The latest chef to step behind the virtual turntable at KCRW is Jonathan Waxman, who returns to his Southern California roots in his set for the radio station's Guest DJ Project.

Waxman, the chef/owner of Barbuto in New York City and author Italian My Way, has a short but diverse list that includes the harmonies of The Beach Boys (“God Only Knows”) and the funk of Marvin Gaye (“Sexual Healing”). Asked if the sensuality of a song plays into his cooking style, he told KCRW, “100%. I think that cooking and music are so synonymous. I always say as a musician you do things repetitively. Cooking is exactly the same thing. You're giving something to people and I always felt that Marvin Gaye sort of gave himself to his audience – to me! I felt that he personally touched me when he sang that song. There's a lot of things about religion, there's a lot of things about sex, obviously, and he sort of helped me think about life in a really sort of germane way.”

1. God Only Knows – The Beach Boys

2. Sexual Healing – Marvin Gaye

3. Naima – John Coltrane

4. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic – The Police

5. Deacon Blues – Steely Dan

KCRW's Guest DJ Project has previous featured a number of chefs and food personalities including Adam Richman, Kerry Simon and Rick Bayless.

Elina Shatkin is a staff writer at LA Weekly. Follow her at @elinashatkin or contact her at eshatkin@laweekly.com.

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