This all-star group was founded in 1968 by Dick Gibson at his sixth annual Jazz Party. Despite the impossibility of living up to its outrageous name, the band was indeed the finest in Dixieland/classic jazz. Co-led by
Yank Lawson and
Bob Haggart, and also featuring
Billy Butterfield,
Bud Freeman,
Bob Miller, and
Ralph Sutton,
the WGJB originally alternated standards with Dixiefied versions of current pop tunes like "Mrs. Robinson," but its finest album (
Live on Atlantic) sticks to hot jamming. After the personnel changed a bit (
Eddie Miller and
Dick Wellstood passed through the band), the group broke up in 1978, although reunions by
Lawson and
Haggart in later years sometimes revived the name. Their recordings for Project 3, Atlantic, and their own World Jazz label are pretty much all worth getting.
–
Scott Yanow, Rovi