Seasoned guitarist Jacques Lesure plays, teaches, and presents all over the United States and abroad. Jacques strives to create and nurture a love and appreciation for the tradition of Jazz music, as an original, American art form, birthed in the African- American culture. Currently a resident of Los Angeles, California, Jacques Lesure is of Ghanaian ethnicity and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Jacques has performed with many great artists in music: Kenny Burrell, Oscar Brown Jr., Jimmy Smith, Stanley Turrentine, Freddy Cole, Wynton Marsalis, George Benson, Jack McDuff, Les McCann, Carmen Lundy, Oliver Lake, Paula West, Pharaoh Sanders and many others. He has collaborated in the creation of and performed in a variety of stage plays, movie scores and special projects made for television. His career spans over 30 years. Jacques is also very active in the community and mentors many of today’s up and coming musicians in the greater Los Angeles area. He is an Arts Commissioner for the City of Inglewood and former president of the African American Jazz Caucus. Jacques is a professor at UCLA, a national adjudicator, judging student competitions across the nation and he is an Artist Teacher for Music LA, and The Dolo Coker Jazz Foundation.

Jacques is proudly associated with the prestigious WJ3 Records imprint and now has three recordings as an artist on that label. All have received great reviews including a four star rating by Downbeat Magazine and one of the “Top 100” on the Jazz Week Chart. 

Jacques is an honorary member of GHjazz Collective where they are keeping jazz music alive in Accra, Ghana at +233 Jazz Bar & Grill.