Photos: Maxine Brown & the Q-Set at the Central, Gillingham 3rd Dec 1967

Photos and Info sent in from Lorne Anton, who while based in Chatham with the RN took these photos at The Central Gillingham in 1967

Maxine Brown and the Q-Set at the Central R&B Club, Gillingham 3rd December 1967

Lorne's accompanying words

The date I originally gave for the Maxine Brown gig at the Central R&B Club, Gillingham is wrong, apologies!

The correct date should be 3/12/1967. This was, I think, her second UK Tour with some 30 odd gigs between Sept 67 and Feb 68. She was one hard working lady! She delivered a great, hard driving set, with loads of personality, the night I saw her - class!

She was backed by the Q-set who delivered a tight set that really swung behind her.

I think at that time they were Anthony Pereira, Guitar; Tony Omalley, Hammond Organ; Chester Simon, Bass; George Lee, Tenor; Lloyd Smith, Tenor; Herschell Holder, Trumpet; Byron Ly-fook, Drums;

I wasn't really into Soul but my Soul preferences were much more Stax style than Tamla Motown. Otis Reading, Wilson Picket, Joe Tex, Aretha, that kind of stuff. I was more into blues so it was the Marquee Club rather than the Flamingo.

The Central was a great venue to see live bands in the 60 s. In the 50 s it used to be a half way stop for excursion busses from London going to the Coast - the pee stop - and sometimes you could see 20 / 25 busses outside. This came to an end when the M2 and Farthing Corner Services opened. The pub was famous for ifs collection of Toby Jugs on the shelves round the walls and it soldiered on till the 1980s  when it was sold and demolished to be replaced by a housing estate. What else - either housing or a Tesco!
Another good venue was the Nags Head in Battersea and that suffered-the same fate! Progress eh?

Photos

Site Note:

Great moment in time photos, many thanks go out to Lorne for sharing, very much appreciated.