World’s Greatest Jazz Band

This all-star group was founded in 1968 by Dick Gibson at his sixth annual Jazz Party. Regardless of the impossibility of living up to its outrageous name, the music group was indeed the best possible in Dixieland/traditional jazz. Co-led by Yank Lawson and Bob Haggart, and in addition offering Billy Butterfield, Bud Freeman, Bob Miller, and Ralph Sutton, the WGJB originally alternated specifications with Dixiefied variations of current pop music like “Mrs. Robinson,” but its finest recording (Go on Atlantic) sticks to popular jamming. Following the employees changed a little (Eddie Miller and Dick Wellstood handed through the music group), the group split up in 1978, although reunions by Lawson and Haggart in old age occasionally revived the name. Their recordings for Task 3, Atlantic, and their very own Globe Jazz label are just about all worth obtaining.