Marco Diaz’s commanding presence in the Bay Area music scene has its foundations in the scholarship program at Community Music Center. For this trumpet player and pianist, who is the bandleader for Cuban singer Bobi Céspedes and a central member of the John Santos Sextet, Diaz’s love of music first began in public school. “I heard the trumpet for the first time when I was in fourth grade,” said Diaz. “I knew that was the instrument I was going to be playing.” This passion for music was nurtured and developed through the scholarship program at CMC taking Diaz through his high school years in the early 1990’s and preparing him for studying music at San Francisco State. “I started taking piano lessons at CMC in the eighth grade,” said Diaz.“In my first year of high school, I auditioned for a scholarship, and I was awarded piano lessons, trumpet lessons, and jazz theory. That blew everything open for me. That was it. I was hooked.”