Misty Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A1 · Bars 1–5

Ebmaj7 | Bbm7 Eb7 | Abmaj7 | Abm7 Db7 | Ebmaj7

This is a short excerpt quoted for analysis, not the full chart, and this composition is very likely still in copyright. Published versions and recordings disagree with each other about the rest of the tune, and often about these bars too.

The books behind this page

Every one of these tunes is assembled out of the same handful of harmonic resources. Jazz Harmony is those resources, explained in the order in which they build on each other.

Start here Project 03 · Harmony

Harmonic analysis

Key

Eb major

Tonal center

Eb

Confidence

High

Chords analysed

7

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
Ebmaj7	I	Tonic	Ebmaj7 is the tonic of Eb. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Bbm7	ii/IV	Predominant	Bbm7 is the ii of a secondary ii-V. Together with Eb7 it prepares Ab, so the pair tonicizes IV without leaving the key.	High
Eb7	I7	Tonic	Eb7 is the tonic, but built as a dominant seventh — the sound that defines the blues. The tonic keeps a b7 and stays at home anyway. Also readable as V7/IV.	Medium
Abmaj7	IV	Predominant	Abmaj7 is the IV chord of Eb: subdominant. It moves away from the tonic without creating the pull of a dominant.	High
Abm7	iv	Predominant	Abm7 is a minor iv in a major key, borrowed from the parallel minor. Its b6 pulls down into the third of the tonic — one of the most recognisable sounds in the repertoire. Also readable as ii/bIII.	Medium
Db7	bVII7	Dominant	Db7 is the backdoor dominant of Eb. It approaches Eb from a whole tone below rather than from the fifth above — the b7 and b3 of the parallel minor resolving inward.	High
Ebmaj7	I	Tonic	Ebmaj7 is the tonic of Eb. It is where the progression is at rest.	High

What the analyzer found in it

ii/IV - I7 - IVBbm7 - Eb7 - Abmaj7

A complete ii-V-I in Ab. Predominant, dominant, tonic: the sentence jazz harmony is built out of.

iv - bVII7 - IAbm7 - Db7 - Ebmaj7

A backdoor cadence in Eb: iv and bVII7 borrowed from the parallel minor, arriving at the tonic from below.

High, medium and low next to each numeral are judgements about musical context, not probabilities. A low rating marks a bar that can honestly be read more than one way. How the ratings are decided →

Why this example matters

Numbered against Eb major, the excerpt is I – ii/IV – I7 – IV – iv – bVII7. Inside those 7 chords there is a complete ii-V-I, a backdoor resolution and a chord borrowed from the parallel mode. Take the roots away and keep the third and seventh. In Eb7 that is G and Db. Those two notes decide where the progression is going, and hearing them move is worth more than naming the chords. Blues for Alice, All Blues and So What use the same device, which is the argument for learning it once properly rather than three times by accident.

How the rest of Misty goes

A thirty-two-bar ballad whose harmony moves faster than its melody, which is the source of its particular richness — the long sung notes are reharmonised underneath while they are still sounding. The bridge steps away from the tonic through a cadence into a distant key and comes back within eight bars, so the piece covers a lot of harmonic ground without ever sounding restless. It is often taken very slowly, and at slow tempo every one of those under-the-note chord changes becomes audible as a separate event.

Misty on record

Erroll Garner composed it in 1954 — by his own account on a flight, and he could not read or write music, so it had to be transcribed from his playing. Johnny Burke added a lyric afterwards. Johnny Mathis had the hit vocal version, and the song acquired a second kind of fame through the 1971 film Play Misty for Me. It is now one of the most requested ballads in the repertoire, which cuts both ways for the players who have to keep finding something in it.

Analyze this progression

Open these chords in the analyzer and change them. Move one chord, substitute a dominant, take the ii away — the reading updates and tells you what you just did.

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Misty — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

The books behind this page

Jazz Harmony

Harmonic Narrative

Jazz Guitar Comping

Harmonic analysis

What the analyzer found in it

Why this example matters

How the rest of Misty goes

Misty on record

Analyze this progression

Related

ii-V-I

Secondary dominants

Backdoor progression

Modal interchange

Blues for Alice

All Blues

So What

Jazz chord progressions