He began studying classical piano at the age of five, and was introduced to jazz with Jeff Gardner and Francis Paudras, photographer and amateur pianist, Bud Powell's friend.
In 1984, on the advice of Francis Paudras, he received a two-semester scholarship to study jazz at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
It is finally with the Blue Note Label that an agreement is found.
In 1998, he participated in Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead, an international residency of jazz musicians and composers at the John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
Jacky Terrasson has long collaborated with drummer and percussionist Leon Parker and bassist Ugonna Okegwo in the trio he leads.
In 2012, he hired two young American musicians in his new band: the bass player Burniss Earl Travis (Robert Glasper, Logan Richardson, Tony Tixier ...) and the drummer Justin Faulkner (Branford Marsalis, Kurt Rosenwinkel ...)