"Spiritual Companion" from Roy Hargrove's 1990 debut album Public Eye reveals an early interest in Latin rhythms and extended forms that would later blossom into his acclaimed Crisol project. Hargrove's original composition employs an ABACD form of thirty-eight bars in G minor, set to a Latin feel that gives the performance a distinctive rhythmic character within the album's primarily straight-ahead program. Hargrove delivers one chorus of trumpet, his solo navigating the tune's unusual structure with a maturity that belied his nineteen years. His tone on this track is warm and lyrical, contrasting with the fiercer sound he brings to the album's up-tempo numbers. Stephen Scott follows with one chorus of piano, his solo showing comfort with the Latin groove and a sensitivity to the tune's shifting moods across its five sections. Antonio Hart rounds out the solo section with one chorus of alto saxophone, his bright, penetrating sound bringing a different energy to the composition. The track's sophisticated form and rhythmic conception hint at the breadth of Hargrove's musical ambitions, foreshadowing the genre-crossing work that would define his later career, from the Afro-Cuban explorations of Habana to the soul-jazz fusion of the RH Factor. Even on his debut, Hargrove was reaching beyond the conventions of hard bop.
