On the last Saturday of May, another dream came true for me. I got to spend a amazing evening with the group The Three Pieces in Washington, D.C., and I have made some wonderful new friends.
Most of you are probably not familiar with this group, and even as a lover of Soul music, there is no need to be embarrassed for that. The Three Pieces have released only one album - Vibes of Truth - in 1975 on Fantasy Records. The album was produced by Donald Byrd and famous Motown producer Wade Marcus. Even though Fonze and Larry Mizell did not have anything to do with this album, it definitely got the 1970s Mizell sound, known from Donald Byrd's Blue Note releases from that time.
The album was never properly promoted, sold few copies and was too orchestrated to be performed in a live setting. The group split up shortly after the release.
I first heard of The Three Pieces in 1993, when I got heavily into collection rare Funk, Soul and Jazz Records. San Francisco's Luv 'n Haight Records released a compilation series titled Jazz Dance Classics, and two tracks by The Three Pieces found their way on these releases - the instrumental Shortnin' Bread and the powerful yet subtle Backed Up Against the Wall. I immediately fell in love with these songs, especially the latter.

It took me years to find Vibes of Truth (it has now been reissued), but when I finally called it my own, I found so much more amazing material on this record, including the title track, Concrete Jungle and the beautiful If only I could prove to you. When I was in London recently and I DJed at Jazz Cafe with Adrian Gibson of Freestyle Records, we discussed this album. Adrian said that it was the absolute perfect album, which pretty much sums it up.
Last winter, I found the founder and bandleader of The Three Pieces, Lincoln Ross, on the internet. I emailed him and found out that the other two of The Three Pieces, Jerry Wilder and Andre Richardson, also still lived in D.C., but they didn't really see each other much.
I decided that the story of The Three Pieces needed to be told. I contacted Andre Torres at Waxpoetics magazine in NYC, and Andre gave me green light to do a story about the Three Pieces.  Lincoln loved the idea, and on that last weekend of May, we finally got together with the other members at his home in the Northeast side of D.C. It was the first time that all three of them were together probably since the group split up, and everyone was very exicted. I had brought my wife Drika along, and Lincoln and his wife Kim made us feel home right away.
 The discussion about with Andre, Lincoln and Jerry was deep! I just let the guys have a conversation about the group's history and legacy, and interjected as little as possible. You will be able to read the result in a future issue of Waxpoetics, so I'm not going to get into details here. But what I heard blew my mind.
After the conversation, we went down to Lincoln's basement and re-created the original promo picture of The Three Pieces, that all fans are familiar with. It was a very special moment, and there was magic in the air, because everyone in the room felt that this was a small, but historic event, that will likely not be repeated (no, the group will not re-unite, unfortunately).

Here is the original picture from 1975:


 

And these are The Three Pieces in May 2009:


 

Music history in the (re-) making. Of course I took the chance I got my album signed, and the guys agreed with me that it most likely is the only existing copy of Vibes of Truth worldwide that is signed by all three member.


 

I once again would like to thank Lincoln and Kim for the hospitality, and I'm glad that we have made new friends. And I'd like to thank both Jerry and Andre for poppin' in to tell their story. I will keep you informed about when the story will be released in Waxpoetics.

And to those of you who have not heard this record yet ... go pick it up at www.dustygroove.com  You'll never want to miss it after hearing it once.