Wanderer — Buckyball Music

photo by: Mike Chiodo

We’ve been lucky to have garnered several positive reviews since September for Wanderer! Below are some quotes, with a link to the full review.

We are climbing up the radio charts, slowly but surely! The campaign will be going for 2 more months, so please FEEL FREE to contact your local NPR of Jazz station to request that they play Sarah Pillow’s Wanderer!!

Our next gig is Wednesday, December 2 at Five Spot Jazz from 8 to 10 pm, Five Spot Jazz is in the cultural heartbeat of the East Village at 231 East 9th Street, NYC 10003, offering live jazz almost every evening and a tantalizing menu of Japanese cuisine! You can reserve your seats here through their website: https://www.fivespotjazz.com/

Reviews of Wanderer:

"Pillow’s October surprise, Wanderer with vibraphonist Wagnon and saxophonists Donny McCaslin and Nicola Caminiti (tenor and alto, respectively) is like having the same bird wildly flapping in a golden cage" A.D. Amorosi - Jazztimes.com Read full article, review/interview

"With Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia," the pace picks up. Pillow's scat singing is spirited and inventive, and she responds as the music unfolds. Both Wagnon and McCaslin deliver compelling solos that add to the intensity of the interpretation.” - Pierre Giroux, All About Jazz Read full review

“With Wanderer, Pillow makes a compelling case for vocal jazz without boundaries. Adventurous, technically dazzling and full of surprises, it’s a journey in which the voice can whisper, soar, scurry and swing—and rarely behaves as expected.” Jonathan Widran jwvibe.com Read full review

“Singer and lyricist Sarah Pillow puts lyrics to wonderful off the beaten track jazz tunes and sings stan- dards. On Wanderer she has assembled a dream band of Clark, pianist David Kikoski, saxophonist Donny McCaslin, bassist Joe Martin, while vibraphonist Marc Wagnon serves as arranger and producer. Every drummer knows about (or should know about) Mike Clark. But Mike Clark is not just a funk meister, post-bop drummer... he is also a supportive sideman. Clark’s relaxed bossa on “So Many Stars” is about as far away from“Actual Proof”as it can get, but Clark puts the same conviction into every groove he plays. Listen to how he plays the slick arrangement of “A Night in Tunisia,” the tenderness of “Duke’s Sound of Love,” the relaxed swing of “How High the Moon,” and the drive of Mingus’ “Tonight at Noon.” Pat Metheny’s funky “The First Circle” brings us to new territory for the band, but old territory for Clark. Egberto Gismonti’s “Café” is loose and airy and where the band really shines. This is the best track on the record. After the deconstructed intro to “Stella by Starlight” the band finds a nice groove, but the intro was very cool (almost too cool to leave as “just” an intro!) The rhythm section thrives on Chick Corea’s “500 Miles High.” The funky drum and voice duet intro on “Wayfarin’ Stranger” works very well, I was almost disappointed to hear the rest of the band enter. But they bring an additional texture to the tune that works very well, and there’s Clark the funk-meister bringing everything back home. What a nice experience to hear Mike Clark in a different musical situation, as a sideman, and surrounded by stellar musicians and arrangements.” Modern Drummer September 2026 issue

“Throughout Wanderer, her singing is creative, inventive, and powerful.” Bob Osborne - Different Noises Read full review

“A rich and deeply satisfying album that rewards repeated listening. A magnificent achievement and one of the most compelling vocal jazz releases in recent memory.” Frankie Pfeiffer Editor in chief Paris-Move Read full review

“Rather than choosing one road, Wanderer celebrates the act of moving between them. Its real subject is artistic curiosity: the conviction that jazz remains most alive when a musician is willing to leave familiar territory without losing sight of where the journey began.” Skope Magazine -Read full review

“In this remarkable project, the vocalist is joined by her husband - the exceptionally talented vibraphonist Marc Wagnon - alongside an all-star line-up of musicians from various generations…..an inventive, and powerful album! - Dioni Piatkowski, Era Jazzru (Poland) Read full review

"Sarah Pillow and her extraordinary septet venture boldly through familiar standards, reimagining them with warmth, wit, and genuine emotional depth, before arriving, on the closing “Wayfaring Stranger,” back home. It’s a fitting final gesture: after pushing at the edges of these classics throughout the record, she returns to something simpler and more traditional, as if the album’s title described her own path all along. Marc Wagnon’s inventive arrangements and the septet’s deep musical chemistry give Pillow the perfect canvas, and the result is a record that honors the jazz tradition while making a genuinely personal statement. “Wanderer” is a wonderful listen — a wanderer’s journey that ends, movingly, at home.” - Greg Victor, parcbench.live Read full review

Read an interview of Sarah Pillow by The Interviewist

Order the CD

Fall Dates:

