Gaetano "James" Senese (born 6 January 1945) is an Italian saxophonist, composer, and singer-songwriter.

Life and career

Senese was born in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, the son of Anna Senese and James Smith, an American soldier from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

in Italy because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Senese's father moved back to the US eighteen months after Gaetano's birth and never returned. Senese started playing the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

at 12 years old. He made his professional debut in the 1960s, as a member of the

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

band (later known as Showmen 2), with whom he won the 1968 edition of

Cantagiro Cantagiro was an Italian summer song contest held from 1962 to 1972 and 1990 to 1993. It featured three categories, A for famous artists, B for newcomers and C for groups. The creator of the competition was Ezio Radaelli. The name of the festival ...

.Enzo Giannelli. "Senese, James". Gino Castaldo (ed.). ''Dizionario della canzone italiana''. Curcio Editore, 1990. In 1974 Senese co-founded and led the critically acclaimed jazz-rock group . After the group disbanded in 1978, he started a long collaboration with

Pino Daniele Giuseppe Daniele (19 March 1955 – 4 January 2015), known as Pino Daniele, was an Italian singer, songwriter and musician. His influences covered a wide number of genres, including pop, blues, jazz, and Italian and Middle Eastern music. Biograp ...

, both in studio and on stage. His first solo album was released in 1983 by

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

Discography

* ''James Senese'' (

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States ...

, 1983) * ''Il passo del gigante'' (Tobacco, 1984) * ''Alhambra'' (

EMI Italiana EMI Italiana was a record label, an Italian offshoot of British Electric and Musical Industries, based in Milan. It was founded in 1931 as VCM and, in 1967, renamed EMI Italiana; it then became EMI Music Italy in 1997 and, finally, EMI Records I ...

, 1988) * ''Hey James'' (Blue Ange1, 1991) * ''Sabato Santo'' (Polosud, 2000) * ''Passpartù'' (ITWHY, 2003) * ''Tribù e passione'' (with Enzo Gragnaniello) (Edel Italia, 2003) * ''E' Fernut' 'o Tiempo'' (Arealive, 2012) * ''O sanghe'' (Alabianca/ Warner, 2016)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Senese, James 1945 births Living people Musicians from Naples Italian saxophonists Male saxophonists Italian male singer-songwriters Italian jazz musicians Italian people of African-American descent 21st-century saxophonists 21st-century Italian male singers Male jazz musicians 20th-century Italian male singers