CARAVAN
Music: Duke Ellington, Juan Tizol- Lyrics: Irving Mills
Year: 1936
Origin of the song
As a lot other composition by Ellington, the idea of ‘Caravan’ emerged from one of his musicians, this time from an improvisation by the trombonist Juan Tizol, later developed by Duke. Irving Mills, songwriter and manager of the band, paid Tizol twenty five dollars for his contribution. Later on, Tizol asked Mills to appear as collaborating compositor of this song to be able to make money from copyright, and he agreed.
While Irving Mills was writing the lyrics of ‘Caravan’, two new record labels appeared, Master and Variety. The latest was focused on new talents and experimental projects. Helen Oakley, artists and repertoires’ director, suggested Mills to record with a little group of musicians from Ellington’s orchestra. During one of those sessions, on 19 December 1936, in Los Angeles, Barney Bigard & His Jazzopaters recorded four songs, with ‘Caravan’ among them. Even if the group’s success proved the viability of Oakley’s idea, Variety as well as Master disappeared at the end of 1937 due to, partly, the huge competence between the record labels.
Juan Tizol is also the author of the music of ‘Perdido’ (1942).
Versions in the top charts
|
PERFORMERS |
DATE OF RECORDING |
DAY OF ENTRANCE |
PERMANENCE WEEKS |
HIGH POSITION REACHED |
|
|
Barney Bigard Jazzopaters |
1936.12.19 |
1937.06.19 |
1 |
4 |
Instrumental |
|
Duke Ellington Famous Orchestra |
1937.05.14 |
1937.07.03 |
18 |
4 |
Instrumental |
|
Billy Eckstine |
1948.12.17 |
1949.04.23 |
1 |
27 |
Billy Eckstine (voc), Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra |
|
1953.01.?? |
1953.03.21 |
11 |
6 |
Instrumental |
|
|
Esquire Boys |
1953.??.?? |
1953.02.21 |
1 |
27 |
Instrumental |
|
Santo & Johnny |
1959.??.?? |
1960.03.14 |
8 |
48 |
Instrumental |
Jazz. Outstanding perfromances
Instrumental
|
PERFORMERS |
DATE OF RECORDING |
MUSICIANS WHO TOOK PART IN THE RECORDING
|
|
1936.12.19 |
Cootie Williams (tp), Juan Tizol (vtb), Barney Bigard (cl), Harry Carney (bars), Duke Ellington (p), Billy Taylor (b), Sonny Greer (d) |
|
|
1937.05.14 |
Duke Ellington (p, dir), Rex Stewart (cnt), Arthur Whetsel, Cootie Williams (tp), Lawrence Brown, Joe Nanton (tb), Juan Tizol (vtb), Barney Bigard (cl), Johnny Hodges (cl, ss, as), Otto Hardwick (as, cl), Harry Carney (cl, as, bars), Fred Guy (g), Hayes Alvis, Billy Taylor (b), Sonny Greer (d) |
|
|
1937.05.25 |
Edgar Hayes (p, dir), Henry Goodwin, Bernie Flood, Leonard Davis (tp), Robert Horton, Clyde Bernhardt, Joe Britton (tb), Rudy Powell (cl, as), Crawford Wethington (cl, ts), Roger Boyd (as), Joe Garland (ts), Andy Jackson (g), Elmer James (b), Kenny Clarke (d) |
|
|
1951.10.25 |
Dizzy Gillespie (tp), Bill Graham (as, bars), Stuff Smith (vn), Milt Jackson (vib, p), Percy Heath (b), Al Jones (d) |
|
|
1955.07.27 |
Thelonious Monk (p), Oscar Pettiford (b), Kenny Clarke (d) |
|
|
1962.09.17 |
Duke Ellington (p), Charlie Mingus (b), Max Roach (d) |
|
|
1962.10.23 |
Freddie Hubbard (tp), Curtis Fuller (tb), Wayne Shorter (ts), Cedar Walton (p), Reggie Workman (b), Art Blakey (d) |
|
|
1964.11.16 |
Wes Montgomery (g), Johnny Pate Orchestra |
|
|
Oscar Peterson- Toots Thielemans Quartet |
1980.07.13 |
Toots Thielemans (arm), Oscar Peterson (p), Joe Pass (g), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (b) |
|
1986.05.29 |
Wynton Marsalis (tp), Marcus Roberts (p), Robert Hurst (b), Jeff 'Tain' Watts (d) |
|
|
1989.06.04 |
Randy Weston (p), Jamil Nasser (b), Idris Muhammad (d, per), Eric Asante (per) |
