"Caravan" is an American

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive l ...

that was composed by Juan Tizol and

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was ba ...

and first performed by Ellington in 1936. Irving Mills wrote lyrics, but they are rarely sung. The sad sound of "Caravan" interested exotica musicians; Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and

Gordon Jenkins Gordon Hill Jenkins (May 12, 1910 – May 1, 1984) was an American arranger, composer, and pianist who was influential in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s. Jenkins worked with The Andrews Sisters, Johnny Cash, The Weavers, Frank Sinatra, L ...

all covered it.

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

used the song in two of his films, ''

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

'' and '' Sweet and Lowdown''. Steven Soderbergh used the Lyman version in his 2001 film '' Ocean's Eleven''. The song appears often in the 2014 film '' Whiplash'' as an important plot element. The

Mills Brothers The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed the Four Mills Brothers, and originally known as the Four Kings of Harmony, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies an ...

recorded an a cappella version in which they imitated instruments with their voices.

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

recorded the song in 1956. More than 350 versions have been recorded.

Original recording

The first version of the song was recorded in Hollywood in 1936 and 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 saxophone *

– piano *

Billy Taylor Billy Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the ...

– double bass * Sonny Greer – drums The musicians were members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, which often split into smaller combinations to record songs under different band names. For this recording, which included Ellington and Tizol as performers, the session band leader was Bigard.

Other versions

* Barney Bigard and His Jazzopators – Hollywood, December 19, 1936 *

– New York, May 14, 1937 * Valaida Snow – Valaida Snow (vocal and trumpet) and her Orchestra, 1939, Sonora * Art Tatum – Los Angeles, April–July 1940 * Dizzy Gillespie – October 25, 1951 *

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...

– '' Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington'', Hackensack, New Jersey, July 27, 1955 * Nat King Cole – '' After Midnight'', Los Angeles, September 14, 1956 * Santo & Johnny's – '' Santo & Johnny'' (1959), peaked at number 48 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart *

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the ...

and the Jazz Messengers – '' Caravan'', New York, October 23, 1962 *

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

– '' Movin' Wes'', New York, November 16, 1964 * Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson – '' Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie'', London, November 28–29, 1974 *

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...

& Chet Atkins – '' Chester and Lester'', May 6–7, 1975 * Art Pepper – ''

Friday Night at the Village Vanguard ''Friday Night at the Village Vanguard'' is a 1977 jazz album by saxophonist Art Pepper playing with George Cables, George Mraz and Elvin Jones. Art Pepper played at the Village Vanguard jazz club in New York City twice during 1977. The s ...

'', New York, July 29, 1977 *

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awar ...

– '' Marsalis Standard Time, Vol. I'', New York, May 29–30, 1986 and September 24–25, 1986 * Medeski Martin & Wood – '' Notes from the Underground'', New York, December 15–16, 1991 * Michel Camilo – '' Rendezvous'', New York, January 18–20, 1993 * List of 1930s jazz standards

External links and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caravan (Song) 1936 songs 1936 singles Songs with music by Juan Tizol Songs with lyrics by Irving Mills Jazz songs Exotica 1930s jazz standards Swing jazz standards Nat King Cole songs Santo & Johnny songs Jazz compositions in F minor Songs with music by Duke Ellington