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Born in Los Angeles in 1968, Jason grew up listening to what was in his parents record collection, including Love, Crosby Stills & Nash, the Beatles, the Zombies, and the Kinks. His love for music started young; he started playing drums made out of ice cream tubs at age 4 and began taking classical piano lessons at 6. He stuck with classical piano for 10 years to the prideful joy of his parents. But somewhere along the way he discovered his sister's new wave and punk collection, and his fate was set. He dropped piano, picked up the guitar, and joined various bands throughout high school. Not long after graduation, Jason responded to a magazine and and joined the Three O'Clock, with members Michael Quercio (lead vocals, bass), Mike Mariano (keyboards), and Danny Benair (drums). The band released one album with Jason in 1988 on their major-label debut Vermillion for Prince's Paisley Park record label. The band broke up soon after its release.

Jason spent the next six months living in the U.K. and Europe. He returned to the U.S. and spent a year drifting through college and various odd jobs before his old friend Roger Manning convinced him to move to San Francisco and join his new band, Jellyfish. The band formed with Jason (guitars, bass), Roger (piano), his brother Chris Manning, and Andy Sturmer (lead vocals, drums). Though the group gained recognition in alternative circles and released a moderately successful debut album, 1990's Bellybutton, Jason wasn't allowed to contribute his own songs to the band. This fact, topped by his concern that the band was trying too hard to sound like their influences rather than an original band, led to him leaving Jellyfish after their first release. He vowed never to join another band again.

In 1993, he played with Fabulon on All Girls Are Pretty Volume 1, contributing guitar and bass on a few tracks. During this time he worked as a session player for several other bands as well. Pretty soon he came into contact with multi-talented musician Jon Brion, who invited him to jam with him and his bandmates in their rehearsal space. It didn't take long for Jason to break his vow to steer clear of bands; he soon joined their band, later named The Grays. Made up of Jason, Jon Brion (lead vocals, keyboards, bass), Buddy Judge (guitars), and Dan McCarroll (drums), The Grays hated the confines of most bands and decided to do everything in their power to avoid the pitfalls. Despite their earnest efforts, problems ensued in the band, and they released just one album, 1994's Ro Sham Bo. They scored a small hit with Jason's album opener, "Very Best Years." (Side note: Jason's father Avery did all the illustrations and photography for the album's cover and inside sleeve.)

Once again bandless, Jason kept busy recording at his home studio on a 4-track machine. He intended to release an all-covers album and recorded songs by his favorite bands and artists. This album never happened, and the majority of these songs were shelved. (Only in 2001 would these recordings see the light of day on Japanese indie label Air Mail Recordings' release Everyone Says It's On.)

In 1995 he worked with Eric Matthews on Eric's album It's Heavy in Here, and finally got what he had been looking for: a solo record deal. Through Elektra Records, he released Jason Falkner Presents Author Unknown in 1996. This album was a solo effort in the truest sense: he wrote all the songs and played every single instrument on every track, and even produced it by himself. The album received rave reviews by practically every music critic who heard it, yet it didn't achieve much commercial success.

In this same year he also contributed to Brendon Benson's album One Mississippi, co-writing seven songs, as well as playing various instruments on Susannah Hoffs' '96 release. 1997 saw Jason continuing session work with Eric Matthews' second album, The Lateness of the Hour, contributing various instruments, co-producing and assisting on five tracks.

In early 1999 he issued his sophomore effort, Can You Still Feel? Again, it was a complete solo effort, but this time was co-produced by Nigel Godrich, best known for producing Radiohead's enormously successful OK Computer. Soon after this album's release, Jason got fed up with being ignored by his own record label and got out of his deal with Elektra. Not being able to stay out of the studio, he contributed instrumentals on songs by Chris Cornell and Soulwax, and produced the Brown Eyed Susans album Afraid of Heights.

In 2000 Jason kept very busy, touring and contributing to various projects. He recorded "Song For Her" for the Songs For Summer tribute cd, played on Roger Manning and Brian Reitzell's album Logan's Sanctuary, and contributed on some tracks and even a couple live shows for the band Air.

In 2001 Jason contributed to Air's 10,000 Hz Legend. He also spent the summer months through November touring with them as bassist. New York indie label spinART Records released Necessity: The 4-Track Years, a disc comprised of old 4-track demos. Indie label Air Mail Recordings in Japan also released a double-cd set called Everyone Says It's On in 2001, featuring one cd of demos and unreleased songs along with another cd of covers, many of which have been released on various compilation albums. His main project of the year was an instrumental album of Beatles songs for kids called Bedtime With the Beatles: Instrumental Versions of Classic Beatles Songs released by Sony Wonder . He also covered "Do Ya" for Not Lame's Lynne Me Your Ears: A Tribute to Jeff Lynne. While in France, he worked with Roger Manning and Brian Reitzell again, recording together as TV Eyes (formerly called Softkore).

2002 proved to be another busy year for Jason. He spent the summer touring in Europe again as bassist with Air, contributed on several artists' albums (including Beck, Aimee Mann, and Travis), produced an album for The Lilys, and performed a televised live show with Travis in Europe. He played a scattering of solo gigs in Europe as well as a couple of shows with a backing band in the States in November and December.

TV Eyes released their first single and played their first two gigs in May 2003. Jason headed to the studio in June to begin recording his third solo album. He also spent time in the studio helping out various friends on their new records, including Air's Talkie Walkie and Beck's upcoming effort.

In January and Feburary of 2004 Jason joined Travis on the road as the opening act for their 12 Memories tour. At the shows he debuted his EP Bliss Descending.