Coleman had encountered third stream music in the 1950s, had played sessions for Gunther Schuller in 1960, and had composed two earlier orchestral works, "Inventions of Symphonic Poems" in 1967 and "Sun Suite of San Francisco" in 1968. Immediately prior to this album, he had done arranging work for Alice Coltrane on her album "Universal Consciousness". He had initially envisioned "Skies" as a concerto grosso for jazz combo and orchestra, but owing to contractual disputes with the musician's union in England, his band would not be allowed to record at all, and Coleman limited his own contribution to solos over the orchestra for select segments of the music.