A Shade of Blue is an intimate, minimalist jazz-blues ballad from Chris Missen’s 2025 album Saudade Stories. Built around sparse piano phrasing, late-night melancholy, and a sublime electric guitar solo, the song captures the quiet ache of love lost.

Lyrically, it reflects on heartbreak, nostalgia, and bittersweet acceptance. Chris’s tender, understated vocal delivery perfectly complements the song’s quiet melancholy. The narrator navigates a twilight world of streetlights and solitude, clinging to the memory of a smile and the fragile hope that love might return—though “lovers seldom do.” The shade of blue becomes a metaphor for the song’s emotional landscape, equal parts sadness and wistful reflection.

The electric guitar fills and solo are so evocative that I chose to keep my piano part minimal and spacious, letting the guitar’s voice take centre stage. Every chord voicing was selected to balance warmth and tension, allowing silence to speak as powerfully as the notes themselves. The result is a performance that feels like a quiet conversation with the night.

Want to hear a more intimate perspective on this track? Listen to the isolated piano version here.

Music & lyrics by Chris Missen

Musicians:

Chris Missen - Vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, drum programming

Lester Forster - Electric guitar

Lisha Kayrooz - Piano