His piano studies began at the age of four, and he made his debut with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra when he was fourteen. He first came to Europe after winning a scholarship to the Naples Conservatory in 1967. After winning 2nd prize at the 1972 JS Bach Competition in Leipzig, he gained recognition throughout Europe as a soloist and recitalist.

Steuerman's solo appearances with orchestras include: the London Symphony under Claudio Abbado, and the Royal Philharmonic under both Lord Menuhin and Vladimir Ashkenazy. He and Ashkenazy teamed up again at the Athens Festival to perform the Britten Concerto. In 1985, he received great critical acclaim when he made his debut at the BBC Promenade Concerts, playing Bach's Concerto in D minor with the Polish Chamber Orchestra.

Other orchestral engagements have been with the English Chamber, Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He has appeared with the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Kurt Masur, Basel Symphony with Heinz Holliger, Helsinki Philharmonic, Zurich Tonhalle, Berlin Symphony, Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano. Jean Louis has also appeared with orchestras in America, including the Seattle Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He tours extensively throughout Europe, North America and Japan, regularly appearing in major recital series on both sides of the Atlantic. His chamber music collaborations are with some of the world's finest musicians.

His repertoire stretches across a wide range of periods and genres, and he takes particular care to include late twentieth century works in his recitals. In recent years, he has premiered a number of important new works.

Jean Louis Steuerman's recordings for Philips Classics include: solo piano music of Scriabin, Mendelssohn's complete works for piano and orchestra with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Bach's Piano Concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and Bach's Six Partitas, for which he was awarded the prestigious Le Diapason d'Or. He has also recorded three piano suites by Girolamo Arrigo, and the complete piano works of Othmar Schoeck, which were released at the end of 1999.

In 2003, his recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations was released on Actés Sud. Bernstein's The Age of Anxiety on the Naxos label followed in 2004, and Bachianas Brasileiras No. 3 by Villa-Lobos on BIS in 2005. His latest recordings of solo piano music by Schumann and the solo piano music of Schoenberg were released by Actés Sud in 2006.