Personnel: Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone); David Measham (conductor); London Symphony Orchestra.

Producer: Paul Meyers.

Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna.

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, England from April 17-20, 1972. Originally released on Columbia (31562). Includes liner notes by John Litweiler and Ornette Coleman.

Digitally remastered by Mark Wilder.

Composer: Ornette Coleman.

Personnel: Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone).

Recording information: EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England (04/17/1972-04/20/1972).

Ornette Coleman began composing for classical ensembles in the early 1960's; in 1972 his symphonic composition SKIES OF AMERICA was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. The piece is hauntingly melodious, scored for massed strings playing in high registers and ominous, rumbling percussion.

On four tracks, Coleman's mercurial blues-rich alto soars over the orchestra. There are some similarities to the symphonic works of Samuel Barber, Aaron Copeland, Charles Ives and (especially) Igor Stravinsky, yet SKIES never appears derivative. Ornette Coleman, with his richly evocative writing, here fashions an elegy to the beauty and sorrow that remain part of the American Experience.

Spin (11/00, p.202) - 7 out of 10 - "...Inspiring Coleman flights....SKIES used a composed score yet was written 'free of key' as a manifestation of Coleman's 'harmolodic theory' of collective improv..."

The Wire (6/00, p.46) - "...Remains as confounding as it was upon its release....[His] score veers from the simplistic...to the profound....as grand and nanve as the idea of America itself..."

Down Beat (8/00, p.66) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...A study in monophony....It's well worth listening to..."