Ahead of retirement, Folsom High jazz educator honored for helping students achieve success
Curtis Gaesser, jazz band director for Folsom High School, conducts his students to success.
Twenty jazz band students attended the 14th annual Jazz Education Network conference earlier this month and performed alongside the Grammy award-winning jazz artist, John Daversa.
The conference, held this year in Orlando, Florida, is a great chance for students to immerse themselves in the music, according to Gaesser, who retires at the end of the school year after teaching for 36 years on the Folsom campus.
“They get to see the best players in the world over four days,” Gaesser said. “There’s clinics going on all day and it’s just a total learning environment. The kids get to do jam sessions at night with some of the pros as well.”
Gaesser received the John LaPorta Jazz Educator of the Year award, a national award recognizing an “outstanding elementary, middle, or high school educator with a focus on jazz education” presented by the Jazz Education Network and Berklee College of Music.
It was the first time Gaesser received the award, but he is no stranger to recognition for his teaching achievements. In 2018, he was a finalist for the Grammy Music Educator Award, which aims to “recognize current educators ... who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education.”
Gaesser was among the 10 finalists out of 2,500 quarterfinalists for that accolade.
“I know that the person who won deserved it wholeheartedly, but it was kind of awesome because I got to be a part of the Grammy night in San Francisco,” Gaesser said. “They recognize everybody who was nominated for a Grammy in California. That was kind of fun.”
A director plays exit music
Gaesser said he has been teaching for 39 years, and he is gone for 20 weekends a year traveling and competing with various groups. He is not “scratchy-eye tired,” but tired inside, he said, and he wants to make time for his wife, Lisa Gaesser.
“My wife has been by my side and helped raise my own kids while I was raising other people’s kids,” he said. “It’s time for me to be available for her when she wants to travel and do things while we still have our health.”
Folsom High Principal Howard Cadenhead said it is an internal conflict watching Gaesser leave because he is “super happy and proud” of everything he has accomplished.
“It’s not everywhere you have an educator as talented, committed, hardworking and caring about the community as Curtis Gaesser is,” Cadenhead said. “It’s that combination of incredibly motivated students, incredibly supportive parents and supportive district office that has come together to create a special program. We know we’re losing a huge part of that with Curtis’s retirement, but we’re very happy for him.”
Senior Daisy Strombom is a jazz band student who plays flute and piccolo. She attended the conference two weeks ago and said all 20 students were cheering for Gaesser in the crowd when he was called up to accept the award.
“I think one of the things about Mr. Gaesser that is really special is he’s able to see in his students potential, and he’s able to push us to that potential that we might not be able to see,” Strombom said.
Daversa said conferences like the Jazz Education Network’s are important because they bring people together and inspire the future, something that Gaesser has been contributing to for generations.
“To (be) up there on stage with the Folsom students and Mr. Gaesser during his final performance at the JEN conference was truly an honor,” Daversa said via email. “The students were locked in, performing difficult music with precision and imagination, and the ‘vibe’ was about the music, creation and the human experience of togetherness.”
This story was originally published January 20, 2023 at 6:00 AM.