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Tony Gil

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Singer of Latin, Jazz and Pop

The Washington Area Music Association gave out its annual Wammie Awards in 1997, honoring area musicians and other members of the local music scene. Jazz singer Tony Gil was the biggest winner, receiving the award for artist of the year, while his CD "Tenderly: A Tribute to Felix Grant" won as album of the year. Certainly one of Washington's most prolific musicians, Gil has released five CDs in the past 2 1/2 years. Gil, whose parents are Ecuadorean, was named best Latino vocalist, and his album "Yo Te Recuerdo" won for best Latino recording. And in the contemporary jazz category, Gil won the award for best male vocalist and his CD "Essentially Jobim" was voted best recording. That CD also won an award for best record design for Lawrence Marie. At the ceremonies in the Lisner Auditorium, Gil and Pam Bricker performed duets of "Just the Way You Look Tonight" and "One Note Samba," which helped explain Gil's many awards. WAMA has attempted to streamline the award presentations to make room for more live music. And while some might have second-guessed that decision after the maudlin performance by kiddie-folk act Bridges to Bliss, they were surely pleased about it when Ruth Brown came on. Brown, inducted this year into the WAMA Hall of Fame, received standing ovations for two rollicking numbers, including one from her Tony Award-winning role in the musical "Black & Blue." (Also inducted were jazz musicians Sonny Stitt and Donald Byrd.) The Latin jazz dance band Rumba Club started the evening off with some excellent salsa, and folk near-legend Tom Paxton performed a hilarious ode to the airline that broke his guitar. Heady, an MC with the hip-hop group 3LG, tried to get the hall going, waving his hands and shouting, "We're gonna make this a hip-hop party!" With the songs "La La (What Do You Expect?)" and "The Chain," the group nearly succeeded, despite the muddy audio mix. The Michael Sheppard Group and Ruthie & the Wranglers each poured their hearts into their two-song sets. A complete list of last night's Wammie winners will appear in the Nightwatch column in Friday's Weekend section. CAPTION: Tony Gil and Ruth Brown performing at last night's Wammies. Gil took home the award for artist of the year.

Genres

• Latin
• Jazz
• Pop

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