The Electric Flag, formed in 1967, was a blues rock soul group led by guitarist Mike Bloomfield, keyboardist Barry Goldberg, and bassist Harvey Brooks. Bloomfield formed Electric Flag after his stint with The Butterfield Blues Band. The band reached its peak with the 1968 release, "A Long Time Comin'," a fusion of rock, jazz, and R&B styles that charted well in the Billboard Magazine Pop Albums listings. The Flag's initial recording was a soundtrack for "The Trip," a movie about an LSD experience by Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson, done with director Roger Corman. Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern that most often follows a twelve-bar structure. ... Blues-rock is a hybrid musical genre combining elements of the blues with rock and roll, with an emphasis on the electric guitar. ... See also: 1960s in music. ... // January - The Ramones form. ... For the astronaut, see Michael J. Bloomfield Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American musician, guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, into a well-off Jewish family on Chicagos North Side. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Barry Goldberg (born 1941 in Chicago, Illinois) is a blues keyboardist. ... Harvey Brooks (born 1944, New York City) is an American bassist. ... Nicholas George Gravenites (born October 2, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois), known as Nick The Greek Gravenites and Gravy, is a blues, rock and folk singer/songwriter and is best known for his work with Janis Joplin and several other greats of the era. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... For the astronaut, see Michael J. Bloomfield Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American musician, guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, into a well-off Jewish family on Chicagos North Side. ... the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, 1966 Paul Butterfield (December 17, 1942 - May 4, 1987) was an American blues musician, and one of the most innovative harmonica players of the electric blues Chicago-originated style. ... Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. ... Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. ... Peter Henry Fonda (born February 23, 1940) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... Nicholson as Wilbur Force in The Little Shop of Horrors (1960). ... Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926), sometimes nicknamed King of the Bs for his output of B-movies (though he himself rejects this appelation as inaccurate), is a prolific American producer and director of low-budget exploitation movies. ...

History

With his great appreciation for blues, soul, and R&B, Mike Bloomfield wanted to create a group of his own that would feature what he called "American music." He was inspired not only by the big band blues of B.B. King, [[T-Bone Walker], and Guitar Slim (Eddie Jones), but also by the contemporary soul sounds of Otis Redding, Steve Cropper, Booker T & the MGs, and other Stax recording artists. He also drew inspiration from traditional country, gospel, and blues forms. He organized the Electric Flag, initially called the American Music Band, in the spring of 1967, not long after he produced a session with Chicago harp player James Cotton that featured a horn section. Bloomfield decided that his new band would also have horns and would play an amalgam of those American musics he loved. He and Goldberg assembled the group, under Albert Grossman's management, in San Francisco and immediately began working on its first project -- the soundtrack for the film "The Trip." Riley B. King aka B. B. King (b. ... Eddie Guitar Slim Jones (December 10, 1926 – February 7, 1959) is a New Orleans blues guitar player from the 1940s and 1950s best known for the million-selling song The Things That I Used to Do (a song that shaped rock and roll), and his flamboyant stage presence. ... Otis Ray Redding, Jr. ... Steve The Colonel Cropper (born Stephen Lee Cropper, on October 21, 1941) is a guitarist, songwriter, producer, and soul musician. ... Booker T. & the M.G.s is a soul band, most prominent in the 1960s and 1970s. ... James Jimmy Cotton (born July 1, 1935 in Tunica, Mississippi), is an American blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter who is the bandleader for the James Cotton Blues Band. ... Albert Bernard Grossman (May 21, 1926 -- January 25, 1986) is best known as the manager of Bob Dylan. ...

The band made its debut appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival, the first of the '60s rock music extravaganzas. Now called the Electric Flag, the group was well received by the audience of 55,000, though its performance fell short of Bloomfield's high standards. Following Monterey, the Flag proceeded to tour the Northeast and perform in the San Francisco area while working on a recording for Columbia Records. Though a critical success, the Flag remained largely unknown to the general public due in part to the band's inability to complete its initial record. Poster promoting the festival The Monterey International Pop Music Festival took place from June 16 to June 18, 1967. ...

