Big Foot Bob & The Toe Tapper's.... Footnotes

Published January 17, 2008

CD review: Original tunes shine brightest on Toe Tappers' latest effort

Chris Rietz | For the Lansing State Journal

It's not the regular gig for any of them, and - as "Bigfoot" Bob Schultz points out in the notes - when the band grows to 10 pieces, you're not in it for the money.

Why do they do it? Because Schultz and his all-star aggregation of Mid-Michigan blues-and-rock veterans love playing together. That they have a summer full of bookings and fully three CDs out - the latest of which, "Footnotes," just hit the street - suggest another thing: this informal collection of ringers sounds a lot better than a part-time band should.

His resume is long - including an early stint in Bob Seger's band - but singer/organist Schultz, along with reedman Dave Huber and singer/harmonica ace Dave Matchette, are best known to locals as mainstays of the Blue Avenue Delegates, de facto house band at Lansing's Green Door seemingly for decades.

Maybe it's no surprise this band is drawn to some obvious covers, and the Tappers' rehashed version of "Unchain My Heart," while more than competent, doesn't deliver the goods like Ray Charles or the Raelettes (who does?) Likewise, their one foray into slow blues, "Nobody's Business," would be negligible save for the smoke-and-menthol twin-guitar synergy of Jory Pettiprin and Detroiter Dan Hare.

Hank Williams' "Jambalaya" fares better, leavened with a second-line beat; and while the Meters' signature "Cissy Strut" has been covered often, few have nailed that Zen-like combination of looseness and funky punch as the Tappers do here.

Better still is Matchette's take on Raful Neal's lesser-known, atmospheric "Late in the Evening," and his blue phrasing blends with the horn section as few harmonica players do. Schultz wails like an agitated Stevie Winwood on Lieber and Stoller's sadly neglected "Down Home Girl," and the band's Louisiana-flavored funk cooks so well you can almost see the steam rise.

The originals are, surprisingly, the album's best stuff, from the comical "Flat Broke" to the cocktail-set swing of "Boomer." A highlight is the riff-driven shouter "Born Ready," featuring an extended jam at the outro without a dull moment in it - sounding like the band is simply having too much fun to quit.

Chris Rietz works at Elderly Instruments in Lansing. His reviews appear every other week in What's On. Contact him at crietz-lsj@comcast.net.