Napoli Centrale is one of the most important groups in italian jazz-rock panorama(even if I'd rather consider it fusion).The band leader is the famous saxophonist James Senese who, together with the drummer Franco Del Prete, decided to carry on the previous experience with the group "Showmen" and create new sounds. Napoli Centrale is properly the name of the main railway station in Naples: the continuous flow of different people in a popular-cultural meeting, well symbolizes Napoli Centrale musi...
Napoli Centrale is one of the most important groups in italian jazz-rock panorama(even if I'd rather consider it fusion).The band leader is the famous saxophonist James Senese who, together with the drummer Franco Del Prete, decided to carry on the previous experience with the group "Showmen" and create new sounds. Napoli Centrale is properly the name of the main railway station in Naples: the continuous flow of different people in a popular-cultural meeting, well symbolizes Napoli Centrale music. As a matter of fact Senese, who composed the music, was mainly influenced by John Coltrane, Miles Davis but especially by Weather Report: that "ethnical"(remember Black Market) fusion with the addition of Senese's afro-neapolitan soul, created a unique genre. Napoli Centrale first album is the eponymous(1975), which contains the most famous Campagna. Bass guitar is played by the british Tony Walmsley, while keyboards by the american Mark Harris. Lyrics deal with poverty, emigration, exploitation and with the inexorable passage from a rural society to an industrialized one. The language is stricly neapolitan and well expresses the moods of a poor population, forced to leave the beloved "land" and family, to find a job in a factory. The second album MATTANZA was released in 1976: the sound is over-refined and rich in Coltranian tunes. It must be mentioned "Chi fa l'arte e chi s'accatt", "Forse Sto Capenn'", "Sangue Misto". After this two masterpieces Napoli Centrale try to explore new fields of experimentation with QUALCOSA CA' NU'MMORE(1977), in which the bass guitar is played by the unknown Pino Daniele (after some years Senese will offer the excellent collaboration to Pino Daniele in many occasions). Finally, after a period of inactivity, the band releases JESCEALLAH and ZITTE! STA VENENN' 'O MAMMONE in 1992 and 2001. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
