The Frits Bayens Big Band
The Dutch FBBB, founded in 1975, has developed into a big band of professional level over the past 45 years under the inspiring leadership of Frits Bayens. The band is composed of very experienced musicians with a great passion for jazz. In 2020, Frits passed the baton to Jasper Staps and since September 2024 the Flemish Lieven Cambré has been at the helm.
The orchestra has proven to be a breeding ground for top national musicians, such as pianist Rob van Bavel, bassist Marc van Rooij, trombonist Louk Boudesteijn and drummer Hans Eijkenaar.
Every Monday evening the band rehearses in Theater De Bussel in Oosterhout (NB). This is usually in the foyer. Interested parties are always welcome at these rehearsals, the De Bussel catering is open.
In recent years, the emphasis has been on compositions and arrangements by Dutch composers/arrangers such as Jerry van Rooyen, Rob Pronk, but also by FBBB founder Frits Bayens. Furthermore, the repertoire folder shows scores by Bill Holman, Kenny Napper, Francy Boland, Michael Abene, Buddy Rich, Bob Mintzer, John Clayton and Peter Herbolzheimer.
During many national and international concerts the band has accompanied a large number of soloists: Toots Thielemans, Bart van Lier, Teus Nobel, Ferdinand Povel, Sanna van Vliet, Frank Vaganee, Jesse Schilderink, Peter Tiehuis, Ilja Reijngoud, Bert Joris, Arno Krijger , Greetje Kauffeld, Ruud Breuls, Georgie Fame, Tineke Postma, Tutu Puoane, Paul van der Feen, Leo Janssen, Frits Landesbergen, Joris Roelofs, Rutger Mathys, Fay Claassen, Bert Boeren and Deborah Carter. From America and Canada: Lew Tabackin, Nick Brignola, Bob Mintzer, Phil Wilson, Ed Neumeister, Bob Malach, Nancy Marano and Dee Daniels.
A memorable concert series was the ‘Sacred Concerts of Duke Ellington’, which the FBBB performed twice, both in 2016 and 2018.

About Frits Bayens
The long musical career of Frits Bayens cannot be captured in one sentence. Frits studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in the main subjects of piano and church organ with respectively Leon Orthel, Geoffrey Madge and Wim van Beek.
He completed this study in 1974 and went on to study at the Rotterdam Conservatory: composition/arranging jazz/light music with Frans Elsen.In 1981 he started teaching arranging light music at the Rotterdam Conservatory. Between 1982 and 1994 Frits worked as music director of the NOB (Dutch Broadcasting Production Company). In this capacity he has worked with, among others, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
In addition to these activities, Frits Bayens has written numerous arrangements for, among others, the Skymasters, VARA Dance Orchestra and Metropole Orchestra. In 1994, Frits Bayens became a program maker at NPS Radio.
In this position he initiated many jazz productions with the Metropole Orchestra, including Herbie Hancock, Lee Konitz, Yellowjackets, Maria Schneider, Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Holman, John Clayton, Michael Abene, Clare Fischer, Joe Lovano, Mike Stern and the New York Voices. The highlight was two concerts during the annual convention of the International Association of Jazz Educators in New York in 2001, with Michael and Randy Brecker as soloists with the Metropole Orchestra conducted by Vince Mendoza. Dozens of CD releases saw the light of day under his supervision.
In addition, he has also found the time to passionately lead the Frits Bayens Big Band for more than 45 years. With its network, its many arrangements and extensive musical knowledge, this band has grown into one of the best non-commercial big bands in the Netherlands.
The big band is incredibly grateful to Frits for the 45 inspiring years.
About Jasper Staps
In October 2020, Jasper Staps took over from Frits Bayens. Jasper started his musical career as a saxophonist. He plays with full dedication, very musical and sincere. Jasper works in jazz, pop and with major orchestras. In 1999 he graduated cum laude from the conservatory with a distinction for professionalism.
During his studies at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Jasper discovered the power of writing. He studied arranging/composing/conducting with Frans Elsen, where he laid a broad foundation for a versatile vision in all styles and settings. For more than 10 years, Jasper Staps has profiled himself as a conductor, focusing entirely on light music.
Between 2014 and 2018 he was chief conductor of the Orchestra of the Royal Air Force, where he set a new standard in the field of light music within the concert band world.
In addition to being a broad musician, Staps is an inspiration who, in the field of light music, provides many orchestras, conductors and musicians with very practical tools on how to deal with light music. He is an authority in the Netherlands in this field.

He arranged for almost all Dutch artists such as Trijntje Oosterhuis, Guus Meeuwis and Wende Snijders. Orchestras such as the Marine Band of the Royal Navy, the Orchestra of the Royal Air Force, the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw and many others frequently play his arrangements. Jasper works exclusively on commission.
More information about Jasper at www.jasperstaps.nl.
About Lieven Cambré
The Flemish Lieven Cambré has been fronting the band since 2024. Lieven (1968) grew up in a musical family. At a very young age he experimented with sounds and rhythms on the drums and piano.
Course
From the age of 9, Lieven took classical music theory, saxophone, piano and harmony lessons at the music academies of Herenthout and Heist-op-den-Berg.
After these courses, he went to the arts secondary school at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven. Lieven won 1st prizes in solfège and harmony.
In addition to and after this classical training, Lieven was mainly concerned with studying jazz and wrote his first compositions for jazz combo and big band. He took lessons with Bert Joris, Kurt Van Herck and John Ruocco.
When a jazz department was officially established at the Lemmens Institute in 1993, Lieven was one of the first students to take this course and graduated in 1996 as a Master in Music option Jazz and Light Music. During this period he took lessons from Frank Vaganée, Bert Joris, Ron van Rossum, Dré Pallemaerts and Philippe Aerts and attended workshops with Gary Smulyan, Mark Levine and Lew Tabackin, among others.
Practice
In addition to training, Lieven was always active in various ensembles and was therefore able to build a very broad musical base. Within these projects he was active as a saxophonist, singer, composer-arranger and conductor.
Lieven regularly played in various ensembles ranging from trios to big bands, including the ‘Jos Moons Big Band’, ‘El Tattoo Del Tigre’, ‘Very Big Band’ and ‘Hot Versus Cool’. With these ensembles he played with various Belgian and foreign soloists such as Bert Joris, Sadie, Marc Godfroid, Roger Vanhaverbeke, Ivan Paduart, Deborah Brown, Judy Niemack, Dusco Goycovic, Mike Carr, Slide Hampton, Rachel Gould and Danny Doriz.

Since 2010, Lieven has been co-leader, saxophonist, composer and arranger of the ‘Muze Jazz Orchestra’ (Heusden-Zolder, BE).
With his own ‘Lieven Cambré Quartet’, Lieven released their first album ‘Connected’ in 2023.
Lieven is currently the alto saxophonist of the ‘Mosa Jazz Collective’ (Maastricht, NL).
In his own projects he always looks for the best possible combination of musicians to bring his music to life. The following musicians were part of some projects: Lieven Venken, Bart Van Caenegem, Peter Verhaegen, Chris Mentens, Sam Versweyveld, Hans Van Oost, Piet Verbist, Herman Pardon, Koen Nys, Bram Weijters,…
As a composer and arranger, Lieven writes for various instrumental and vocal groups and theater companies. The famous Brussels Jazz Orchestra, among others, called on Lieven as an arranger.
Photo by Johan Vanstraelen.
See also www.lievencambre.be.
CONTACT
Feel free to contact: fritsbayensbigband@gmail.com