Wednesday, December 2 at Five Spot Jazz from 8 to 10 pm

9/17, 7 pm The Yale Club, NYC (for Yale Club members)

10/01 University of Wisconsin - Madison, WI week-long Hidden Dimensions workshop/performance

10/18, 3-5 pm Adelina’s Bistro, Trilogy at Monarch Dunes, Nipomo, CA

10/20, 7 - 9 pm The Mark, San Luis Obispo, CA

10/21, 8 pm Sun Space, Los Angeles, CA

10/23, 6 pm Harpo’s Café Society, Half Moon Bay, CA

10/24 The Monkey House, Berkeley, CA

10/30 Church of the Incarnation (CD release) NYC

Wanderer:

sarah pillow - voice

donny mccaslin - tenor sax

nicola caminiti - alto sax

joey curreri - trumpet

marc wagnon - vibraphone

dave kikoski - piano

joe martin - bass

mike clark - drums

recorded on january 13 & 14, 2026

recorded and mixed at raw recording studio

engineer jean-christophe (j.c.) santalis

additional recording at buckyball music studio

mastering at voyager sound

mastering engineer chris allen

cover design buckyball music

muscian photos mike chiodo

sarah pillow photo ashley garrett

cover photo marc wagnon

arranging & music direction marc wagnon

blue skies irving berlin 3:41

so many stars sergio mendez lyrics: marilyn bergman 3:40

a night in tunisia dizzy gillespie 6:26

duke ellington’s sound of love charles mingus 5:30

how high the moon morgan lewis nancy hamilton 4:15

tonight at noon charles mingus lyrics: sarah pillow 4:12

the first circle pat metheney & lyle mays 7:28

café egberto gismonti lyrics: sarah pillow 5:33

stella by starlight victor young & ned washington 4:20

eclipse charles mingus 3:58

500 miles high chick corea 4:55

nature boy eden ahbez 4:25

wayfarin’ stranger anonymous 5:30

Total running time: 63:57

About Sarah Pillow:

Sarah's musical life has been shaped by curiosity. From an early age, she was drawn to a wide range of musical worlds, moving easily between jazz, classical music, opera, early music, sacred music, and progressive rock in search of new artistic connections.

As a teenager, she was already performing professionally when recordings by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald sparked a lasting fascination with jazz. The summer of her 18th year, Sarah appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, an experience that also earned her recognition from DownBeatMagazine and was an early indication of her talent for navigating new musical territory.

That spirit of exploration led her from jazz studies in Santa Cruz - alongside future jazz luminaries Donny McCaslin and Kenny Wollesen - to the Oberlin Conservatory, where she immersed herself in classical repertoire while continuing to perform jazz professionally. After settling in New York City, she became part of a vibrant artistic community that carried her from choral singing and modern dance projects to collaborations with early music specialists in both the United States and England.

Rather than choosing a single musical path, Sarah embraced them all. Her recordings and performances have ranged from jazz and sacred music to historically informed early music, often bringing the spontaneity of one tradition into another. As co-founder of Buckyball Music, she further expanded her creative independence, producing projects that crossed stylistic and historical boundaries.

Among the most distinctive of these were collaborations with progressive rock musicians Percy Jones and John Goodsall, blending 17th-century music with contemporary jazz and rock, and Galileo's Daughters, a multimedia ensemble that united music, science, history, literature, and visual art. Created with author Dava Sobel, Perpetual Motion: Revolutions in 17th Century Science and Music toured throughout North America and Canada, and is now memorialized as a CD and DVD package. The project reflects Sarah's belief that art is most exciting when disciplines intersect.

Whether performing medieval drama, contemporary opera, sacred music, or jazz, Sarah has remained guided by the same impulse: to follow the music wherever it leads. Her newest album reflects that lifelong wanderlust, moving from jazz standards to the adventurous music of Charles Mingus, Pat Metheny, and Chick Corea before arriving at the dreamlike landscapes of "Nature Boy" and "Wayfarin' Stranger." Throughout her career, Sarah has found that the richest discoveries often emerge where traditions, eras, and genres meet.

A first track from the recording

This Is a video of Tonight at Noon by Charles Mingus, interpreted by Sarah Pillow. This is one of the thirteen song of the Wanderer recording which will be available on October 5th.

We would like to share the excitement and genuine joy experienced during these sessions, when we recorded 13 songs in two days, with an eclectic selection (yes, that is the Buckyball style : ) of tunes from classics such as Stella by Starlight and How High the Moon, three songs by one of Amercia’s greatest composers, Charles Mingus, and some more contemporary tunes such as The First Circle by Pat Metheny, Café by Egberto Gismonti and 500 Miles High by Chick Corea.