Playground Big Band's Members

The musicians of Playground Big Band are a diverse group, ranging from professional musicians and music educators to folks who just enjoy playing for the fun of it. While we have a core group that tends to remain stable, we also have a network of players who sit in from time to time as substitutes or guests. If you're interested in learning how you can be a part of Playground Big Band, contact our musicdirector@playgroundbigband.com.

The Playground Big Band is...

Saxophones
Tony Akridge, tenor; Norm Boldin, alto; Andy Corbin, baritone; Robert Kemp, tenor; Ron Smith, alto.
Trombones
Kim Bear (website manager), Ron Bear, Will Corbin(library coordinator), Hank Rockwell.
Trumpets
Pete Blaise, Rich Brown, Tony Leonard, Mike Malone, Matt Markel, Michael Walker(music director).
Rhythm
bass; ; Dick Reinlie, drums (business manager); Justin Rogers, guitar; Leo Tisa, piano.
Vocals
Gina Walker


Information about Playground Big Band members
Norm Boldin grew up in Central Alabama and began his musical background playing clarinet at Wetumpka High School (Elmore County Band). He attended Auburn University in 1958- 1960 and played in the Auburn University Bands and the Auburn Knights Orchestra. He played at various times, baritone sax, tenor sax, alto sax and clarinet. The Auburn Knights was the most active group he has played with. They played the entire Southeast and often played 2 to 3 times per week in Country Clubs and for College Proms. Their vocalist was Toni Tennile and they often played the dance with Name performers doing a show. These included (Ray Charles, Four Freshmen, Kingston Trio, and others).After that, Norm stopped playing and didn't start again until 1998 when he joined a church orchestra and several local groups in the Roswell, Ga. area. He played with the Take Note Big Band in Rosell for about 4 years before moving to his current home in Seagrove Beach. He currently plays with the Bay Wind Community Band in Panama City and in his church band in addition to the Playground Swing Big Band.

Ron Smith is a retired US Army musician, having performed all over the world as saxophonist, clarinetist, as well as leader of many show bands, combos, concert bands, and ceremony bands for 22 years. Presently performing as principle clarinetist with the Northwest Fla Symphony Orch and has performed in 30 different Broadway plays. He has played "One Night Stands" with the likes of Fabian, Ray Stevens,Harmonicats,Lawrence Welk, The Temptations, Jimmy Dorsey, Guy Lombardo Orch, Russ Carlyle Orch, and President Reagan. Ron likes both classical and jazz equally, as well as any style that is performed with class and heart. Ron resides in Ft Walton Beach, Florida

Will Corbin is a retired newspaper journalist who has been playing trombone in jazz bands since high school. As trombonists go, he's a pretty good editor. He and drummer Dick Reinlie founded the Playground Swing in 2005 as a way to play big-band music that went beyond a tea-dance repertoire. Will manages Playground Swing's music library.



Dr. Matt Markel is one of the lead trumpet players for Playground Swing. He has been with the group since June of 2006, and first performed with the group at the 2006 Bowlegs Festival. Dr. Market also currently plays with the White Sands Orchestra, and is a regular performer at First Presbyterian Church of Fort Walton Beach. He has played with The Northwest Florida Symphony, the Swinging Dick Tracy’s, and was the lead trumpet for the Latin band La Orquesta Tropical and the Keith Ellis big band - St. Louis Sessions in St. Louis, MO. In addition to being a trumpeter, Dr. Markel is the Signal Processing Technical Fellow for the Jacobs Engineering TEAS group in Northwest Florida. His research interests are in adaptive signal processing, radar signal processing, and image processing. Additional information can be found at www.mattmarkel.com

Michael Walker, a native of the Washington D.C. area has been playing trumpet professionally and teaching since 1984. the Playground Swing as a founding member in 2005 and became Musical Director in late 2005.


Dick Reinlie started playing drums when he was 8 years old. He graduated from Choctawhatchee High School in Fort Walton Beach, FL and went to Florida State where he was in their jazz band from 1975 through 1977. He played with the Ted Garret Trio from 1971 through 1976, and with Rosie O'Grady's Dixieland Band in 1976. After a 25 year career in telecommunications industry, Dick retired from Nortel Networks in 2002 as Vice President/Sales. He started playing drums again in 2003. In addition to Playground Swing, Dick plays with the Jazz Mackerals and the Northwest Florida Philharmonic, the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and other various musicians on the Gulf Coast. He is currently the general manager at Playground Music Center. Dick's wife Carla Reinlie plays trumpet and is also in the local symphonies and has played with Playground Swing, and their son John has sat in on drums.

Justin Rogers began playing music from the time he could speak. At age 4 he started taking piano lessons. He continued to do so for about 5 years. By age 10, he grew tired of the piano and thought the baritone horn would be cool to play… Not so. On Christmas Eve of his seventh grade year, Justin was rushed to the hospital with appendicitis. It was then that his father surprised him with a guitar. By age 13 on, Justin grew obsessed with the instrument, music, and the need to entertain. As years passed, he found the power of jazz and never looked back. He has performed in front of thousands of people up and down the East coast. While studying at Berklee College of Music, he joined multiple bands and performed constantly. Upon graduating, he moved to the Florida Panhandle where he currently teaches guitar at a local music store (Playground Music in Fort Walton Beach), records, and performs in numerous bands including the Dog Spankin Monkeys, The Playground Swing, TMJ Lockjaw, as well as various side projects. He also performs solo jazz guitar at various weddings, private parties, and restaurants. He records primarily in his home recording studio in order to keep track of his guitar progress as life continues to go on, and on, and on. For booking information, please email Justin at jrrguitar@aol.com. If you want to hear some of his musical experiments, visit his myspace page at www.myspace.com/jrrguitar.

Gina Walker hails from Utica, NY as a member of a very musical family. Gina has been performing since childhood and has received numerous awards and accolades. She was Tampa’s Junior Miss 1981 and winner at the State level of the talent portion of Florida’s Junior Miss. Since then, she traveled extensively, performing with American Entertainment, TRUTH, The Zim Zemerel Orchestra, Kaleidoscope, The Potomac Jazz Orchestra. As member of TRUTH she had a #8 song on the Adult Contemporary Charts. She is currently the featured vocalist with both the Jazz Mackerels and Playground Swing.

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