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Marco Diaz

Marco Diaz was born and raised in San Francisco and was introduced to the trumpet in the fourth grade at E.R. Taylor Elementary School. His formal training in both piano and trumpet began at the age of 14. He earned a scholarship from the Community Music Center in San Francisco, and began playing professionally at the age of 17 throughout the Bay Area with various Latin Jazz, Salsa, Reggae, and R&B bands. Upon graduating from high school, he continued his studies at San Francisco State University pursing a Bachelors of Arts in Popular Music and a minor in Economics.

In addition to his studies Marco has been influenced by Afro-Cuban music through world renowned musicians, such as, Jesus Diaz, who he played and recorded with for eight years, John Santos, Orestes Vilato, Edgardo Cambon, and Carlos Caro.

Today, Marco is part of the faculty at the Community Music Center in San Francisco and has been a part of the SFJAZZ teaching artist program since 2017. He is an accomplished recording musician who has shared the stage with Grammy Award winning artist, Israel “Cachao” Lopez, Nelson Gonzales, Jimmy Bosch, Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez, Ska Cubano (Europe), Tito Rojas, Nino Segarra, Anthony Cruz, Anthony Blea, Jovino Santos Neto, Joe Santiago, and is an integral member of the John Santos sextet, and the musical director for Bobi Cespedes.  Marco has participated in the San Francisco Symphony AIM program since 2000 and currently produces records and performs music throughout the country while also co-leading Vission Latina, an Afro-Caribbean dance band, and director of his own quartet, The Marco Diaz Quartet.

In 2011, Marco Diaz was part of the faculty at Jazz Camp West. He toured the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State with Bobi Cespedes, teaching children and adults the roots of Afro-Cuban music. Marco also performed at the San Francisco, Tanglewood, and Monterey Jazz Festivals, and the Smithsonian Museum with world renowned ethno-musicologist, John Santos and his Sextet. In the Fall, Marco began his ninth season with the San Francisco Symphony’s AIM (adventures in music) program.


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Album Review

Gaea Schell: In Your Own Sweet Way

Read "In Your Own Sweet Way" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Gaea Schell's In Your Own Sweet Way is a captivating journey through the realm of jazz that delivers a fresh perspective on a variety of compositional forms, including Latin-tinged originals to innovative interpretations of songs from the Great American Songbook. Although Schell originally grew up in Alberta, Canada and received her formal education in the piano-jazz studies program from McGill University, in Montreal, Quebec, she presently resides in San Francisco. She is joined on the project by some top Northern ...

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