By early 1968, drummer Buddy Miles had become a dominant force in the Flag's esthetic direction. The group's repertory by then included numerous contemporary soul covers which featured Miles and many classic blues tunes. The band produced fewer than a dozen original pieces, mostly written by vocalist Nick Gravenites, and Bloomfield's original "American music" concept appeared to have narrowed considerably. By May 1968, only a month after the release of the aptly-titled "A Long Time Comin'," Mike Bloomfield quit the group, and though they strove to carry on under the direction of Buddy Miles, the Electric Flag was effectively finished. Personality conflicts, differing esthetics, and a series of drug problems hastened the band's downfall.

Epilogue

Though the Electric Flag was together in its original configuration less than a year, the band did make a strong impression on critics and musicians, primarily in the San Francisco area where they were based. One of the first rock groups to include horns, the Electric Flag was contemporaneous with the earliest edition of Blood, Sweat and Tears with Al Kooper. Blood, Sweat & Tears was an American rock and roll group formed in New York City in 1967. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Al Kooper left BS&T in April 1968, and was inspired by a jam recording with Moby Grape to the organize the similarly structured Super Session album. He included Bloomfield, Barry Goldberg and, after Bloomfield left the session due to a bout of insomnia, Stephen Stills. Bloomfield and Kooper also toured together, while drummer and vocalist Buddy Miles went on to form the Buddy Miles Express and also play in Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys. Album cover of 2003 re-release of Super Session. ... Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. ...

A reunion of sorts took place in 1974 with the Electric Flag releasing "The Band Kept Playing," but the recording was not a commercial or critical success and the band quickly disbanded after several months of sporadic gigs.

On July 28 and 29, 2007, a concert took place at the Monterey County Fairgrounds commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Monterey Pop Festival. One of the acts featured was a one-time reunion of The Electric Flag, anchored by original members Gravenites, Goldberg, and Hunter, backed by members of the Tower of Power and The Blues Project. The one hour set featured material from the first album, as well as several blues covers. Tower of Power is a horn-based soul band from Oakland, California. ... One of the first album-oriented, underground groups in the United States, the Blues Project offered an electric brew of rock, blues, folk, pop, and even some jazz, classical, and psychedelia during their brief heyday in the mid-60s. ...

Trivia

• An Electric Flag instrumental from "The Trip" sessions, "Flash, Bam, Pow," appears in the bridge sequence of the movie Easy Rider (1969), with Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson.

• "The Trip" may well have been the first recording to feature a new electronic instrument called the Moog synthesizer.

• Miles Davis praised Bloomfield's composition "Over-Lovin' You" in a Downbeat Blindfold Test in 1968.

• "A Long Time Comin'" was one of the first pop recordings to blend sound and voice samples with music.

Electric Flag album cover

Wyatt, Mary (Toni Basil), Billy and Karen (Karen Black) wandering the streets of a parade filled New Orleans. ... Dennis Lee Hopper (born May 17, 1936) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor and film-maker, known for his roles in Blue Velvet, 24 and Easy Rider. ... The term Moog(pronounced // as in moan) synthesizer can refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for analog and digital music synthesisers. ... Image File history File links Electric Flag album cover, uploaded by Gerald Zuckier. ... Image File history File links Electric Flag album cover, uploaded by Gerald Zuckier. ...

Discography

Soundtracks

• The Trip (1967 soundtrack)

Albums

• A Long Time Comin' (1968) (with Bloomfield and Goldberg)
• The Electric Flag: An American Music Band (1968) (led by Buddy Miles, after Bloomfield and Goldberg left)
• The Band Kept Playing (1974) (reunion recording)
• Old Glory: Best of the Electric Flag (1995) ("best of" compilation, including outtakes and selections from the band's Monterey Pop Festival appearance)
• Groovin' Is Easy (1983), The Electric Flag: Live (2000), I Found Out (2000), Funk Grooves (2003) (the same material on different releases, namely outtakes from the 1974 reunion recording and live performances from the original band in 1968)

External links

• Official Mike Bloomfield Site
• Michael Bloomfield Discography