Skywalk was a fusion jazz

Jazz fusion

Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...

 band based out of Vancouver, British Columbia

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

. The band was formed in 1979 by Graeme Coleman (keyboards) and Rene Worst (bass), with Tom Keenlyside

Tom Keenlyside

Tom Keenlyside is a Juno Award-winning saxophonist and jazz flute player from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.- Biography :Born and raised in Vancouver, Keenlyside took up the trumpet in 1962 at the age of 12, and played in various rhythm and blues bands throughout the 1960s. He played is first...

 (tenor and soprano saxophones, flute), Ihor Kukurudza (guitar), Jim McGillveray (percussion), and Lou Hoover

Lou Henry Hoover

Lou Henry Hoover was the wife of President of the United States Herbert Hoover and First Lady of the United States, 1929-1933. Mrs. Hoover was president of the Girl Scouts of the USA for two terms, 1922-1925 and 1935-1937....

 (drums).

They opened for Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...

 at the 1980 Montreaux/Detroit International Jazz Festival. This performance was recorded and released as their initial album Skywalk Live In Detroit (RCI 520), which received air play on Radio Canada International

Radio Canada International

Radio Canada International is the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . Until 1970, it was known as the CBC International Service and was sometimes referred to as the "Voice of Canada" in its early years.- The early years :The idea for creating an...

. This is the only recorded performance of the band with Hoover still playing drums.

In 1980, Kukurudza had been replaced by Harris Van Berkel, and Hoover by Kat Hendrikse. Silent Witness (Skywalk Records 001) was released in 1982 initially on their own label, Skywalk Records, and was picked up and released in the U.S. by Zebra Records in 1983 (ZEB-5680), where it achieved #12 on Billboard's

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

jazz/contemporary charts. Subsequent releases include The Bohemians (ZEB-5715) in 1985, Paradiso (ZEB-42204) in 1987, and Larger Than Life (Mesa/BlueMoon R279173 ; also on Rhino/WEA) in 1992.