It takes a hot second for the Nibblers, a band rooted in funk and raised in the sweaty confines of the Torch Club, to get people dancing.

With the first burst of trumpet at the band's CD-release show Sunday, the few seated fans were on their feet. The small dance floor filled with middle-aged couples just over from the Sacramento Jazz Festival and Jubilee, as well as with women in their 20s and 30s there to see a septet of nice-looking guys playing funkified, horn-driven 1960s and '70s soul.

With little space for expansive moves, fans grooved happily within their allotted floor space just in front of the stage.

"There is not that much of a separation between the audience and the performer" at Nibblers gigs, guitarist Jon Wood said. "It is like we are all in it together, as opposed to, 'We are the performers, we are in a fishbowl.' "

The Torch Club, where until recently they were fixtures on Sundays, is the 2-year-old band's unofficial home. But a lack of separation between fan and band exists at all venues the Nibblers play.

"I seriously thought this guy was going to kill me by high-fiving me last night," Nibblers lead singer Hans Eberbach said about a Jazz Festival gig the night before.

Though a veteran of local bands Sweet Vine and Looking Glass, Eberbach had never experienced anything like the "all-encompassing explosion" of a Nibblers set, he said.

The band's hands-on approach and frequent local gigs have generated a loyal crowd of fans, friends and fly fishermen.

"They have a unique sound for Sacramento " said Jeff Putnam, 39, a fly- fishing instructor who came to the CD-release gig with his wife, Angela, 38, brother Jason, 41, and Jason's wife, Tammy, 40.

Putnam is a friend of guitarist Wood. The pair trade lessons in their chosen fields, sharing tips on reels and frets.

Wood and bass player Lynn Michael Palmer, band mates in Sacramento roots-music mainstay Mumbo Gumbo, started the Nibblers side project a few years ago, when the economy tanked and Gumbo's gigs slowed a bit.

"I love to dance, and we wanted to play music that was undeniably danceable and was going to get people shaking it," Palmer said.

Rather than trot out another version of "I Feel Good," Palmer and Wood culled vintage B-sides and regional hits by lesser-known artists such as Mary Jane Hooper ("I've Got Reasons") and Rufus Thomas ("Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown").

Nibblers then added or rearranged horn parts, and "combined elements of sort of more modern grooves, more hip hop," Palmer said.

"It is perfect, because I was afraid I would be some dude singing 'Heard It Through the Grapevine' for the millionth time," Eberbach said. "(But) we are owning what we are doing."

Songs on "So Much Trouble," the band's debut CD, were written by others but carry a Nibblers stamp. The goals now are to write original songs, find a booking agent and expand the band's reach to other cities.

The CD is a calling card for more gigs and answers a call for original music from the band's avid fans, some of whom lined up Sunday night outside the Torch Club during the Nibblers' show, waiting for the capacity crowd to thin.

Inside, band members got a workout. Mumbo Gumbo's large, diverse repertoire offers its own challenges, Palmer said, but that band's performances generally are "more paced" than Nibblers sets.

"A lot of the bass parts are really fast and syncopated," Palmer said of Nibblers tunes. "The horn parts are challenging and the drumming is challenging and the vocals are challenging …"

Wood and Palmer said that playing in Gumbo, also a septet, informed their work with the Nibblers.

"You have to really be aware of what the other members are doing, and not stepping on (band mates' playing)," he said.

Mumbo Gumbo's Tracy Walton and Chris Webster added background vocals on the Nibblers CD. Mumbo Gumbo also provided an in-house expert in '60s and '70s R&B and soul in saxophonist Reggy Marks, a Nibblers band member as well. Marks once performed with Sam & Dave.

"He has a deep knowledge, a deep history with this music," Palmer said.

Added Eberbach: "He is the superstar of the band – people go nuts for Reggy."

Eberbach's affinity for R&B was less certain. A self-described "drama geek" and punk and new wave fan as a youngster, Eberbach grew up in Maine with little awareness of rootsier American music.

But his gritty, expressive voice always suggested molasses more than maple syrup. Wood, who knew him from the local scene, thought of him when seeking a Nibblers frontman.

The Nibblers' R&B and retro-soul sound requires him to dig deeper vocally, Eberbach said, and try out flourishes like falsetto.

"Every show is more and more," he said. "It keeps feeling bigger."

The venues vary in size, from Swabbies, where the Nibblers play Saturday as part of the Shannapalooza festival, to opening slots at Harlow's and a headlining gig July 8 before thousands at Concerts in the Park in Cesar Chavez Plaza.

The Nibblers always will carry a special fondness for the Torch, where they spent so many Sundays.

Torch Club owner Marina Texeira said she encouraged the Nibblers' residency as part of the club's effort to seek out new acts that do not stray too far from blues.

"People like funk, and the horn section is amazing," Texeira said of the Nibblers. "It is really fresh and fun, and it invites all sorts of age groups."

Their stint at the Torch helped worked out kinks in the funk, Palmer said.

"We needed to get the band playing regularly in low-pressure situations, on Sunday nights, where we could really tighten things up. … Without that, we would be struggling now."

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