|
|
Jorge Pardo |
1993.??.?? |
Jorge Pardo (ts), José Miguel Carmona (g), Carles Benavent (b), Tino Di Geraldo (per), Rubén Dantas (ber) |
|
Leon Parker |
1994.??.?? |
Leon Parker (d), Adam Cruz (per), David Sanchez (ts, ss) |
|
Oscar Peterson Very Tall Band |
1998.11.26 |
Oscar Peterson (p), Milt Jackson (vib), Ray Brown (b), Karriem Riggins (d) |
|
Mulgrew Miller |
1999.01.15 |
Mulgrew Miller (p), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (b) |
Vocal
|
PERFORMERS |
DATE OF RECORDING |
MUSICIANS WHO TOOK PART IN THE RECORDING
|
|
1937.08.18 |
Bunny Berigan (tp, dir), Irving Goodman, Steve Lipkins (tp), Al George, Sonny Lee (tb), Mike Doty, Joe Dixon (as, cl), Clyde Rounds, George Auld (ts), Joe Lipman (p), Tom Morgan (g), Hank Wayland (b), George Wettling (d), Gail Reese (voc) |
|
|
1938.06.10 |
Herbert, Harry & Donald Mills (voc), John Mills Sr. (g, voc) |
|
|
1939.07.28 |
Valaida Snow (voc, tp), Lulle Ellbojs Orkester |
|
|
1949.12.17 |
Billy Eckstine (voc), Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra |
|
|
Duke Ellington- Billy Strayhorn All Stars |
1951.06.01 |
Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn (p), Juan Tizol (vtb), Willie Smith (as), Wendell Marshall (b), Louis Bellson (d), Norma Oldham (voc) |
|
1956.09.21 |
Nat Cole (voc, p), John Collins (g), Charlie P. Harris (b), Lee Young (d), Jack Costanzo (bon), Juan Tizol (vtb) |
|
|
1956.12.04 |
Dinah Washington (voc), Ernie Royal, Charlie Shavers, Clark Terry, Joe Wilder (tp), Don Elliott (tp, mel, vib, bon), Jimmy Cleveland, Urbie Green, Quentin Jackson, Tom Mitchell (tb), Anthony Ortega, Hal McKusick (as), Jerome Richardson, Lucky Thompson (ts), Danny Bank (bars), Sleepy Anderson (p), Barry Galbraith (g), Milt Hinton (b), Jimmy Crawford (d), Quincy Jones (dir) |
|
|
1957.06.27 |
Ella Fitzgerald (voc), Duke Ellington (p, dir), Cat Anderson, Harold Baker, Willie Cook, Ray Nance, Clark Terry (tp), Quentin Jackson, John Sanders, Britt Woodman (tb), Johnny Hodges (as), Russell Procope (as, cl), Paul Gonsalves (ts), Jimmy Hamilton (ts, cl), Harry Carney (bars, cl), Jimmy Woode (b), Sam Woodyard (d) |
|
|
1960.05.?? |
Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks & Annie Ross (voc), Gildo Mahones (p), Ike Isaacs (b), Jimmy Wormworth (d) |
|
|
1994.05.25 |
Jeanne Lee (voc), Mal Waldron (p) |
|
|
2003.11.15 |
Andy Bey (p, voc), Vernell Garnett (tp, tpa), Steve Davis (tb), Dwight Andrews (cl, fl, ss), Frank Wess (fl, ts), Paul Meyers (g), Kiyoshi Kitagawa (b), Mark McLean (d), Mino Cinelu (per) |
|
|
2007.08.?? |
Cassandra Wilson (voc), Jason Moran (p), Marvin Sewell (g), Lonnie Plaxico (b), Herlin Riley, Lekan Babalola (per) |
On cinemas
The song 'Caravan' is included in the soundtrack of the following movies:
|
ORIGINAL
TITLE |
TITLE IN
SPAIN |
YEAR OF
PRODUCTION |
PERFORMERS OF THE SONG IN THE FILM |
|
Rough Cut |
Golpe audaz |
1980 |
|
|
Alice |
Alice |
1990 |
Error Garner |
|
Sweet And Lowdown |
Acordes y desacuerdos |
1999 |
Bunny Berigan Orchestra |
|
Thirteenth Floor |
Nivel 13 |
1999 |
Johnny Crawford Dance Orchestra |
|
Chocolat |
Chocolat |
2000 |
|
|
Ocean’s Eleven |
Hagan juego |
2001 |
Arthur Lyman Group |
|
Breakfast on Pluto |
Desayuno en Plutón |
2005 |
Santo & Johnny |
|
Ocean's Thirteen |
Ocean's Thirteen |
2007 |
Puccio Roelens |
|
El artista y la modelo |
El artista y la modelo |
2012 |
Duke Ellington |
|
L´écume des jours |
La espuma de los días |
2013 |
Gad Elmaleh |
|
Whiplash |
Whiplash |
2014 |
|