The Curiosity Sessions: Live at MacKay

Track List

1. Curiosity: In Curiosity, Kyle Jordan
2. The Spiritual Improviser: There is No Greater Love, Jones/Symes
3. A Small Bench Facing the Cosmos I, Caitlin Fisher
4. Change: How can I keep from singing? Robert Lowry
5. A Place of Truth: Lyskaster, Jacob Bro (used with permission of ECM)
6. A Small Bench Facing the Cosmos II, Caitlin Fisher
7. Attunement Moment, Kyle Jordan
8. Connection Blues Prayer, Pete Woods
9. A Small Bench Facing the Cosmos III, Caitlin Fisher
10. The Divine Tabla Groove, Lu Frattaroli

Voices:

Jacob Clarke
Rob Dalgleish
Caitlin Fisher
Lu Frattaroli
Kyle Jordan
Carolyn Sutherland
Pete Woods

Pete Woods and the Kindness of Jazz:

Jacob Clarke – bass
Lu Frattaroli – percussion
Kyle Jordan – guitar
Pete Woods – saxophone

… Practise
ceaselessly: there is
one art: wind
in the open spaces
grieving, laughing
with us, saying
improvise.
— Jan Zwicky

This is a quilt of breath and body, air and touch. It is trust, closed eyes, smiles, silence and friendship. The music
both abides and reveals. Practitioners of imagination and justice share a love of curiosity. The songs stitch
together so many voices. Wisdom emerges alongside paradox and uncertainty and risk.

So many encounters: mobile and studio recordings in Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa; gigs at Ottawa’s Bar Robo,
One Up Room, Options Jazz Lounge, and Toronto’s Emmet Ray; meditative musical gatherings in church
sanctuaries (Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Smiths Falls, Brockville); poetic experiments and reflections amongst so
many friends. All those moments set the stage for a two-day gathering filled with music and conversation and
poetry. All of this was then documented in film and audio-recordings at Ottawa’s historic MacKay Church.

Randy Cole (filmmaker and audio-recordist) discerned themes and heard resonances as the days unfolded. Ten
short meditative films emerged quickly and clearly around curiosity, spirituality and wisdom. The films tell
passionate stories of life and artistry revealed in sounds and images created in a sacred space.

The Curiosity Sessions: Live at MacKay affirms curiosity’s place at the heart of spirituality. It also highlights it as
a key ingredient in the practice of communal care and art and ministry.

‘Curiosity’, plus ‘compassion’ and ‘community’, were the words placed before everyone (musicians and speakers)
involved in the Sessions. Thoughtful riffs and rhythms emerged quickly amongst the musicians; ideas flowed in
interviews. Old songs were re-framed, new poetry, fresh energy, bigger choruses. Resonance. Improvisation. It all
remained grounded in the specific realities of faith communities in Canada, but something more expansive also
broke through. Wonder and surprise… so many beautiful surprises. “Did that just happen?”, we’d ask each other.
“Did you hear that?”, we’d say again and again. “How did we actually get here?”

You must believe in
Spring…
Because the signs
are not wrong:
you are here.
— Jan Zwicky

“Illuminating playfulness”, Randy said, “that’s it…. that’s the project, isn’t it?” And everything suddenly became
clearer. Simpler.

We are illuminating playfulness together.

And yet those two words are a challenge as well. Illuminating playfulness requires so much: devotion, practice,
attention. Yet it gives so much: wonder, awe, spaciousness. And it can foster so much in our communities:
moral beauty, collective effervescence, kindness.

There are intimations of the Divine throughout these short films. From the bandstand at MacKay Church to the
depths of the galaxies, a divine playfulness is acknowledged. The artists resonate with mysteries that are both
eternal and provisional, and always fragile.

In a gathering of creative folks, what if there could be a divine fiat? Could it simply be a command to play
together? To play well together? If so, let it be.

Let’s jam together. All of us.

They teach you
there's a boundary
line to music. But,
man, there's no
boundary line to art.
— Charlie Parker

The Curiosity Sessions: Live at MacKay explores curiosity’s place at the heart of creativity and spirituality. It was
filmed and recorded in Ottawa, October 31st to November 1st, 2022. Pete Woods (Minister/saxophonist, MacKay
United) and Rob Dalgleish (Founding Director of the EDGE Network) spent time in conversation with each other
and with other artists (members of The Kindness of Jazz as well as poet Caitlin Fisher and host Carolyn
Sutherland). This culminated in a “Music and Meditation Concert” at MacKay Church. Randy Cole recorded and
filmed it all. Each short film is a meditation on the curious life.

Pete Woods,
March 2023,
The Kindness of Jazz,
Minister, MacKay United Church,
Ottawa, Canada

“A Small Bench Facing the Cosmos” by Caitlin Fisher
is at the imaginative heart of The Curiosity Sessions.

