Spiritual Companion – Roy Hargrove

Though this song has a 12/8 Latin groove, our lead sheets say "medium swing" because the melody figures are very swinging, never playing off the underlying 12/8 feel. The Latin groove is only in the drums; the bass plays a simple 2-feel.

This song is expressive and soulful, with an A section melody that uses mostly G minor pentatonic except for the first note (A). Many of the grace notes that Roy plays are included in our lead sheets; they give the song an added warmth that we think is very important. The form is 38 measures long, with an eight-measure A section followed by a 10-measure B section; C is the same as A, and then a four-measure D section (entirely different from B) leads to a contrasting eight-measure E section which swings with a 4-feel.

The relatively diatonic A and C sections contrast with the B section, which starts on E♭m7 and the changes move rather unpredictably toward E major, E♭ major, and D♭ major tonalities. The D section continues the diatonic, bluesy quality of C; the E section alternates two measures each of D♭maj7 and A♭maj7, with long melody notes starting on unexpected offbeats.

There are a few important rhythm section figures throughout the head, some of which line up with the melody while others fill in the longer melody notes. Solos are on the same form as the head.

About the arrangement: The two-horn arrangement has a complex blend of octaves, unison, and harmony. The horns begin in octaves, harmonizing in mostly fourths at the ends of the two phrases that make up the A section. The B section has the horns harmonized in thirds in some places and fourths in others, going to unison on this section's last two measures. The first two beats of the last measure of B are harmonized, and the rest of this measure is unison—but the second part switches back to octaves for C! The four-measure D section has octaves, thirds, and unison, while the long notes of the E section are harmonized mostly in thirds—except the second one which is contrastingly unison. There's a lot of information in both the song and the arrangement.