Barney Bigard and His Jazzopaters introduced “Caravan” on the Variety label in December 1936. The recording entered the pop charts in June of 1937, rising to number four. A month later, the recording by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra on the Master label (pressed in May 1937) found its way onto the charts and rose to number twenty. With Bigard on clarinet, the Jazzopaters consisted of Cootie Williams (trumpet), Juan Tizol (valve trombone), Harry Carney (baritone sax), Duke Ellington (piano), Billy Taylor (bass), and Sonny Greer (drums). All the musicians were members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, which often split into smaller combinations to record songs under different band names.
As with many of Duke Ellington’s compositions, the idea originated with one of his musicians. In the case of “Caravan”, it was trombonist Juan Tizol. Ellington is quoted in Stuart Nicholson’s Reminiscing in Tempo: A Portrait of Duke Ellington as saying “... that’s one of those things Tizol came up with. See, it wasn’t in tempo, he stood [and played it] sort of ad lib. He played it, [the] first ten bars, we took it and worked out the rest of it.” When it came to credit and royalties for musicians’ contributions, the settlement was often a flat fee. For “Caravan” Irving Mills paid Juan Tizol twenty-five dollars. When the recording became a hit, however, Tizol requested Mills cut him in on the royalties, which the manager did.
Irving Mills wrote seldom performed lyrics. Its exotic sound interested exotica musicians; Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and Gordon Jenkins all covered it. Woody Allen used the song in two of his films, Alice and Sweet and Lowdown. The song is also heavily featured in the 2014 film Whiplash as an important plot element. The Mills Brothers recorded an a cappella version, making the instruments' sounds with their voices, and Johnny Mathis recorded the song in 1956. There are more than 350 recordings of this song by Duke Ellington's orchestra, the great majority of them now in the public domain.
Although generally associated with Duke Ellington (who over his career had many different arrangements of the tune), “Caravan” was a popular “mood” piece recorded by a number of big bands in the 1930’s (Edgar Hayes, Bunny Berigan, Benny Goodman). An interesting version from 1937 is by the Mills Brothers, doing an arrangement featuring their vocal imitation of instruments. By the 1950’s, the tune had become a set-up for extended drum solos (musician/composer Frank Zappa once remarked, “I wanna hear ‘Caravan’ with a drum solo”), and to most people, this is the way the tune is expected to be performed.
A more modern, edgy arrangement of the tune appeared on several recordings in the early 1960s courtesy of trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. The version he did with Art Blakey’s band (Caravan) would prove to be particularly influential. Meanwhile, though it is unusual to find a recent recording on any list of “definitive” recordings, the 1986 recording of “Caravan” by Wynton Marsalis (Marsalis Standard Time, Vol.1) is a notable exception, as his group’s performance has tremendously impacted the approach to the tune by subsequent generations.
Read previous articles:
JAZZ STANDARDS VOL.11 - TAKE THE 'A' TRAIN
JAZZ STANDARDS VOL.10 - LAURA
JAZZ STANDARDS VOL.9 - STELLA BY STARLIGHT
JAZZ STANDARDS VOL.8 - ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE
JAZZ STANDARDS VOL.7 - SUMMERTIME
JAZZ STANDARDS VOL.6 - NANCY (WITH A LAUGHING FACE)
JAZZ STANDARDS VOL.5 - MY FUNNY VALENTINE
JAZZ STANDARDS VOL.4 - AUTUMN LEAVES
JAZZ STANDARDS VOL.3 - 'ROUND MIDNIGHT
JAZZ STANDARDS VOL.2 - BODY AND SOUL
JAZZ STANDARDS VOL.1 - YOU GO TO MY HEAD
