GRAMMY WEEK AMEX JAMS STAR KANYE WEST ON AOL

For the second year in a row, American Express is putting on a series of Grammy-week “Jam Sessions” shows at L.A.’s House of Blues to support VH-1’s Save the Music Foundation. The shows kick off tomorrow night with top Grammy nominee Kanye West and continue through Saturday with performances from Kid Rock, Alanis Morissette, the Black Eyed Peas and John Legend.

In addition, Legend, who records on West’s imprint through Columbia, is set to open for West tomorrow night.

Several of the shows will receive broadcast exposure: The Alanis and Black Eyed Peas sets are slated to air on A&E on Feb. 20 and 27. A previous “Jam Sessions” set with the Counting Crows is also scheduled to air on DirecTV during February.

But perhaps the most interesting broadcast arrangement is between West and AOL Music. AOL will capture West and Legend’s performances tomorrow night (Legend is a recently named AOL Music Breaker artist) and broadcast them live and on demand on the Web at http://www.aolmusic.com/. The event marks AOL music’s increasing mobility in taping shows for presentation online, but also ups the ante as far as star power—the 10-time nominated West this year’s leading Grammy contender—and reflects the increasing appetite for on-demand content among online viewers.

“AOL Music is thrilled to bring fans this exclusive opportunity to see Kanye West and John Legend perform during the biggest week in music,” said AOL Music/AOL Radio Network Executive Director of Music Industry Relations Jack Isquith. “Our audience has embraced them both from day one and for good reason. This is just the beginning of two long-standing careers, and we are happy to be a part of it.”

“I’m happy to be part of American Express ‘Jam Sessions’ to benefit music education,” said West, who is reportedly set to launch his own Kanye West Foundation to benefit music education. “With so many forces in the world driving people apart, it’s important to me to preserve something that brings people together: music. Broadcasting this concert on AOLMusic.com means that we’ll connect with even more people to help spread the word.”