Haas spent his formative years in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa.

He won local and regional piano competitions at a young age.

[1] After graduating from high school, he received a scholarship to study classical music at the University of Tulsa, but while in college he became interested in jazz and switched his major.

[2] In January 2011 JFJO recorded a suite of music based on the Tulsa Race Riot.

[3] Haas signed with Rykodisc/Hyena Records, which released his first album, The Truth About Hollywood (2005),[2] a combination of Hass's compositions and cover versions of songs by Thelonious Monk.