The World's Greatest Jazz Band was formed in the late 1960s by two co-leaders, trumpeter
Yank Lawson and bassist
Bob Haggart. Although
Lawson and
Haggart are on this budget LP (along with clarinetist
Bill Stegmeyer, tenor saxophonist
Bud Freeman, pianist
Lou Stein and drummer
Cliff Leeman), this is not
the WGJB, despite the title. For this interesting effort,
Lawson and
Haggart perform ten songs having something to do with the Old West, including "South of the Border," "Wagon Wheels," "I'm an Old Cowhand" and "The Yellow Rose of Texas." Fortunately, the songs they picked tend to have worthwhile chord changes suitable for Dixieland, and the overall effect is a lighthearted and generally swinging date.