D.K. Harrell, with the Taryn Donath Duo
How much has 27-year-old blues guitar and vocal dynamo D.K. Harrell’s career taken off since he and his brassy band sizzled and soared here at the 2025 edition of Gator by the Bay?
Young music phenom D.K. Harrell lighting up the blues: ‘He has this electricity’
Atter his electrifying Gator gig, Harrell performed well-received sets at the Chicago Blues Festival and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (the latter of which quickly booked him for for a return engagement this May). He also did extensive tours of Europe last summer and fall.
They bookended the release last June of Harrell’s terrific second album, “Talkin’ Heavy.” It marked his debut outing for Alligator Records, the world’s premier blues label, which has released standout albums by sch greats as Professor Longhair, Albert Collins, Mavis Staples, Joe Louis Walker, Marcia Ball, Charlie Musselwhite and Oceanside’s Shemekia Copeland.
Harrell is the youngest guest artist featured on the Joe Bonamassa-led tribute album, “B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100,” which is due out Feb. 6. It features everyone from Copeland, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and George Benson to Dion, Chaka Khan, Larry Carlton and Trombone Shorty.
Playing on this two-disc album is a full-circle moment for Harrell, who had his second musical epiphany when he was 14 and saw King perform for the first and only time.
His first epiphany came 12 years earlier when Harrell, who had yet to speak a word at the age of two, began singing along to King’s signature song, “The Thrill is Gone,” as his mother drove him from Ruston, the Louisiana town where he was born, to Shreveport.
“When I started to sing, (my mother) almost crashed the car because she was so excited her baby boy was singing,” Harrell recalled in a 2025 Union-Tribune interview.
On Valentine’s Day, he will make his debut at the Mahindra Blues Festival in Mumbai, India. This summer will see him perform at festivals in Switzerland, Romania, England and the Netherlands, where he is the only blues artist booked to appear at the three-day Bospop, whose lineup also includes Lenny Kravitz, ZZ Top, OMD and Counting Crows.
A star in the making, Harrell is a charismatic performer with a tart, stinging guitar style and a full-bodied voice who makes every note he plays and sings matter. Act quickly if you want to catch his concert next Thursday in Escondido. As of yesterday, only a few dozen tickets were still for sale.
7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 North Escondido Blvd. $34.80-$103.20. artscenter.org
Matteo Mancuso
Guitar greats Al DiMeola, Joe Bonamassa and Steve Vai are all fans of Italian guitar wizard Matteo Mancuso, whose upcoming second album, “Route 96,” features Vai on one track.
Whether playing electric or acoustic guitars, Mancuso, 29, has remarkable technical command of his instrument. Like Mark Knopfler and the late Jeff Beck before him, he plays on electric guitar without a pick and his precision and clean articulation during even his most accelerated runs is impressive.
So is Mancuso’s ability to tastefully rock out with his trio and then swing up a storm with German guitar star Joscho Stephan as they pay tribute to the late gypsy jazz guitar pioneer Django Reinhardt.
So far, so good.
What I don’t hear enough of in Mancuso’s playing, at least not yet, is the vision, originality and willingness to take improvisational risks that distinguishes a game-changing guitarist from a merely very accomplished one who has yet to fully develop a style all their own.
Mancuso’s cascading lines and shimmering filigrees are dazzling, yet almost instantly bring to mind the work of Beck, Vai, Eric Johnson, Eddie Van Halen and other legends who inspired him. With more time to evolve, Mancuso will — I hope — create music whose distinction matches his formidable technique.
8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26. Music Box, 1337 India Street, downtown. $38.30 (must be 21 or older to attend). ticketweb.com
Paul Cornish Trio
Although he was born and raised in Houston, Paul Cornish’s concert here next Wednesday will be something of a homecoming for the acclaimed young pianist.
He is an alum of the now sadly defunct UC San Diego Jazz Camp, where the now-28-year-old Cornish studied with San Diego keyboard great Mike Wofford, a fellow Texas native who died here last September at the age of 87.
Mike Wofford, dead at 87, was pianist of choice for jazz and pop greats alike
Cornish has been the pianist in the superb saxophonist Joshua Redman’s band since 2023. Released last August, Cornish’s debut album for the storied Blue Note Records shows him to be equally accomplished as player, composer and band leader who sounds fresh and contemporary while being steeped in tradition.
His debut here as a headliner should be elevated by the crisp, propulsive drumming of Jonathan Pinson, whose credits range from Herbie Hancock and the late Wayne Shorter to Gerald Clayton and Kamasi Washington.
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28. Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, Wall Street, La Jolla. $3-$58. ljathenaeum.org/jazz