Robert Glasper Experiment
Robert Glasper might be better known for his collaborations than his solo output, but that’s not meant as a knock. He’s worked with Erykah Badu, Maxwell, Anderson .Paak, Norah Jones, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, and just about everyone else in contemporary hip-hop, jazz, and R&B. An accomplished piano player, composer, and producer, Glasper provides the bridge between hip-hop and jazz—not always an easy feat (sorry, but Jazzmatazz wasn’t quite a game-changer). His group, the Grammy-winning Robert Glasper Experiment, melds jazz with hip-hop in the same way Glasper’s idol, Miles Davis, melded hip-hop and rock. It doesn’t always work, but when it does the results can be profound, as is the case with their latest album, ArtScience. Without any of the usual high-profile collabs, it allows the four-piece to demonstrate their technical proficiency and innovation without being overshadowed by a more famous guest. Glasper is unapologetically unconfined to genre, which he states midway through the album’s opening track: “My people have given the world so many styles of music, you know? So many styles. So why should I confine myself to one? We want to explore them all.” SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY
9 pm, Revolution Hall, $25
Kung Fu Theater: Martial Arts of Shaolin
This month’s installment in Dan Halsted’s ongoing celebration of all things whoop-ass is one of the world's first looks at Jet Li, Martial Arts of Shaolin, a 1986 Lau Kar Leung classic about a humble monk with a gift for botany who seeks to woo a beautiful woman with his amazing floral arrangem—hah! Just fucking with you, it's a weapon-filled vengeance quest featuring Jet Li killing the shit out of people on his way to murder the man who took his parents from him. BOBBY ROBERTS
7:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $9
Toh Kay
Perhaps it should be embarrassing to admit that the music I’ve cried to most often is from Streetlight Manifesto lead singer Tomas Kalnoky’s solo project, Toh Kay. To say I was obsessed would be an understatement—Streetlight was the first concert I attended alone my freshman year of high school, and I had prepared a month prior by studying the lyrics of the band’s entire discography. Toh Kay’s tender and intricate acoustic demos album, Streetlight Lullabies, was what Freud would have deemed a “transitional object.” It’s music that makes the frantic, angsty, existential crises of late-adolescents sound soothing. For hours I’d hole up in my room listening to the musings of “Somewhere in the Between” and “A Better Place, a Better Time,” reading Kalnoky’s liner notes about moving from the Czech Republic to New Jersey, and humming in the missing horn sections. And crying. CAMERON CROWELL
8 pm, Aladdin Theater, $16, all ages
Alex Falcone's Book Release Party
The host of the dearly departed Late Night Action hosts a release party for his new young adult parody novel Unwrap My Heart (or It's Time for Mummies), with help from special guests Barbara Holm and Gabriel Rutledge.
7 pm, The Liquor Store
The Head and the Heart
The Seattle-based indie folk and rock outfit play a "December to Remember" show at the Crystal in support of their new 2016 album, Signs of Light.
8 pm, Crystal Ballroom, $40.50, all ages
Pylon Reenactment Society, Hurry Up
A tribute to the influential and underappreciated Athens, Georgia jangle pop group, the Pylon Reenactment Society features original Pylon frontwomen Vanessa Briscoe Hay, along with members of Athens bands Casper & the Cookies and the Glands.
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $12-14
Blazers vs. Thunder
It's Damian Lillard against Russell Westbrook—what more could you ask? Tonight, two of the NBA's most electrifying players face off against each other in an important Western Conference matchup. Can the Blazers emerge from the middle of the pack? Can they prevent Westbrook from dropping yet another triple-double? Wear your red and black, and buy a relatively cheap ticket, and find out in person. DOUG BROWN
7:30 pm, Moda Center, $16, all ages
Don't forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!