Johnny Mandel, music · Paul Francis Webster, lyrics · Introduced in the 1965 film The Sandpiper
The Shadow of Your Smile
Johnny Mandel wrote the tune for the 1965 film The Sandpiper, with words by Paul Francis Webster. Short pairs of lead one into the next, and the tune reaches its only at 7. Jack Sheldon plays the melody on trumpet in the film, and Tony Bennett's record was the first hit.
Listen in this order
The path begins with Tony Bennett's hit vocal and a guitar-and-strings version from the same year. It then moves through a piano trio, a live vibraphone quartet, an organ band and a pianist playing against himself, and ends with two tenor saxophone versions from 1969 and 1996.
“The Shadow of Your Smile (Love Theme from "The Sandpiper")”, The Movie Song Album
Tony Bennett recorded it in Los Angeles on September 26, 1965, with Jimmy Rowles on piano and an orchestra that Johnny Mandel arranged and conducted. Columbia released it as a single on October 18, 1965, and it was the first version to become a chart hit.
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Listen for
Bennett sings the melody with its words, so this is the clearest way to hear how the tune goes. Jimmy Rowles plays piano alongside the orchestra.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of 1 to 8 slowly, and hold one per bar under it: , , , , , , , . If you cannot play both together yet, play the chords alone first, then add the melody.
“Love Theme From "The Sandpiper" (The Shadow Of Your Smile)”, Bumpin'
Wes Montgomery recorded it on May 18, 1965, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with Don Sebesky conducting a string orchestra. Verve put it out as a single and on the album Bumpin' that year.
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Listen for
Wes Montgomery's guitar leads, with a string section and hand percussion behind him. The whole track lasts only about two minutes and seventeen seconds.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of 1 to 8 in octaves, on guitar or piano, with the same eight underneath as in step 1.
Oscar Peterson recorded it with bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes in Chicago on May 4, 1966. Limelight issued it that year on the album Blues Etude.
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Listen for
A trio of piano, bass and drums: Oscar Peterson's piano takes the melody while Sam Jones and Louis Hayes keep time behind him. The track runs exactly five minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play 9 to 16 with one per bar: , , , , , , F♯m7♭5, . Listen for how the chords pull toward in bars 9 to 12.
“The Shadow of Your Smile (Live at the Lighthouse)”, Live at the Lighthouse
The Modern Jazz Quartet recorded it live at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California, on March 16 and 17, 1967. Atlantic issued it on the album Live at the Lighthouse.
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Listen for
Milt Jackson's vibraphone and John Lewis's piano lead a quartet that plays in front of an audience. Listen for the ringing metal sound of the vibraphone against the piano.
Try it on your instrument
Play 25 to 32: , to , , , , to , then held for two bars. Count two in the bars that have two.
Bill Evans recorded it alone at Webster Hall in New York on August 9, 1967, playing a second piano part over his first. Verve issued it that year on Further Conversations With Myself.
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Listen for
Two piano parts sound at once, because Evans recorded a second part on top of the first. The track runs just over eight minutes, the longest piano track on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of 1 to 8 with your right hand and the lowest note of each (F♯, B, E, A, A, D, G, C) with your left, so two lines sound together. Copying Evans's actual lines takes transcription skills this page does not assume.
Lou Donaldson led a quintet with Blue Mitchell, Lonnie Smith, Jimmy Ponder and Leo Morris at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on October 27, 1967. Blue Note put it on the album Mr. Shing-A-Ling.
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Listen for
Lou Donaldson's alto saxophone and Blue Mitchell's trumpet lead a band with an organ and a guitar. The track runs more than six minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole 32 from the chart once at a slow tempo, one per bar, and end by holding for two bars. If you can read a melody line, play it over the chords on the second time through.
Dexter Gordon and Slide Hampton recorded it in Copenhagen on March 10, 1969, with Dizzy Reece, Kenny Drew, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Art Taylor. MPS released it on the album A Day in Copenhagen.
