In celebration of Goosemas night zero, Conscious Alliance put on an intimate benefit show at Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox in Denver featuring Joel Cummins, Jason Hann, and special guests.
For those of you unfamiliar with Conscious Alliance, they are a Colorado-based non-profit dedicated to providing meals to families in need. They collaborate with musicians frequently to host “Art That Feeds” food drives at concerts and music festivals. Support them this weekend at Goosemas by donating to receive their commemorative poster!
Joel began the night off with some solo piano tunes. Gently easing in with Miles Davis’ “Blue and Green”, a Bach movement in B flat, Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies”, and Charlie Parker’s “KC Blues”, the crowd was perfectly situated for the energy to get ramped up.
Jason Hann arrived on stage for the next segment that started with holiday classic “Linus and Lucy”. Both musicians sported ear-to-ear smiles as they began this unique collaborative show.
Joel then took a second to shout out guitarist Marcus Rezak, who was slated to be a special guest at last night’s show before illness unfortunately prevented his appearance. Noting that “Led Zeppelin doesn’t really need guitar anyway”, the duo launched into “That’s The Way”.
Next came a segment of Umphrey’s McGee songs Wizard Burial Ground -> Orfeo -> Wizard Burial Ground that saw Jason absolutely demolishing his kit and Joel working his various synthesizers and piano to cover the bases normally filled by his UM bandmates.
Calling up JJ Grey & Mofro bassist Todd Smallie for the remainder of the night, the now-trio lit into Umphrey’s song “Den”, eventually segueing into a cover of Counting Crows track “Long December”.
My personal highlight came next as Joel called saxophonist Nick Gerlach up to the stage for a few songs, beginning with “1000 Places to See Before You Die”, a slow and jazzy Umphrey’s number that featured absolutely incredible electric piano work from Joel as well as patient and beautiful saxophone playing from Nick.
Joel introduced a Joel song next as the trio took on “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant”. By this point, Ophelia’s had filled up and the sold-out crowd was having an absolutely incredible time as all the musicians on stage continued to have a blast playing music.
Toning it down and diving into the psychedelia, a pairing of Pink Floyd’s “Breathe” and “The Great Gig In The Sky” saw some amazing interplay between Joel and Nick once again as the jam reached multiple peaks.
Talking Heads’ “Stay Up Late” and Elton John classic “Bennie and the Jets” followed as Nick left the stage before an extended “Drums” segment saw Jason absolutely beating his kit into submission as he displayed his incredible chops.
Returning to the stage and jumping in on the improv, Joel and Todd executed a nice transition into Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place”, complete with effected vocals and the signature electric piano riff. Out of all the songs I was expecting to emerge from the “Right Place” jam, the Allman Brothers staple “Jessica” was pretty much at the bottom of the list.
While the upbeat song did miss its guitar parts, Joel pulled some absolutely incredible keyboard fireworks out as he played every part of the melody and took both solos.
Nick re-emerged for Umphrey’s song “Hajimemashite” and Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ in the Years” to close out the main portion of the set – Joel once again stepping up to cover an iconic guitar part on the keyboards.
Returning for an encore of “Christmas Time Is Here”, “Africa”, and “Hey Jude”, the quartet finished out the 2+ hour concert with a bang.
Thank you to Conscious Alliance, Joel Cummins, Jason Hann, Todd Smallie, and Nick Gerlach for an incredible night zero! On to two nights of Goosemas and the Conscious Alliance benefit at the Fox!