Live Performing Arts Academy

Curtis Gaesser recently retired from his 39-year career as Music Director of Folsom High School (CA). Upon his retirement from teaching in 2023, he turned his attention to continuing jazz education through the Live Performing Arts Academy, a non-profit jazz education center he co-founded with Gaw Vang Williams, Sac State University’s Vocal Jazz Director and current Music Director at Folsom High School. LPAA is also the host of the California Jazz Championships which started in 2023 and now has over 90 High School and College Jazz groups competing over two days. 

Awards and Accolades

Under Gaesser’s direction, the Folsom High School Jazz Band A was named Best High School Jazz Band 17 times by DownBeat Magazine since 1993. The Folsom High School Jazz Choir I earned Best High School Vocal Jazz Group 26 times since 1994, including 24 consecutive years. The Folsom High School Jazz Bands and Jazz Choirs have won many awards since 1984.

Gaesser was named Folsom Cordova School District Teacher of the Year in both 1990 and 2011 and was honored as California State Jazz Educator of the Year in 2003. In 2008, he received the Annual National Achievement Award in Jazz Education from DownBeat Magazine and the Music Achievement Award from the Sacramento News and Review. He was selected to the Downbeat Magazine Educator Hall of Fame in 2024, and was presented the John La Porta Jazz Educator of the Year award at the JEN 2023 conference.

In 2016, he received both the city's Most Outstanding Teacher and the Teacher of the Decade Awards from the city of Folsom, as well as the  Northern California Band Directors Association’s Most Outstanding Educator Award. In 2017, he was named Best Music Educator for Northern California by the California Music Educators Association. He was put into the California Alliance for Jazz Hall of Fame in 2024. 
He directed the California All State Jazz Band in 2023, the Colorado All State Jazz Choir in 2015, and was the Grammy Foundation Educator Award finalist in 2018. 

His Current Pursuits

 

His newest venture is the Live Performing Arts Academy (LPAA), a non-profit dedicated to furthering live performing arts education and opportunities. In 2023, Gaesser and LPAA co-founder Gaw Vang Williams launched the California Jazz Championships, an outdoor Jazz Festival featuring the best college and high school bands from the Western States. The 2026 California Jazz Championships will bring over 90 bands performing on 4 stages and a special headliner performance by the Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. 

His Legacy

When asked about his legacy, Gaesser replied, 

 

“I have had the privilege to work with many amazingly talented students over 39 years – smart and genuine human beings that have, and will change the world. I have had groups that had so much talent it was easy to produce high quality music, however the memorable years for me were the groups that had less talent and I had to really teach. When these particular groups performed at a high level, that was when I realized my calling. I got more out of seeing kids’ smiles, pride, and successes than any personal performance of playing my own instrument.

I have had a very fulfilling career, and I never thought that any awards or accolades I've received as anything I did, but always what my student achieved.“