Dick and Kiz Harp and the 90th Floor

[ghost of miles]

A musician friend of mine who hails from Fort Worth was over last night and played me some music by Dick and Kiz Harp--a piano-and-vocalist duo who played at what was apparently a pretty hip joint in Dallas around 1960 or so, The 90th Floor (yes, from the Cole Porter song). I really liked what I heard of Kiz Harp--very soulful sound. Evidently her and Dick's two albums were re-issued on CD earlier this year, and I'm thinking about taking the plunge. Found this article online:

Dick/Kiz Harp & Dallas jazz label

Anybody else ever hear this duo?

Side note: those Ann Richards Capitol LPs sound intriguing too.

Edited September 13, 2005 by ghost of miles

[ghost of miles]

Pulled off the Yahoo Songbirds list:

The 90th Floor Rises Again

At Maximedia, Angie Streck charms former club regulars

by Parry Gettelman

Dallas Morning News, November 14, 2005

"H.G. Wells would be proud of us -- we're going back in time," announced Bruce

Collier, organizer of "A Return to the 90th Floor," a two-night tribute to a

long-gone Dallas jazz club.

Of course, as Mr. Collier joked, if Friday's audience at the Maximedia Recording

Studios in Farmers Branch really did time-travel, "We're probably in a cow

pasture right now."

But if Mr. Collier couldn't bring back the old warehouse turned hotspot at

McKinney and Fairmount, a showcase for the popular husband-and-wife duo of Dick

and Kiz Harp beginning in the late '50s, his event succeeded in conjuring plenty

of jazz-community spirit, bringing out everyone from one-time regulars to the

frail former head waiter to a few jazz students whose parents were probably too

young to have visited the 90th Floor.

The first half of the program was a folksy tribute to the Harps, featuring

pianist Don Ambrose and singer Angie Streck, with Mr. Collier perched on a stool

providing narration. The second half brought the 90th Floor into the present,

with a live recording by the Brian Piper Trio slated for release on Mr.

Collier's 90th Floor Records.

Mr. Collier was in his early 20s when he founded 90th Floor Records to record

the Harps, who chose him over RCA and Capitol, he said, and let him use the name

of their club. His label went dormant not long after Kiz Harp died of a brain

aneurysm at just 29. A few years ago, Mr. Collier revived the label to release

CD reissues of recordings by the Harps and others.

Friday was billed as rehearsal night for the recording, but even on their first

go-round as a trio, pianist Brian Piper, drummer Jeff Hamilton and bassist Lynn

Seaton meshed well. They moved deftly through standards by Miles Davis, Fats

Waller, Duke Ellington and the Beatles, as well as the Brazilian classic "Orfeu

Negro" and a pretty ballad by Mr. Piper.

But the rarer treat was the slightly disjointed but loving tribute to the Harps.

After the set, Ms. Streck revealed that she is fairly new to jazz performance,

having done mostly studio work. And she admitted her voice doesn't have Kiz

Harp's distinctive huskiness -- "Not being a smoker like she was!"

Nevertheless, Ms. Streck charmed even the old regulars with a combination of

personality, polished vocal technique and sensitive phrasing on songs from the

Harps' repertoire, including a pensive "Inch Worm," comic "Ugly Duckling" and

gaily sardonic "Down in the Depths (on the 90th Floor)," the Cole Porter song

that gave the vanished club its name.

There were a few technical glitches, but they only seemed to draw the audience

into the performance. When Mr. Collier couldn't remember who had guest-starred

at the Harps' club when they were on the road, former regulars called out "Anita

O'Day!" "June Christy!" "Betty Green!"

Mr. Collier related that 90th Floor customers used to keep their booze in

private lockers, because Dallas was dry, and a voice in the crowd amended that

to "Very dry!"

There was plenty of reminiscing all evening at the large, round tables set up

around the studio, holding about 200. Patricia Evans, who was a regular at the

90th Floor as a college graduate new to Dallas, recalled how much she adored the

club and Kiz Harp, a fellow Midwestern transplant who wasn't the typical

nightclub sophisticate.

"She had a ponytail and wore socks," Ms. Evans said. "And she had a soft, jazzy

voice. There was just something so magic about her."

Ms. Evans' friend Don Word remembered how he and a friend dressed up in suits to

try to look older, "So you could have a little scotch and water and be cool!"

Nobody had to sneak booze Friday, but the reinvented 90th Floor still seemed a

cool place to be.

[Guest]

I have it on vinyl, if you can believe it. My family is from Dallas in my parents used to hang out there. They took good care of their records. My mom send me the article you referred to and it's on my fridge.

Freaked me out when I saw your post....

That's one of the first jazz records I ever sat and listenned to.

