Post Description

Sessions at West 54th was an American television program that featured music performances. It was first hosted by radio disc jockey Chris Douridas of KCRW in Santa Monica, California, while former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne took over hosting duties during the second season and John Hiatt was the host during the third, and final, season. The series was named for the street in Manhattan where the television studio was located. For the Dutch folks: it's like 'Twee Meter Sessies' with Jan Douwe Kroeske.

So far, this is one of the few DVDs that were recorded live on digital video equipment. Accordingly, this is a must-have for anyone so fortunate as to have a progressive-scan DVD player, which will play the disk in native 480p DTV format on an HD-ready television. The resulting picture is startlingly excellent. The 
content consists 15 musical acts, each performing one song to a small audience in a recording studio. Most of the acts are of the rock or folk genre, but a little jazz (Wynton Marsalis) and one space music piece (Daniel Lanois) are thrown in. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma sort of falls between genres. There are no hip-hop/rap acts.

Tracklisting:
1. Wynton Marsalis with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra--Back to Basics
2. Suzanne Vega--Caramel
3. Richard Thompson--I Feel So Good
4. Shawn Colvin--Diamond in the Rough
5. Ani DiFranco--32 Flavors
6. Nil Lara--How Was I To Know
7. Rickie Lee Jones--Road Kill
8. Daniel Lanois--Orange Kay
9. Emmylou Harris--Wrecking Ball
10. Ben Folds Five--Smoke
11. Keb' Mo'--Just Like You
12. Sinead O'Connor--The Last Day of Our Acquaintance
13. Yo-Yo Ma--Libertango
14. Patti Smith--People Have the Power
15. Jane Siberry--Love Is Everything