Errol Garner's Misty

Classical Academy | Composers | Performers | Jazz & Blues

 

Sometimes, it takes just one song to make a career. For the legendary jazz swing pianist and composer Errol Garner, that song was Misty. His playing style was unlike anybody else's, truly distinctive and virtuosistic that could swing like no other. For a man with so much rhythm and elaborate style, it's incredible that his best known composition is a ballad.

 

Misty quickly became a jazz standard, originally an instrumental before Johnny Mathis sang it as his signature song with the lyrics we know and love today. Since then, almost every jazz great has covered the song, from Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra to Sarah Vaughan and Ray Stevens. The Errol Garner version made the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1991, with the Mathis version following close behind in 2002.

 

Enjoy this wonderful recording of Errol Garner performing in 1954, including the true classic Misty.