Red Beans and Weiss

Chuck E. Weiss was quite the scenester back when Los Angeles was filled with characters who lived every word Charles Bukowski ever wrote. Tom Waits and Johnny Depp are listed as executive producers on this album, with Weiss retaining the actual production credit. Previous Weiss albums, such as Extremely Cool or 23rd & Stout, give a good idea of what Red Beans and Weiss is like. Guitarist Tony Gilkyson, drummer Don Heffington, and pianist Michael Murphy have supported Weiss before, and their capable musicianship helps this beatnik collection flow with touches of vintage rock ’n’ roll. Saxophonists Jimmy Roberts and CeCe Worrall-Rubin provide important color, giving The Rolling Stones’ rare and bootlegged “Exile on Main Street Blues” track legitimate life next to Murphy’s pounding piano. Weiss is part raconteur for “That Knucklehead Stuff” and the more melodic “Kokamo (Boy Bruce).” For a mariachi-polka, there’s “Hey Pendejo.” Los Angeles and its legends are everywhere, right down to The Doors’ “Five to One” riff, which haunts “The Hink-a-Dink.”