Caravan (song)

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"Caravan" is a jazz standard composed by Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington, and first performed by Duke Ellington in 1937. The lyrics were written by Irving Mills, but as many versions are instrumental he is sometimes not listed. The song is variously seen as the first Latin jazz song or as a Mideastern influenced jazz song. Its "exotic" sound made it of interest to Exotica musicians so it was covered by both Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman. It has appeared in two Woody Allen films, Alice and Sweet and Lowdown. Even rap musicians Redman and Busta Rhymes sampled the song heavily in their 1998 song "Da Goodness" (from Redman's album Doc's da Name 2000).

First version

The first version of the song was recorded on December 19, 1936, performed by Barney Bigard And His Jazzopators in Hollywood. Two takes were recorded on tape, of which the first (Variety VA-515-1) was published.

Performers: Cootie Williams (trumpet), Juan Tizol (trombone), Barney Bigard (clarinet), Harry Carney (baritone sax), Duke Ellington (piano), Billy Taylor (bass) and Sonny Greer (drums).

Some noteworthy renditions

As the song became a standard this is just a list of a few examples (listed alphabetically).

• Chet Atkins
• Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
• The Carpenters
• Chicago
• Avishai Cohen
• Harry Connick, Jr.
• Nat King Cole
• Eddie Condon
• Dick Dale
• Bobby Darin
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Les Fradkin (featuring the futuristic Starr Labs Ztar)
• Dizzy Gillespie
• Hepcat
• Freddie Hubbard
• Dick Hyman
• Lambert, Hendricks and Ross (with lyrics by Irving Ross)
• The Mills Brothers
• Ralph Marterie, whose 1953 version was a reported million seller
• Thelonious Monk
• Kye Palmer
• Les Paul
• Art Pepper
• Oscar Peterson
• Phish
• Tito Puente
• Arturo Sandoval
• Brian Setzer Orchestra
• The Skatalites
• The Stimulators
• Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
• Eddie Torres & His Mambo Kings Orchestra
• Hiromi Uehara
• The Ventures
• The New York Voices

Appearances in film, television, or musicals

• Chocolat
• Funny Bones (performed by Duke Ellington)
• "The Homecoming", an episode of The O.C.
• "Jazzy and the Pussycats", an episode of The Simpsons
• Ocean's Eleven
• Ocean's Thirteen
• Mad Men's pilot episode
• The Thirteenth Floor
• Swing! featured a faster and more upbeat western version of this song, and without lyrics.

External links and references

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Last updated on Wednesday July 23, 2008 at 16:02:00 PDT (GMT -0700)
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