Credits

Album design by Jaymie Karn
Liner Notes by Pete Woods
Film, audio and still photography by Randy Cole
Produced by Pete Woods and Randy Cole
Thanks to all spiritual improvisers everywhere.

WORDS AND MUSIC

1. Curiosity – Crimond, J. S. Irvine
2. Vulnerable – Eventide, W. H. Monk
3. Community – Holy, J. B. Dykes
4. Humility – Just as I am, W. B. Bradbury
5. Compassion – Closer Walk, Anon
6. State of Grace – Moon Over the Ruined Castle, Rentaro Taki
7. Still Curious – Back Water Blues, Bessie Smith
8. Future Church – Converse, Charles Converse
9. To Everything There is a Season – The Water is Wide, Anon

Words:

Zoë Chaytors
Adam Cresswell
Rob Dalgleish
Adam Kilner
Amber Mattingly
Pete Woods

Music:

The Kindness of Jazz:

Jacob Clarke – bass
Lu Frattaroli – percussion
Jamie Holmes – percussion
Kyle Jordan – guitar
Mike T. Kerr – guitar
Kurt Neilsen – bass
Pete Woods – saxophone

Audio production/design by Tony Vieira
Recording by Tony Vieira, Mike T. Kerr,
Gareth Auden-Hole, Tim Jackson
Album Design by Jaymie Karn
Liner Notes by Pete Woods
Produced by Pete Woods and Tony Vieira

Thanks to all spiritual improvisers everywhere.

"… Practise
ceaselessly: there is
one art: wind
in the open spaces
grieving, laughing
with us, saying
improvise"
– Jan Zwicky

This is a quilt of breath and body, air and touch. It is trust, closed eyes, smiles, silence and friendship. The music both abides and reveals. Practitioners of imagination and justice share a love of curiosity. The songs stitch together so many voices. Wisdom emerges alongside paradox and uncertainty and risk.

So many encounters: mobile and studio recordings in Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa; gigs at Ottawa’s Bar Robo, One Up Room, Options Jazz Lounge, Rideau Club and Toronto’s Emmet Ray; months of meditative musical gatherings in church sanctuaries (Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Smiths Falls, Brockville); interviews with spiritual leaders from Alberta, Ontario, Texas.

The Curiosity Sessions: Words and Music affirms curiosity’s place at the heart of spirituality. The album also highlights curiosity as a key ingredient in the United Church of Canada’s innovative work, particularly as led by EDGE: A Network for Ministry Development.

‘Curiosity’, plus ‘compassion’ and ‘community’, were the words placed before everyone (musicians and speakers) involved in the Sessions. Thoughtful riffs and rhythms emerged quickly amongst the musicians; ideas flowed in interviews. Old songs were re-framed, fresh energy, more stories, bigger choruses. Resonance. Improvisation. It all remained grounded in the specific realities of EDGE work and United Church communities, but something more expansive also broke through. Wonder and surprise… so many beautiful surprises.

"What are you,
music –
that in entering
undoes us?
And undoing,
makes us whole."
– Jan Zwicky

How does curiosity feel?

Six people respond gracefully. Six voices speak with intensity. Six invitations, at least, are issued to live the curious life. Six revelations of a moral beauty that is both heartfelt and world-wise.

Life stories underscore the spoken words: confronting racial issues in Sarnia, sacred yoga in Texas, youth at risk in Toronto, social/spiritual engagement mediated through nature. These six individuals do critical spiritual work within local, national and international communities. They are all part of EDGE: A Network for Ministry Development: Zoë Chaytors, Adam Cresswell, Rob Dalgleish, Adam Kilner, Amber Mattingly, Pete Woods.

In these recorded moments, they cast their gazes beyond the specifics of work and ministry. The vistas are both intimate and expansive as they look to the far horizons. It feels as if they are inviting each other, and all of us, out onto an open road of soul and spirit. Wonder. Awe.

Meanwhile, the seven musicians embrace old songs and hear new sounds. They invent fresh melodies and shape them around familiar structures. They are reflective and prophetic in playful and affectionate ways. The music serves as a generous blessing upon all the spoken words: improvised benedictions invoked again and again.

"They teach you
there's a boundary
line to music. But,
man, there's no
boundary line to art."
– Charlie Parker

The Curiosity Sessions: Words and Music is a sonic collection of words and music framed around curiosity, compassion and community. Tony Vieira interviewed spiritual leaders affiliated with the innovative community work of the United Church of Canada. The spoken words then led to improvised musical responses by The Kindness of Jazz.

The material, musical and spoken, moves easily from the grounded and familiar to the speculative and unexpected. Each track is a meditation on the curious life. An invitation for you to ask: How does curiosity feel?

Pete Woods,
March 2023,
The Kindness of Jazz,
Minister, MacKay United Church,
Ottawa, Canada

‪@EDGEUCC‬ ‪@UnitedChurchCda‬ ‪@mackayunitedchurch5908‬