Crossing the intersection of prog-rock and hard rock, Sydney’s Kahvas Jute featured a melodic two-pronged guitar attack with lead vocalists/guitarists Tim Gaze and Dennis Wilson – not to be confused with the late Beach Boys drummer. They were buoyed by the tight rhythm section of Bob Daisley (who would later play with Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath) on bass and Dannie Davidson on drums.
With roots in blues rock, Kahvas Jute even opened for Bo Diddley on his 1973 Australian tour. What made Kahvas Jute’s music so interesting was the juxtaposition of the tight rhythms of Daisley and Davidson against the more relaxed and free-flowing guitar work of Gaze and Wilson.
If you were to take the Southern rock of the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd and put it in a blender with the British blues rock of early Fleetwood Mac, Blind Faith, Ten Years After and Cream then add a dollop of Vegemite, you’d get Kahvas Jute.
While Bob Daisley played on their 1970 debut, opted to pursue other musical interests when the band relocated to England in 1971. While Daisley gigged with a string of famous names, Kahvas Jute had a revolving door of bass players. Still, the nucleus of the band — Gaze and Wilson — remained until the band later split up and returned to Australia. Kahvas Jute eventually reformed with a new drummer and bassist, and briefly changed their name to Chariot.
Known for their fiery live shows, Kahvas Jute was known to play up to 300 concerts a year at their peak in the early ’70s. After multiple reunions over the years, Kahvas Jute released a live reunion project in 2005. Listening to this incarnation, it’s clear that Gaze and Wilson still had it. Kahvas Jute played with the fire and intensity of 35 years before, as Gaze and Wilson’s fingers danced across their fretboards with the same adept ease as they had when Wide Open was first released.
Had Kahvas Jute emerged from the blues clubs of London or the studios of Muscle Shoals, they likely would be in the same conversations as their much more well-known contemporaries from Britain and the Southern United States from the same era. They had the chops, and their songs were strong and very listenable. Instead, Kahvas Jute remains one of Australia’s better kept secrets – and one this listener has been more than happy to have discovered.
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