© -Steven
Cerra , copyright protected; all rights reserved.
It’s hard to
remember a time when the tune Caravan hasn’t
been a part of my Jazz consciousness.
I mean, sooner or
later, everyone has a go at it, mainly because, it’s fun to play.
Drummers love it
[not to mention, exotic dancers] as the tune is usually used as a launching pad
for extended drum solos.
I have 82
different versions of the tune in my collection, many, as you would imagine, by
various iterations of the Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, since he
co-composed the tune with Juan Tizol.
The editorial
staff at JazzProfiles thought it would be fun, with the aid of the
crackerjack graphics team at CerraJazz LTD and the production facilities at
StudioCerra, to develop three videos featuring different versions of the tune
and post them at the end of this piece.
By way of
background, here are some Ted Gioia ’s thoughts about Caravan as
contained in his The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire [New York
“The popularity
of this song has been steadily on the rise in the jazz world during the last
several decades, so much so that "Caravan" is now one of the most commonly
covered "Ellington" songs. I attribute this state of affairs to the
composition's adaptability to a modernistic, modal-based approach. The main
theme relies on a vamp that is well suited for a wide gamut of post-bop and
Coltrane-esque performance styles. A horn player who has been working over
modal licks and scales all day in the practice room can call this at the gig
and immediately try out all of the tricks of the trade, in a way that just
wouldn't be possible with, say, "Sophisticated Lady" or "Mood
Indigo."
The main theme of
this composition was contributed by Juan Tizol, not Ellington, nor was Duke the
first bandleader to record it. "Caravan" first shows up as a small
combo feature for Barney Bigard and His Jazzopators, with Ellington on
piano—one of a series of tracks released during this period under the
ostensible leadership of sidemen in Duke's ensemble. …
Fans of this work
will find no shortage of outstanding renditions. …
I don't anticipate
the popularity of this song to fade any time soon. It works as a loose jam
session song, and is also adaptable to very stylized arrangements evoking any
number of moods. The changes are easy enough for even intermediate players to
handle, and the melody still sounds modernistic so many decades after it was
composed. Certainly audiences respond to it, but the musicians are even more devoted
to the song, assuring it a prominent place in set lists for the foreseeable
future.”
Ted has very high
praise for Wynton Marsalis’ 1986 version of Caravan
so let’s lead off with that one in this video tribute to Wynton [Click on
the “X” to close out of the ads].
Throughout his
all-too-brief-career, Michel Petrucciani was devoted to the music of The Duke
[good choice!] and always put on quite a show at his solo piano recitals with
his version of Caravan, which served
as a launching pad for a staggering display of his pianism [aka virtuosity on
the piano]. You can listen to it while viewing the following video of desert
caravans [best to have a bottle of water handy].
And finally, some
of the best Latin Jazz on the planet is served up by the Nettai Tropical Jazz
Big Band which is based in Tokyo , Japan
May I also recommend the version Ella Fitzgerald does with the full Ellington band on her Ellington Songbook. I understand that Billy Strayhorn did the big band arrangements for this date, and it's a major reworking of the by then warhorse, with a nifty vamp that makes it fresh.
ReplyDeleteJim from Baltimore
I'm not surprised at the Japanese cum Cuban band. I have a video of the Afro Cuban All Stars in concert in Japan that shows the audience clapping in clave. I remember Duke Ellington had to hold two-minute clinics to get his audiences to clap on two and four! We Americans may have to go to Japan from time to time to get our hip cards punched.
ReplyDeleteJim from Baltimore