@JayGirl10 My best guess is that the (probably white and/or liberal) executives behind the franchise want to be seen as "equal opportunity" by including a "minority" Transformer, which is honestly pretty stupid since robots don't actually have races or genders. But hey, I wouldn't expect much more from an 80's cartoon.

@JayGirl10 Jazz was meant to be a hip, cool, "swinger" type in the G1 cartoon. Wally Burr worked with Scatman Crothers for Hong Kong Phooey, so he knew that he would be a good fit for Jazz's personality. Since then, I guess it's just been either to honour Scatman or because the voice and personality caused Jazz to be interpreted as the "black" robot among viewers. He was most definitely not intentionally written to be black.