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Listen for
Dexter Gordon's tenor saxophone leads a sextet that also has trumpet, trombone, piano, bass and drums. The track runs close to five minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the 32 twice, melody the first time and alone the second, the way a plays behind a soloist. Making up your own solo over them takes more practice than this page assumes; the smaller version is to play just the chord roots in time.
Archie Shepp recorded it in New York on December 7, 1996, with John Hicks, George Mraz and Idris Muhammad. Venus Records released it in Japan in 1997 on the album True Ballads.
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Listen for
Archie Shepp's tenor saxophone leads a piano, bass and drums trio. At nearly ten minutes, it is the longest track on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Pick one line, such as bars 17 to 20 (, , , ), and play its three ways: one chord per bar, then two chords per bar, then in a steady rhythm of your own.
Mandel writes it for The Sandpiper in 1965. Wes Montgomery records it with strings in May, and Tony Bennett's September record is the first hit version. Dexter Gordon's sextet plays it in Copenhagen in 1969.
1970s
Art Pepper plays it in Tokyo in July 1979 with George Cables, Tony Dumas and Billy Higgins. Galaxy first issued the take in Japan, and it later appeared in the 1989 box The Complete Galaxy Recordings.
1990s
Archie Shepp records it in New York in December 1996 with John Hicks, George Mraz and Idris Muhammad. The Venus label releases the album True Ballads in Japan in 1997.
2010s
Tenor saxophonist Harry Allen and pianist Jan Lundgren lead a quartet on the album Quietly There. Stunt Records released it in 2015.
More great versions
6 more, from 1965 to 2014. Tap a cover to play it here.
“The Shadow of Your Smile (Love Theme from "The Sandpiper")”, The Shadow of Your Smile
Astrud Gilberto sings it as the opening track of her 1965 Verve album, which takes its name from the song. Don Sebesky arranged it and Creed Taylor produced it.
“Love Theme from "The Sandpiper" (The Shadow of Your Smile)”, The In Sound
Eddie Harris opens his 1966 Atlantic album The In Sound with it, playing tenor saxophone with Cedar Walton, Ron Carter and Billy Higgins. It was recorded in New York in August 1965.
Hampton Hawes recorded it live at Mitchell's Studio Club in Los Angeles on April 30 and May 1, 1966, with Red Mitchell on bass and Donald Bailey on drums. Contemporary issued it in 1973 on I'm All Smiles, and it runs just over ten minutes.
Milt Jackson led a sextet with Jimmy Owens, Jimmy Heath, Cedar Walton and Walter Booker in New York on December 15, 1966. The session was issued in 1967 on the Limelight album Born Free.
“The Shadow Of Your Smile”, The Complete Galaxy Recordings
Art Pepper recorded it in Tokyo on July 23, 1979, with George Cables, Tony Dumas and Billy Higgins. Galaxy first issued it in Japan on Besame Mucho, and it appears in the 1989 box The Complete Galaxy Recordings.
Tenor saxophonist Harry Allen and pianist Jan Lundgren lead a quartet with Hans Backenroth on bass and Kristian Leth on drums. Stunt Records released the track on the album Quietly There in 2015.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Show the form and chords
How the tune works
G majorusual key
32 barsA · B form
G major · E minor · B minor · A minorkeys it moves between
A16 bars
B16 bars
G
E m
B m
E m
G
A m
G
The tune is 32 in two 16-bar halves, A and B, in . A opens with three pairs of , one chord to a bar: to , to and to . Each pair leads into the next, and the third lands on in bar 7, the first G chord of the tune, with in bar 8. Bars 9 to 12 move to : , B7♭9, Em7 and . Bars 13 and 14 (, ) point to , and bars 15 and 16 (F♯m7♭5, ) point back toward E minor and into the second half. B repeats the first six bars of A, up to Am7 and D7. Instead of settling on G, it turns to and (bars 23 and 24), then Am7 and to . A last run of , , A7 and to leads home to , which is held for bars 31 and 32.