TroyK

[ghost of miles]

I asked for the CDs for Christmas. If Santa doesn't bring 'em, I'll be ponying up myself. What I heard on my friend's iPod really hooked me.

[Guest]

It's very...um...I don't know how to describe. It's definitely not bop. It definitely jazz of a certain place and time. Probably my favorite all time version of "angel eyes", but then it was the first one I heard. I think everyone I heard afterwards is doing it wrong. Convincing sarrow on "solitude". Good humor on "Too Good for the Average man". Some kind of campy, showtune type stuff. I don't know what to compare it to. I have a childhood association with it and can't believe that there are people to discuss it with now. It's a special record to me, I can't be objective about it.

My mom just visited and brought me an article that must have been from the Dallas Morning News that someone had done a tribute and the CD's were being issued. I assumed that would be my own private record for all times. I wonder how many of the original pressing exist.

[ghost of miles]

I'm featuring the two Dick & Kiz Harp CDs on Afterglow on March 10. We should have the AG archives up and running by then, in case anybody wants a sample of what they sounded like.

[ejp626]

I'm featuring the two Dick & Kiz Harp CDs on Afterglow on March 10. We should have the AG archives up and running by then, in case anybody wants a sample of what they sounded like.

I'd definitely like to hear a bit more before I take the plunge. The label website has even more details of this really sad story: 90th Floor. Apparently, not long after Kiz died, the label owners were drafted into Vietnam. At some point after that, the masters were lost in a fire.

[ghost of miles]

I'm featuring the two Dick & Kiz Harp CDs on Afterglow on March 10. We should have the AG archives up and running by then, in case anybody wants a sample of what they sounded like.

I'd definitely like to hear a bit more before I take the plunge. The label website has even more details of this really sad story: 90th Floor. Apparently, not long after Kiz died, the label owners were drafted into Vietnam. At some point after that, the masters were lost in a fire.

...and, according to the article I posted at the start of the thread--as well as a post on Yahoo Songbirds--Dick Harp lost his boat during Hurricane Carla in 1961, quit the piano around 1963, gave up the club, and became a photographer in Portland, TX. He died in 1997. Evidently he did release a solo LP at some point, titled THE 90TH FLOOR REMEMBERED. I doubt he could have ever recaptured anything close to the magic of his act with Kiz; that must have been such a shock, when she died so suddenly at the age of 29. She was originally from Indiana.

Edited February 27, 2006 by ghost of miles

[ghost of miles]

For anybody interested in the Harps and hearing what they sounded like, the Night Lights show "Down at the 90th Floor" is now archived.

[kh1958]

I happened to find one of the LPs in a Half Price Books recently. Strangely enough, the jacket is for At the 90th Floor Again, while the LP is At the 90th Floor. I must say, while this style is not normally one that appeals to me, there is something appealing about this music. I quite like Kiz' vocals, and she and Dick Harp are true musical partners. The version of Angel Eyes is now easily my favorite vocal version of this song.

I tried to buy the two reissue CDs at the label's website, but I could never get any email answer from the site, which accepted only paypal. Kind of frustrating.

[ghost of miles]

I happened to find one of the LPs in a Half Price Books recently. Strangely enough, the jacket is for At the 90th Floor Again, while the LP is At the 90th Floor. I must say, while this style is not normally one that appeals to me, there is something appealing about this music. I quite like Kiz' vocals, and she and Dick Harp are true musical partners. The version of Angel Eyes is now easily my favorite vocal version of this song.

I tried to buy the two reissue CDs at the label's website, but I could never get any email answer from the site, which accepted only paypal. Kind of frustrating.

That's odd, KH--I'll PM you Bruce Collier's e-mail address. Yeah, that version of "Angel Eyes" is great--other faves of mine include "The Trolley Song," "Winter Warm," and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most." A Texas trombonist friend of mine played a really scratchy iPod file of "Angel Eyes" for me about a year ago, and I got that shiver sensation... some sort of definite vocal charisma there. She came from Indiana, too... evidently she and Dick cut their teeth on the mid-1950s Chicago scene before moving to Dallas.

[kh1958]

Thanks. I seem to remember hearing radio shows on local public radio back in the 1970s where they were playing unreleased Dick and Kiz Harp recordings. I wonder what happened to those tapes?

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

saw a mint 'demonstration' copy of this for 5 bucks today- if its rare and u really want it maybe i can buy it for you, who knows

[kh1958]

saw a mint 'demonstration' copy of this for 5 bucks today- if its rare and u really want it maybe i can buy it for you, who knows

The two LPs are pretty rare, I believe.

Here's the only auction I could find.

http://www.popsike.com/php/detaildata.php?itemnr=4016920637