Darren Michael Jessee[1] (born April 8, 1971) is an American musician best known as the drummer of the alternative rock trio Ben Folds Five.

His first solo album, The Jane, Room 217, was released on August 24, 2018,[2] to near-universal acclaim from critics.

[3] Jessee formed indie band Hotel Lights in 2004, with whom he has recorded four studio albums and an extended play.

Ben Folds, on an iTunes Originals compilation, credited the Jessee-penned chorus for "Brick" as the missing element to a song that he had tried to compose for a long time.

[4] Jessee can also be heard drumming on the song "Strangest Thing" from The War on Drugs' 2017 album A Deeper Understanding, Hiss Golden Messenger's Hallelujah Anyhow (2017), and Josh Rouse's album Under Cold Blue Stars, released in 2002.