Julius LaRosa sent a reminiscence.
This quote from Wikipedia: “Garner was self-taught and remained an ‘ear player’ all his life – he never learned to read music.”
A hundred years ago we shared a bill in Pittsburgh…or was it Boston…or was it Chicago…and by coincidence went there on the same flight. Anyway, during the usual small talk I asked, re: “MISTY”, how he came up with that gorgeous melody.
He replied, I daresay innocently, “I was sittin’ in a plane, just like this…imaginatin’.”
That’s all?!
A fool who never sang it,
Julie
All video clips of Garner playing “Misty” seem to have been removed from the internet because of copyright conflicts. So, let’s settle for this one of him playing “All The Things You Are.”
As for LaRosa, here he is with Nat Cole and Peggy Lee on Cole’s 1957 TV show.