Sky Islands (Caldera album)
album by Caldera
Sky Islands is the second album by Jazz fusion group Caldera released in 1977 on Capitol Records. The album reached No. 18 on the Cashbox Top 40 Jazz Albums chart.
Critical reception
Jakob Baekgaard of All About Jazz, gave Sky Islands a 4.5 out of 5 stars rating. Baekgaard took note that "Caldera's musical vision is widescreen and cinematic, but the wondrous thing is that it never becomes too much, which has always been the danger of fusion. In some cases, the grand gestures can turn into mannerisms. Caldera keeps the wide soundscapes in check with organically earthy rhythms and a perfect balance between electric and acoustic. The result is a sound that is surprisingly contemporary and, rather than being a journey back in time, revisiting these records is just as much a peek into the future."
Alex Henderson of AllMusic, in a 3.5 out of 5 stars rating, found that "While Caldera's first LP was produced by Wayne Henderson, Sky Islands finds Strunz and del Barrio doing the producing with Earth, Wind & Fire keyboardist Larry Dunn -- who was a logical choice considering that EWF was among Caldera's many influences. At times, they tend to over-produce. But the writing is consistently superb, and all things considered, Sky Islands makes good on the promise of the band's previous album."
Covers
The album's title track was covered by Dianne Reeves on her 1987 self titled album and Ramsey Lewis on his 1993 LP Sky Islands.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Sky Islands (Caldera album)” is album by Caldera. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Islands, Caldera and album, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “album by Caldera” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7537359. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1977, 1987 and 1993.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sky Islands (Caldera album)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.