Alvin Lee & Company was a musical entourage that Alvin Lee took around the world shortly after leaving his trademark band, Ten Years After. Lee had done an astounding 28 US tours in only seven years with TYA, and he had exploded on movie screens everywhere as part of the Woodstock documentary.
Although TYA had seen enormous success as a live act and, to a lesser degree, as a studio band, Lee had stayed with the group probably longer than he should have. Having been pigeon-holed into the bass-guitar-drums-organ instrumentation, and playing mostly 12-bar blues progressions, he became musically bored.
Lee departed the group in early 1974, and after releasing country-rock album On the Road to Freedom with gospel singer Mylon LeFevre and a bevy of top-notch guest musicians, he put together Alvin Lee and Company. They did their first show at London's Rainbow Theater in 1974 on a dare, but the gig turned out so well that Lee released it as double-LP In Flight. The band, which included former Humble Pie keyboardist Tim Hinkley and ex-members of Joe Cocker's Grease Band, would remain Lee's touring and recording band for several years.