"CARAVAN" (1936)

"Caravan" has been recorded so many times that a radio station could play a different version of the song for 24 hours straight without a repetition. It has been called the first Latin jazz song, but it owes much to Middle Eastern influences as well. It seems that everyone has covered the song, beginning with Barney Bigard and his Jazzopaters in December of 1936. A month later in 1937 Duke Ellington recorded it with his orchestra. Bigard’s recording peaked at fourth place on the pop charts and Ellington’s at #20. In 1949 Billy Eckstine’s million-selling recording peaked at #27 and Ralph Marterie had a million-seller peaking at #6 in 1952.
As was true for many of Ellington’s compositions, the idea for "Caravan" originated with a musician in his band, trombonist Juan Tizol. He joined Ellington's orchestra in 1929 and remained with him for the next 15 years. Ellington frequently wrote arrangements that took advantage of Tizol’s mastery of the valve trombone, pairing him with saxophones and trumpets. In 1944 Tizol left the Ellington band and moved to the Harry James orchestra. In 1951, Ellington persuaded Tizol, along with the drummer Louis Bellson and alto saxophonist Willie Smith, to rejoin his band in what became known as "The Great James Raid". Tizol left the Ellington band two years later and retired from regular touring. He wrote several songs, most of them during his time with Ellington and for which Ellington usually did the arrangements; "Caravan" and another jazz standard "Perdito" were the only ones that were commercially successful. Tizol sold the "Caravan" song rights to Irving Mills, Ellington’s publisher and manager, for $25. At that time it was customary to pay royalties as a flat settlement fee, but when the song became a hit, Tizol requested a share of the royalties and Mills agreed.
Mills, who wrote the lyrics for "Caravan", served as the manager of the Ellington band from 1926 to 1939. In addition, he sang on some of their recordings and wrote the lyrics for a number of Ellington songs that became popular standards: "Mood Indigo", "Solitude", "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)", "Sophisticated Lady" and others. He was instrumental in getting the Ellington band booked into the Cotton Club in 1927, which was a major step in Ellington’s career. He was an early and energetic promoter of black performers and was one of the first to record black and white musicians playing together. He recorded the Duke Ellington Orchestra along with 12 white musicians performing St. Louis Blues on one side and a song medley on the other side, with himself singing with the Ellington Orchestra. Victor Records initially hesitated to release the record, but when Mills threatened to take his artists off the roster, they released it. He also was the founder of Mills Music, Inc., which became the largest independent music publisher in the world by 1965.
There is long-standing controversy regarding how much Mills actually contributed to the more than fifty Ellington compositions on which he took credit and received royalties. Interestingly, Ellington sided with Mills in the controversy. In Ellington’s book, Music is My Mistress, he says the following about his relationship with Mills: "We dissolved our business relationship agreeably, and in spite of how much he had made on me, I respected the way he had operated. He had always preserved the dignity of my name. Duke Ellington had an unblemished image, and that is the most anybody can do for anybody."