Francis Bay

FRANCIS BAY - SWINGIN' NIGHT PEOPLE

Omega Records, 1961

1-You hit the spot

2-When your lover has gone

3-For you

4-The night we call it a day

5-Button up your overcoat

6-If I love again

7-I only have eyes for you

8-The song is you

9-As time goes by

10-Bye bye blackbird

11-That old feeling

Leader of some of the wildest big band ensembles of the space age pop era, Francis Bay started honing his chops at the young age of seven, playing clarinet with local orchestras in his area. By fourteen, he was already writing his own compositions and soon after, began a lifetime captivation with jazz. He won first prize for clarinet performance at the Conservatoire of Malines (Mechelen) in 1930, and later added saxophone and trombone to his repertoire. In the late 1930s, he played with several of the more successful European swing bands, including Paul Godwin's and Boyd Bachman's. He continued to work professionally during World War Two, mostly with Belgian and Dutch dance bands. In the late 1940s, he helped form an influential European big band, the Skymasters. He also arranged and composed music for Dutch and German films and played with groups throughout northern Europe. Finally, in 1954, he formed his own big band, the group with which he came to greatest fame. Within its first year of existence, the band won the Golden Gondola award at the International Music Fair in Venice. Two years later, in 1956, Bay was selected to be director for popular music at Vlaams Radio-Televisie (the official Flemish radio and television network in Belgium).Although Bay's band was quite popular on radio in Europe, it was the lucky coincidence of the 1958 World's Fair being held in Brussels that brought him to the attention of American audiences.