“The Annex Sessions” will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex)

on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, 6-8:30pm
with

The Saúl Sierra Quartet

Marco Diaz- keyboard
Julio Perez- percussion
Ahkeel Mestayer- percussion
Saúl Sierra- bass

Marco Diaz: Keyboard
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.

Julio Perez: Percussion
Born in Puerto Rico, Julio Perez shares a long history with other band members Marco Diaz,
Saul Sierra, and Carlos Caro making music in the San Francisco Bay Area and also when he visits
home in Puerto Rico. Julio plays all the percussion instruments with precision and feeling, and
from memory as well, since he lost his sight as a young boy. Julio brings great musicianship and
great friendship to VibraSON and co-stars in a number of other productions around the area
including concerts by Bobi Cespedes, John Santos, Marco Diaz and other local bands.

Ahkeel Mestayer: Percussion
Ahkeel Mestayer is a percussionist, ethnomusicologist, and Grammy Academy member based in
San Francisco. Rooted in Afro Cuban and Afro Brazilian folkloric styles, he crosses into other
genres and is open to experimental collaboration, always putting his heart into the music and
to connect with audiences through his music.

Saùl Sierra-Alonso: Bass
Saùl Sierra-Alonso has played with many of the Latin bands in the Bay Area and studied at the
famous Berklee School of Music in Boston. Saùl has worked extensively in the Salsa and Latin
music scene and offers great expertise and musical experience.
Saúl Sierra Born and raised in Mexico City, where he started playing professionally in 1990. He
moved to Boston Mass. in 1995 and attended the Berklee College of Music where he graduated
in the summer of 1999, with a major in Performance. Some of his teachers included Oscar
Stagnaro, Rich Appleman, Daniel Morris, and Jim Stinnet. He received the US Scholarship tour
award and the Outstanding Performer award at Berklee.
As a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area since the fall of 1999, Saúl has performed, toured or
recorded with Nestor Torres, Jimmy Bosh, Eddie Montalvo, Johny Rodríguez, Orestes Vilató,
Bobi Céspedes, Antonio Sánchez, Miles Peña, John Santos, Jesús Díaz, Rebeca Mauleón, Mark
Levine, Greg Landau, Mike Spiro, Jackeline Rago, Chuchito Valdez, Alexander Livinali, Wayne
Wallace, Aquiles Baez, Marco Granados, Anthony Blea, Doug Beavers, and María Márquez,
among others.
For the past 10 years Saúl has been a member of some of the leading bands in the Bay Area,
including The John Santos Quintet/Sextet, Bobi Cespedes’ band, Dr. Loco’s Rocking Jalapeño

Band, El Tren Trío, Anthony Blea y su Charanga, The Snake Trío, Jesús Díaz y su QBA, The Bay
Area Afro-Cuban All Stars, The Venezuelan Music Project, Corazón Sur, and Sababa band.
A founding member of Vission Latina, the band that he co-leads with Carlos Caro, percussionist
extraordinaire, and Marco Díaz, virtuoso multi-instrumentalist (piano/trumpet ), Saúl keeps
himself busy performing, composing, arranging and teaching in the world class musical
community of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Natural Grocery Company is proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and Javier

Navarrette Music Productions.

SunJams is committed to funding children's music education in underserved public elementary
schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.
All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been
severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 - any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing
music to our community! As always, your donation to SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax
exempt.
Javier Navarrette Music Productions continues to bring live music to several venues around the
Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified
School District for the past 20 years. Over the past few years Navarrette has produced outdoors
events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of
the pandemic and shutdown that followed.

Follow Javier Navarrette on Facebook , Instagram and YouTube.

COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES
Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.

TICKETS

Tickets are encouraged, we are happy to offer you a reserved seat (limited seating available) if you RSVP with a donation that will go towards paying for the music. Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter.

The Annex

The Annex is a lively space for shopping, dining and relaxing. As the newest part of The Natural Grocery Company, the values are the same: a passion for vibrant community, healthy organic food and respect for the planet.

"The Annex Sessions" is sponsored by the Natural Grocery Company in its commitment to serve the local community and help in the recovery of the local art scene.

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days a week, inside the Annex you’ll find: A Cafe, Juice Bar, Deli, Wine & Beer, and more.

The Annex building itself embodies our values: a few of the sustainable features are: extensive re-use of materials from the pre-existing structure, use of recycled materials from local vendors, and reliance on the solar energy we produce here, supplemented with other clean energy sources.

DONATIONS

SunJams is committed to funding children's music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.

In addition, we need to raise funds to continue bringing you this exciting new ( launched in April 2022) live music program. All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 - any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to our 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.

Please DONATE HERE

DURING THE SHOW

We will be taking cash or check donations at check-in, during intermission & at the end of the show.

TIME

The Annex is open every day, please check their website for hours (https://naturalgrocery.com/annex/).

 The show will begin at 6:00 PM and conclude by 8:30 PM.

Accessibility

General information