Randy Brecker
Trumpet Solo on
Caravan

About

Randy Brecker opens the solo section with two choruses of trumpet on Duke Ellington's "Caravan," taken at a blazing 277 BPM on this Live From Emmet's Place performance. The extended 64-bar AABA form in F minor presents a substantial harmonic landscape at this tempo, and Brecker navigates it with the technical assurance and harmonic sophistication that have defined his playing across five decades. As the first of four soloists ahead of Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, Emmet Cohen, and Kyle Poole, his two-chorus statement establishes the fiery energy that carries through the entire performance of Ellington's exotic classic.

Randy Brecker was 75 to 76 years old at the time.