Caravan (song)

For other uses, see Caravan (disambiguation).

"Caravan" is a jazz standard composed by Juan Tizol and first performed by Duke Ellington in 1937. Irving Mills wrote the lyrics, but he sometimes is not credited on the many instrumental versions. Its exotic sound interested exotica musicians; Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman both covered it. Woody Allen used the song in two of his films, Alice and Sweet and Lowdown. Rap musicians Redman and Busta Rhymes sampled the song heavily in their 1998 song "Da Goodness" (on Redman's album Doc's da Name 2000). Caravan, performed by Ella Fitzgerald, is part of soundtrack in 2009 video game The Saboteur. There are more than three hundred and fifty recordings of this song by Duke Ellington's orchestra. 98% of them are public records. The song can be heard in Oceans 13 movie when George Clooney and Brad Pit are spreading germs in the judge's room.

First version

The first version of the song was recorded in Hollywood in 1936, performed as an instrumental by Barney Bigard and His Jazzopators. Two takes were recorded, of which the first (Variety VA-515-1) was published. The band members were Cootie Williams (trumpet), Juan Tizol (trombone), Barney Bigard (clarinet), Harry Carney (baritone sax), Duke Ellington (piano), Billy Taylor (bass), and Sonny Greer (drums). All of the players were members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, which would often split into smaller units to record small-band discs. Even though Ellington was present at the recording date, the session leader was Bigard.

See also

• List of 1930s jazz standards