When guitarist Mike Bloomfield left the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1967, he wanted to form a band that combined blues, rock, soul, psychedelia, and jazz into something new. He knew for sure that he wanted a horn section in the band, which he began forming with a couple of friends, keyboardist Barry Goldberg and singer Nick Gravenites. Although the three were all veterans of the Chicago music scene, the group based itself in the San Francisco area. Bloomfield, Goldberg, and Gravenites were in turn bolstered by a rhythm section of bassist Harvey Brooks (who had played on some of Bob Dylan's mid-'60s records) and drummer Buddy Miles; on top of them came a horn section.
Oddly, before even playing any live concerts, Electric Flag recorded the soundtrack for the 1967 psychedelic exploitation movie The Trip, which afforded them the opportunity to experiment with some of their ideas without much pressure. Their live debut was at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival (although they didn't make it into the documentary film of the event; they do appear in the bonus footage on the DVD version), but their first proper studio album didn't come out until the spring of 1968. A Long Time Comin' predated Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago's big-band rock sound, mixing it as they did with jazz-rock but also soul-rock-psychedelia that sometimes (but not always) employed prominent horns. From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/electric-flag-mn0000135829#biography
