Mixture – Example 1-Misty

Definition: Mixture is the use of chords from a parallel key (i.e., parallel major, minor, or mode) in a piece of music.

“Misty” (1954) by Erroll Garner (1921-1977) and Johnny Burke (1908-1964)

Let’s look an example of a piece with mixture: “Misty” written in 1954 by Erroll Garner (1921-1977) and lyrics by Johnny Burke (1908-1964). It is a jazz standard that has been recorded by various artists, most notably Johnny Mathis in 1959. His version is linked below:

Below is a copy of the chords for the first section of “Misty.”

This version of the piece is in the key of Eb major. Analyzing what is in this key gives us the following:

The two chords marked with purple shaded boxes are not diatonic in the key of Eb major.

The Ab- chord is a iv chord in the key, but in Eb major IV is a major triad, not minor as is this chord. This minor iv is diatonic in Eb minor. Therefore, this minor iv is an example of mixture.

The Db chord does not fit in Eb major at all (i.e., there is no Db in the key), but is a bVII chord, the subtonic, in Eb minor. This chord is another example of mixture.

Therefore, our final analysis is:

One more note about these two chords.

If we look at the progression happening at this point, it is IVmaj7 – iv – bVII – I (Abmaj7 – Ab- – Db – I) – a PD-PD-D-T progression, a normal progression. Ab to Db is a down a 5th root movement, a common root movement. In jazz this iv-bVII-I progression is called the backdoor progression (named this by former University of Tennessee jazz professor Jerry Coker).