James Senese

Among the most important musicians and composers of the Italian music scene, James Senese is the symbol of an incessant research and an energy that knows no limits. For almost sixty years, with passion and dedication, he has been treading the stages of theaters, festivals and clubs, bringing with him a unique sound that blends Neapolitan roots with international influences: an innovative sound language, which has consecrated him as a reference figure for generations of musicians and music lovers. Protagonist of the Neapolitan Power movement, James Senese has written unforgettable pages of Italian music, crossing the light song, the funk-jazz and the great singer-songwriter, with an infinite number of prestigious collaborations and 21 albums: works strongly characterized by social and cultural themes, which reflect his deep connection with Naples and its people, and speak of identity, marginalization and redemption, testimony of a long and unparalleled artistic career without compromises and of a commitment that shows no signs of fading.
In his songs, the sax, with its unmistakable sound, tells the emotions of those who face the struggle for the dignity of living every day: pain and strength, hope and fear, war and resistance, become the common thread of narratives that oscillate between jazz-funk, Latin music influences and Neapolitan tradition. Almost sixty years of music, commitment and coherence make James Senese one of the most influential Italian artists, an authentic artistic point of reference for generations of musicians. His live performances are stormed by an audience that unites fathers and sons in a ritual that transcends the simple concert. James Senese must be seen live to understand his uniqueness, and his music must be heard live, a disruptive blend of "negritude", which combines jazz, funk, Afro with the Neapolitan musical roots. He was one of the absolute protagonists of Neapolitan Power, the artistic movement that around the mid-seventies changed the musical styles of the Neapolitan city forever, giving life to a new code that combined jazz, blues, funk with the local musical tradition. Senese had already reached this point with over ten years of career and two albums with the Showmen with Mario Musella, a band that already contained within it the preludes of this cultural revolution. Senese's personal contribution translates into the foundation, together with the drummer and author Franco De Prete, of Napoli Centrale, a band that will be the linchpin around which a generation of highly creative musicians will revolve, including a very young Pino Daniele on bass who would soon take a solo path and enter, also with James' sax, into History. With Pino but also with Franco Del Prete they will be brothers and musical accomplices, exchanging sounds, ideas and feelings that will produce absolute masterpieces that, heard today, still have intact freshness and vision. Their last collaboration (before Del Prete's death in 2020) is for "'O Sanghe", Senese's twentieth album that won the Targa Tenco 2016 as "Best album in dialect". Between prestigious collaborations, records with Napoli Centrale alternating with those as a soloist, James Senese celebrated his fifty-year career on stage in 2018, giving himself and his audience a double live anthology, “Aspettanno ’O Tiempo”, and in 2023 the fortieth anniversary of his first solo album of the same name, “James Senese”. In 2020 he participated in collaboration with the world-famous DJ, Joseph Capriati, in the writing of “New Horizons” (where James himself lent his voice and his sax), a song included in Joseph’s multidisciplinary album, “Metamorphosis”, a collaboration that received the favor of international music critics. In the same year, the documentary film “JAMES”, directed by Andrea della Monica, was presented at the “Giornate degli Autori” of the 77th Venice International Film Festival. The film offers the public a portrait of the artist after fifty years of career, tracing the fulcrum of his artistic journey in the formation of Napoli Centrale in the early Seventies and building an ideal bridge with the present to investigate the most recent evolution of that musical project. In June 2021 he released “James is Back”, a finalist at the Targhe Tenco 2022 in the “Best album in dialect” category. The single and video for the title track were taken from the album. On May 12, 2023, his latest album of unreleased songs “Stiamo cerco il mondo” was released, preceded by the single “Senza libertà”, which was followed by a long tour in theaters and festivals throughout Italy. In May 2025, his twenty-second album, “Chesta nun è ‘a terra mia”, will be released.