Jonathan Karrant: Jonathan Karrant Sings Cole Porter

Post author:Steve Murray
Post published:May 6, 2025
Reading time:3 mins read

Jonathan Karrant

Jonathan Karrant Sings Cole Porter

Feinstein’s at the Nikko, San Francisco, CA, May 2, 2025

Reviewed by Steve Murray

It’s a million miles from the western Ozarks town of Fort Smith, Arkansas to the urbane sophistication of the Big Apple, but Jonathan Karrant had a musical mother who nurtured him on the classics, including the songs of Cole Porter. He’s collaborated with Jane Monheit, Houston Pearson, and the great Diane Schuur, and he is gaining a reputation as a song stylist in the style of a Mel Tormé. Those are quite big shoes to fill, and after his two opening numbers (“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “I Get a Kick Out of You”), I was waiting to see how this crooner would separate himself from the throng of cabaret-singing, cookie-cutter imitators of the greats.

Fortunately, Karrant began to differentiate himself with his next two selections, the seldom heard “Down in the Depths (on the Ninetieth Floor),” a lovely torch song, and “So in Love” from Kiss Me, Kate. Song stylists must add something to a chosen song, such as a great arrangement or the best use of their instrument. Karrant handled ballads well and focused his listeners on the lyrics. He shined on a nice arrangement of Porter’s “Night and Day,” “My Mother’s Eyes” (Abel Baer/L. Wolfe Gilbert), and a lovely cover of “With These Hands” (Benny Davis/Abner Silver).

An upbeat arrangement of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” was another good move for Karrant, as was including a politically relevant rendition of the 1966 Buffalo Springfield hit “For What It’s Worth” with its chillingly prophetic verse: “Paranoia strikes deep, Into your life it will creep, It starts when you’re always afraid. Step out of line, the men come and take you away.” Karrant was accompanied by locals Matt Clarke on piano, Drew Wiggins on bass, and James Gallagher on percussion. “At Long Last Love” (Porter) was a nod to Nancy Wilson, and he closed the show with a swinging version of Porter’s “Love for Sale,” a song written from the perspective of a prostitute and banned in many states in 1930 for being in “bad taste.”

Karrant has the vocal chops to succeed. As he matures, I think he’ll let loose and find freedom in his swing and delve a touch more into jazz phrasing à la Kurt Elling to lift him out of the pop category.

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Steve Murray

Always interested in the arts, Steve was encouraged to begin producing and, in 1998, staged four, one-man vehicles starring San Francisco's most gifted performers. In 1999, he began the Viva Variety series, a live stage show with a threefold mission to highlight, support, and encourage gay and gay-friendly art in all the performance forms, to entertain and document the shows, and to contribute to the community by donating proceeds to local non-profits. The shows utilized the old variety show style popularized by his childhood idol Ed Sullivan. He’s produced over 150 successful shows, including parodies of Bette Davis’s gothic melodramedy Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte and Joan Crawford’s very awful Trog. He joined Cabaret Scenes 2007 and enjoys the writing and relationships he’s built with very talented performers.