He was born as Jack Lemmers to a Madurese father and a mother of mixed Javanese and Dutch blood a singer and dancer in the Opera Miss Riboet.. He uses the name "Lemmers", after his father who was adopted by a Dutchman. In the 1960s, in accordance with President Sukarno's suggestion regarding the Indonesianization of names, Jack changed his name to Jack Lesmana. It was from his parents that Jack inherited his musical talent.

In 1942 he founded a jazz group called Dixieland in Jember, East Java.

At the age of 15, he joined the Berger Quartet as a guitarist, consisting of Berger (piano), Putirai (drums), and Jumono (bass). He also plays boogie-woogie with Boogie-Woogie Rhytmics with Micki Wyt as lead and piano player, Oei Boeng Leng (guitar), Jack Lesmana (bass) and Benny Heynen (clarinet). Together with Maryono (clarinet), Andy Sayifin (alto saxophone), Lody Item (guitar), Suwarto (piano), Tuharjo and Kadam (trumpet), he joined the band Irama Samudra. Then with Maryono and Bubi Chen, Jack Lesmana founded the Jack Lemmers Quartet, which later became the Jack Lesmana Quintet.

Then in 1962 Lesmana's combo played for president Sukarno who liked them though they were not required to play jazz but Indonesian traditional and folk music. They remained the
"palace band" until the the coup against Sukarno in 1966.

The Jack Lesmana Quintet often performed at jazz events at RRI Surabaya. He had also joined the Navy Music Unit, also in Surabaya. He also founded the Gema Irama Band in Jakarta and made several jazz recording albums with the Irama label.

In the mid 60's, Jack Lesmana (guitar) with Bubi Chen (piano), Benny Mustapha van Diest (drums), Maryono (flute, saxophone), and Jopie Chen (bass), formed the jazz group The Indonesian Allstars who played with and record an album with Tony Scott..

In the 1970s he ceaselessly played and promoted jazz, and established the Jack Lesmana Jazz School in Jakarta becoming both a central figure and mentor to many musicians. In 1978, Jack Lesmana and his son Indra had the opportunity to go to Australia to perform at the ASEAN Trade Fair cultural week. It was then, Indra tried to take the entrance exam at the New South Wales Conservatory School of Music in Sydney and was accepted. In 1979 his son Indra Jack and his family moved to Australia for five years. Jack taught at the conservatory and played jazz, while Indra studied at Don Burrows, Roger Frampton and Paul McNamara at the school.

After returning from Australia in 1984, Jack Lesmana had founded a music school called the "Musik Indra & Jack Lesmana" Forum.

Jack Lesmana died in Jakarta on July 17, 1988 after a long battle with Cryoglobulinemia, a type of disorder in which cryoglobulins attack the human blood circulation.