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THErroll Garner: « I wrote “Misty” from a beautiful rainbow I saw when I was flying from San Francisco to Chicago. At that time, they didn’t have jets and we had to stop off in Denver. When we were coming down there was a beautiful rainbow. This rainbow was fascinating because it wasn’t long but very wide and in every color you can imagine. With the dew drops and the windows being misty, that fine rain, that’s how I named it “Misty.” I was playing on my knees like I had a piano, with my eyes shut. There was a little old lady sitting next to me and she thought I was sick because I was humming. She called the hostess, who came over, to find out I was writing “Misty” in my head. By the time I got off the plane, I had it. We were going to make a record date, so I put it right on that date. I always say that wherever she is today that old lady was the first one in on “Misty” ». This quote can be found in « Notes and Tones: musician to musician interview », a 1977 book written by Art Taylor, drummer.
That performance took place at the Singer Laren Concertzaal (Netherlands) in 1962. Misty first appeared in 1955 on Garner’s album entitled Contrasts. As you may know, Erroll Garner could not read music. Everything he did was by ear. He had other people write down his compositions, conceived in his head, for him. He started to play the piano at 3 years old as his siblings were taking piano lessons from a local teacher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He would sit nearby and listen. Then, he would reproduce on the piano exactly what the teacher had just played. He attended the George Westinghouse High School ; coincidentally, other famous jazz pianists went to that high school as well; Billy Strayhorn, Mary Lou Williams, Ahmad Jamal... To go back to Misty, it’s still one of the famous jazz standards, thanks to its feature in many movies and the vocal versions – with lyrics by Johnny Burke – of Johnny Matis, Sarah Vaughan, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, etc. Nearly a thousand versions/covers of Misty exist.
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