POP MUSIC REVIEW : Hibbert Off to Rocky Start at Coach House

The album “Toots in Memphis” may be up for a Grammy award, but with reggae singer Frederick (Toots) Hibbert fighting a rasping case of the flu Wednesday night, a more sensible idea would have been “Toots in Bed.”

Hibbert sounded chesty, muffled and extra-husky as he began his show at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano--and adding extra huskiness to Toots’ supremely gritty voice is like adding pickle brine to the Dead Sea.

For about an hour, Toots gamely gritted his way through most of the songs from “Toots in Memphis,” then followed with his soulful Jamaicanized reading of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and a hot version of “Pressure Drop,” the song that first brought Toots and the Maytals to the attention of audiences outside Jamaica. It appeared that Hibbert had accomplished something commendable: End of difficult show, congratulations for conduct above and beyond the call, and off to bed where you belong.

But Toots had other ideas. He stayed on for an additional 70 minutes, putting on an astonishing, nonstop soul-and-reggae onslaught. Suddenly, the flu became about as serious a hindrance for Toots as a sprained ankle had been last Sunday for Super Bowl star Jerry Rice. He put his horn-driven, 11-piece band through quick stops and starts and tempo shifts, and they followed him at every turn. He roused the audience with call-and-response singing and chanting, his voice cruising through demanding soul-gospel phrasings with the power of a man who’d just been faith-healed. He worked the room and shook almost every hand in the joyful house. Hibbert’s hands spread germs, no doubt, but his reggae was pure elixir.