"Caravan" is an American jazz standard that was composed by Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington and first performed by Ellington in 1936. Irving Mills wrote lyrics, but they are rarely sung. 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 Duke Ellington – piano Billy Taylor – 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 The sound of "Caravan" interested exotica musicians; Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and Gordon Jenkins all covered it. The Mills Brothers recorded an a cappella version in which they imitated instruments with their voices. More than 350 versions have been recorded. Duke Ellington – 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 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 and the Jazz Messengers – Caravan, New York, October 23, 1962 Wes Montgomery – Movin' Wes, New York, November 16, 1964 Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson – Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie, London, November 28–29, 1974 Les Paul & Chet Atkins – Chester and Lester, May 6–7, 1975 Art Pepper – Friday Night at the Village Vanguard, New York, July 29, 1977 Wynton Marsalis – 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 Fanfare Ciocărlia - Gili Garabdi, 2005 Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band – Vox Humana, recorded live at Dizzy's Club-Coca Cola, NYC, June 18-19, 2022 In popular culture Woody Allen used the song in two of his films,