The musicians of Playground Swing 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 Swing, contact
our
musicdirector@theplaygroundswing.com.
Playground Swing is...
Saxophones
Tony Akridge, tenor;
Norm Boldin, alto; Andy Corbin, baritone; Robert Kemp, tenor;
Ron Smith, alto. Guests include Tom Fitzpatric and Joe Occipinti.
Trombones
Kim Bear (website manager), Ron Bear,
Will Corbin(library coordinator), Hank Rockwell. Guests include Dustin Roark
and Brian Warner.
Trumpets
Pete Blaise, Rich Brown,
Rudy Flores, Tony Leonard,
Matt Markel,
Michael Walker(music director). Guests include Carla Reinlie.
Rhythm
Joe Calderon, bass; Nancy Knowles, piano;
Dick Reinlie, drums (business manager);
Justin Rogers, guitar. Guests include John Baston, bass; Tom Latenser, bass; Brent Purcell, drums;
John Reinlie, drums.
Vocals
Gina Walker
Information about Playground Swing 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.
Rudy Flores, Jr. is a native of San Antonio, TX and 10-year veteran of the U.S. Navy Band touring over 26 countries.
Rudy is a trumpeter, bassist, and arranger who studied with legendary musicians Raymond Crisara of the New York Philharmonic and
Rocco Prestia from Tower of Power. He has performed with a variety of groups such as "Sugar Jones" of Austin, "Tropi-Jazz" of Honolulu,
and also managed bands "Groove Monkeys" and "Latin Train" of Hawaii, "Innovacion" of New Orleans, and "F.T.P." of S. Korea.
His notable performances include the NBC Today Show, Carnivale (Nice, France), U.S. Ambassador (Tunis, Africa), Aaron Neville,
Lee Greenwood, 2 U.S. Presidents, 3 NFL halftime shows, NFL Pro Bowl, and featured bugler on CNN for the Pearl Harbor 50th anniversary
ceremonies in Hawaii. In 2002, after many years of touring with the salsa and Big Bands in Italy and Hawaii, Flores decided to join the
U.S. Air Force. He is now stationed at Eglin, AFB. Rudy's educational endeavors include a BA, MPA, and a MS. You can contact Rudy at
LatinTrain@Gmail.com or through his website at
http://latintrain.tripod.com.
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.
Joe Caleron is a former member of the Air Force Band (Japan, Philippines). He works for Medical Information Systems.
Joe loves God, his wife, and his daughter. He enjoys listening much more than actually playing.
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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