Jazz is the teenage son of notorious serial killer William Cornelius “Billy” Dent. He is handsome and charming, and he has a way with girls. As a child, Billy taught Jazz the methods and means by which Billy was able to kill without being caught. Billy taught him things like how kill with the least amount of blood, and what kind of evidence will tip off the cops quickest. Jazz lives at his demented Gramma Dent’s home. Due to his unusual upbringing, Jazz is often wracked with guilt over the sins of his father. Jazz worries that one day he will grow up to be just like him. Jazz’s best friend is Howie, a type-A hemophiliac, and his girlfriend is Connie, an African American and aspiring actress. Jazz also has an unlikely friendship with the sheriff of Lobo’s Nod, G. Tanner William, who helped capture Billy. Two primary traumas guide the course of Jazz’s: the disappearance of his mother (and the question of if he may have harmed her) and having to witness Billy murder and dissect the family dog, Rusty, when Jazz was just a child.

Jazz also has a talent for reading people’s emotions: “Jazz could read people. It wasn’t something he worked at; it was just as natural as breathing.