Driving While Black in Beverly Hills,” Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., L.A.. Thursdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 and 7 p.m. Ends March 25. $18. (323) 655-TKTS.

8pm

Pop Music

The Donnas, rock’s favorite new girl group, return the favor to one of their role models, hooking up with first-generation riot grrrl band Bratmobile on a seven-week tour. Hard to tell whether it’ll be more fun on stage or on the bus.

* The Donnas, with Bratmobile and Tuuli, at the Roxy, 9009 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 8 p.m. $10. Also Friday. (310) 278-9457.

*

FREEBIE:

Dick Hebidge, dean of the School of Critical Studies at Cal Arts, examines how improvisation affects art in the lecture “Even Unto Death: Improvisation, Edging, Enframement” at 7:30 p.m., UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. (310) 443-7000.