Our guide to pop and rock shows and the best of live jazz happening this weekend and in the week ahead.

Pop & Rock

BJ THE CHICAGO KID at Music Hall of Williamsburg (Oct. 21, 8 p.m.). This R&B crooner, born Bryan J. Sledge, broadcasts ease and congeniality in his music. Though his songs rely heavily on the gospel vernacular, they champion earthly pleasures (“Sex X Money X Sneakers,” from 2012, clearly outlines his priorities), and his frequent appearances on tracks by Chance the Rapper, Schoolboy Q and the like reveal him to be an affable collaborator. But behind the breezy vibes is a workhorse who has been navigating the industry since the mid-2000s, when he cut his teeth as a backup singer to Mary Mary and Stevie Wonder. On Monday, Sledge will bring his neo-soul stylings to this Brooklyn concert hall in support of his recent album, “1123.”

718-486-5400, musichallofwilliamsburg.com

ALESSIA CARA at PlayStation Theater (Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m.). Millennial angst finally caught up with pop music: Where the Top 40 was populated with exuberant, hedonistic party anthems just a few years ago, today it’s increasingly flecked with unease. This Canadian upstart was keyed into this trend from the time she released her first single, “Here,” a cool alt-R&B ode to introversion, in 2015. Though she sometimes disappears into the soulless duties of major label stardom (tracking vocals for Zedd, singing on the “Moana” soundtrack), Cara produces her most memorable work when she foregrounds her own anxieties, as on her beauty-myth-blasting hit, “Scars to Your Beautiful.”

212-930-1950, playstationtheater.com



JENNY LEWIS at Kings Theater (Oct. 24, 8 p.m.). At 43, this rock poet has weathered many moons in show business, but her latest album,“On the Line,” from March, reveals a singer-songwriter who is very much in her prime. A former child actor, Lewis ventured into music in the late 1990s when she became the wry storyteller-frontwoman of the seminal indie-pop band Rilo Kiley. Since the mid-2000s, she’s honed her craft as a solo artist. “On the Line” showcases some of her best and most personal writing, chronicling addiction, heartbreak and loss through sprawling ballads and cynical pop ditties. After opening for Death Cab for Cutie this summer, Lewis moves up the bill for a headlining performance at this theater in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

718-856-5464, kingstheatre.com