Misty (Wes Montgomery’s version)

Wes Montgomery (electric guitar), Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (double bass) and Jimmy Cobb (drums). From the album Smokin’ at the Half Note (1965).

This theme was composed by Erroll Garner and his original 1954 recording was perhaps too overloaded, which makes one suspect that he wrote it for a pop music audience, with lyrics added later by Johnny Burke. In fact, it became a commercial success in Johnny Mathis’s 1959 version appeared on his album Heavenly and was his signature song from then on. Now it was a pop standard and jazz musicians took note, but normally they only play it live in response to a request. It was recorded by Count Basie and Ella Fitgerald, although Sarah Vaughan had already added it to her repertoire in 1958.

Among the instrumental versions are Ahmad Jamal’s 1965 with a funky touch, Richard “Grove” Holmes’s on the organ at high speed and Wes Montgomery’s with Wynton Kelly’s trio at Half Note club. Many people have known this song because it appeared in the Clint Eastwood film Play Misty for Me of 1971, in which an obsessed fan continually calls the radio to ask for it, and in Ray Stevens’s 1975 The Strake. In addition, in 1999 Steve Turre also made his own version.

Montgomery exposes this beautiful ballad giving it a personal flavor. The melody is gentle and moving. Then the group increases the speed and Montgomery makes a diverse and creative solo perfectly following the harmony of the composition. Next he begins using octaves enriching his speech and adding a new dimension to the interpretation. Afterwards Montgomery re-exposes the theme more freely and the rhythm section lets him play several phrases on his own before finishing.