Before the Civil War, Jazz was a cultural investigator and good friend of Orion Pax (pre Prime Optimus). He trained with Orion in "combat drills" and gave Orion advice for when he would meet Megatronus (Megatron's first name). Jazz was one of Optimus' top officers and joined him on the mission to stop the Trypticon orbital gun. Jazz also was aboard the Ark when most of the Autobots left Cybertron.