The artistic (and human) testament of James Senese

James Senese’s press office announced via a press note that the funeral of the great Neapolitan saxophonist, who passed away this morning at the age of 80 after being hospitalized more than a month ago at the Cardarelli hospital in the Neapolitan city due to a serious lung infection, will be celebrated tomorrow at 12.00 in the Santa Maria dell’Arco Parish in Miano, his neighbourhood. The press office of Pino Daniele’s former collaborator also shared a long text signed by James Senese himself, a sort of artistic and human testament of the saxophonist, which we report below in full:

Time is a thing that takes on meaning as the years pass; When you’re young you pay little attention to it, you don’t care. But then when he starts running you try to fix him, to slow him down. I do it armed with sax and feeling.
I was born in 1945, the year the war ended, to an American father and a Neapolitan mother. Since I was a child I have always tried to counteract what I considered unfair, first of all prejudice. Surely the color of my skin contributed to developing this feeling. Imagine how a fifteen-year-old Neapolitan boy might have felt in 1960 looking in the mirror, seeing himself different from my peers, and from what post-war society imposed. In short, I had my share of complexes to overcome, trying to feel equal to others who often did not fail to point out my “diversity”
Then one day I discovered the instrument that changed my life forever, the saxophone.
There I condensed all my anxieties, my fears, blowing them away, literally. I understood that I could free myself from all the problems, that I could chase away the fears that gripped my soul. I come from a modest family, not to mention poor. While playing I decided that I wanted to talk about the last ones, those who can’t make it, that part of the people who live with their heads down to bring home the loaf of bread; but I would also have liked to talk about love and respect for people.
I’ve never been interested in money. I gave up important contracts which however would have made me betray what I believed in, and still believe; coherence and artistic honesty.
I believe I have become a good musician and a good composer, with strong feelings, leaving aside selfishness and personalism; thanking instead for what I have achieved in almost sixty years of music.
For this I must say thanks to God, to my family, who gave me the strength and the right values.
I believe that only respect and acceptance of others, of those who are different, can contribute to the pacification of people, and give us that part of happiness necessary to love others”.

James Senese